Memorial of Saint Kateri Tekakwitha, Virgin
Family is a very important part of my life. Trying to create harmony within my family and make everyone happy has always been something that I strive to accomplish. That is why today’s gospel reading causing me to pause and wonder what Jesus is trying to tell me about what it means to be a family in Christ. The family was a very important part of the Jewish culture in which Jesus had been brought up. Why would He suggest that parents and children would be turned against each other because of Him? I think that Jesus is calling us to a different way of being a family with Him at the center. If I am going to follow Jesus, then He should come before all things- including my family. Jesus should be the one who shows me how to be wife, mother, grandmother, daughter and sister. For me this is not an easy task, since doing His will may sometimes be a source of conflict for other family members or friends. Jesus does not call me to love my family less, but to love Him more than anything or anyone else. Jesus reminds us if we want to “find our life” and who we are meant to be in our family, we must lose our lives and “follow Him.”
Jesus calls His disciples to a radical love and commitment in today’s gospel reading. He invites his disciples to a great love when He says, “ Whoever loves father or mother more than me it not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me:” (Mt 10: 37) What challenging words! The love shared between a parent and a child is immense, and yet Jesus calls his disciples to love Him more than their parents and families. The apostles were living proof that this was not easy, since they had left fathers and mothers to follow Jesus. I have always been amazed by the courage that James and John displayed when they walked away from their father at the Sea of Galilee. I imagine that their father had great sorrow when they left him, but I wonder if there could have also been anger and hurt from this separation. Jesus knew that those who would follow Him would live in ways very different from others, and their family members would not always understand. He warns that “I have come to bring not peace but the sword. For I have come to set a man against his father.” (Mt. 10: 34-35) The apostles had given up family, livelihood, and even choosing what they thought would be best for their future. They did all of this to follow Christ. In return, Jesus promises them “whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” (Mt 10: 39) The life that the apostles find is one connected to Christ. Because they chose Christ and His will first, all people who encounter the apostles will encounter Christ and the Father through them. Those that encounter and receive Jesus through the apostles (as prophets, disciples and righteous men) will receive the reward He promises- salvation and eternal life with Christ.
Jesus calls us to a radical love as well. Although Jesus does not expect me to leave my family to follow Him, He does call me to abandon my will to His will. This means actively seeking to know and live how God wants me to live as wife, mother, grandmother, daughter and sister. Seeking God’s will for me and my life within my family requires prayer, discernment, and a constant openness to God’s voice. To take up my cross and follow God means that I no longer decide what it means to be wife, mother etc. To “find my life in Christ” I must allow Him to reveal to me how He wants me to live in the many roles within my family. This is a revolutionary way of thinking for me. I am sure that this life will entail laying down my life in service to others in my family, but I also think doing His will might involve challenging other family members to a deeper faith. I may need to recognize that how I see myself and how God sees me in my family may not look the same. I am called to daily seek Him and His will for me, and accept all the changes that He may ask. I know that there will be times when I will fail, and I will not live as He wants. Yet each new day God calls me to become a person who is centered on Him.
Just like the apostles, if I follow Jesus I become connected to Him. Those who encounter me in the family will thereby encounter God. Although there will certainly be times when following God’s will may cause unrest in the family, this is not because my actions and words are without love. If we are united with Christ and His will then all we do should flow from our love of others. Being a family in Christ requires praying together and seeking God’s will individually and collectively. If each member seeks God and His will first, then the family becomes united In Christ. If we are a family in Christ, then we are able to live as St. Paul encourages us and we become “members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the Apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone.” (Eph 2:19-20)
"Heavenly Father, You sent Your Son Jesus to share your love with us. Through the grace of Your Spirit, may Jesus be at the center of our families, so we can follow Him and do Your will. May our lives give You glory, we pray this through Christ our LORD. Amen"
- Marylynn Herchline