Today's Thoughts...

​Today’s Thoughts: In our first reading today from Paul’s Letter to the Romans, Paul reminds the community in Rome that the living of a life of faith is through love. Love enables us to do what is good for others and ourselves. If we live our life through love, then there is no need of law because we will always do what is good.
 
In our Gospel from Luke today, Jesus seems to speak counter to what Paul is saying to the Romans. Paul speaks of love and Jesus speaks about hating. Jesus asks us to hate our family, to even hate ourselves. How does this fit into what Paul is saying?
 
Well, Jesus is not really asking us to hate but to put God first. The more we focus on God, the more we live out of love the more we will do, say and live what is right. Jesus took up his cross not out of hate, but out of love and he ask us to do the same.
 
Jesus uses many examples of how we need to prepare for the Kingdom. He’s calling us to follow Him. Jesus says that no one would construct a tower without sitting down and calculating the cost to see if there was enough for completion. If we are not able to finish much above the foundation, we will be laughed at and ridiculed. The same holds true when planning our lives as we work towards the Kingdom. We are being called to follow Jesus so calculate, plan, be deliberate about our actions. If they don’t help us accomplish the goal, if they are not grounded in love, they might not be worth doing. We don’t want to run out of time and not have your tower built.
 
On that day, with the crowds following, Jesus said to do whatever you have to do in order to follow him, even if you have to renounce your family. He asks us to carry our own cross; we all have one, some heavier than others. Jesus asks us to renounce our possessions, so that we can hold on to him, love him and be his disciple. The less meaning our possessions have, the more we’ll be able to focus on our friendship with the Lord.
 
Have a blessed Wednesday everyone!