Traveling with Him

Twenty Third Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year C

Collect
O God, by whom we are redeemed and receive adoption, look graciously upon your beloved sons and daughters, that those who believe in Christ may receive true freedom and an everlasting inheritance. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen

First Reading
Wis 9:13-18b

Who can conceive what the Lord intends?

A reading from the Book of Wisdom

Who can know God’s counsel,
   or who can conceive what the LORD intends?
For the deliberations of mortals are timid,
   and unsure are our plans.
For the corruptible body burdens the soul
   and the earthen shelter weighs down the mind that has many concerns.
And scarce do we guess the things on earth,
   and what is within our grasp we find with difficulty;
   but when things are in heaven, who can search them out?
Or who ever knew your counsel, except you had given wisdom
   and sent your holy spirit from on high?
And thus were the paths of those on earth made straight.

The word of the Lord.

Responsorial Psalm
Ps 90:3-4, 5-6, 12-13, 14-17

R. :

℟. (1) In every age, O Lord, you have been our refuge.

You turn man back to dust,
   saying, “Return, O children of men.”
For a thousand years in your sight
   are as yesterday, now that it is past,
   or as a watch of the night.

℟. In every age, O Lord, you have been our refuge.

You make an end of them in their sleep;
   the next morning they are like the changing grass,
Which at dawn springs up anew,
   but by evening wilts and fades.

℟. In every age, O Lord, you have been our refuge.

Teach us to number our days aright,
   that we may gain wisdom of heart.
Return, O LORD! How long?
   Have pity on your servants!

℟. In every age, O Lord, you have been our refuge.

Fill us at daybreak with your kindness,
   that we may shout for joy and gladness all our days.
And may the gracious care of the LORD our God be ours;
   prosper the work of our hands for us!
   Prosper the work of our hands!

℟. In every age, O Lord, you have been our refuge.

Second Reading
Phmn 9-10, 12-17

Receive him no longer as a slave but as a beloved brother.

A reading from the Letter of Saint Paul to Philemon

I, Paul, an old man,
   and now also a prisoner for Christ Jesus,
   urge you on behalf of my child Onesimus,
   whose father I have become in my imprisonment;
   I am sending him, that is, my own heart, back to you.
I should have liked to retain him for myself,
   so that he might serve me on your behalf
   in my imprisonment for the gospel,
   but I did not want to do anything without your consent,
   so that the good you do might not be forced but voluntary.
Perhaps this is why he was away from you for a while,
   that you might have him back forever,
   no longer as a slave
   but more than a slave, a brother,
   beloved especially to me, but even more so to you,
   as a man and in the Lord.
So if you regard me as a partner, welcome him as you would me.

The word of the Lord.

Acclamation before the Gospel
Ps 119:135

℟. Alleluia, alleluia.

Let your face shine upon your servant;
and teach me your laws.

℟. Alleluia, alleluia.


Gospel
Lk 14:25-33

Anyone of you who does not renounce all possessions cannot be my disciple.

✠ A reading from the holy Gospel according to Luke

Great crowds were traveling with Jesus,
   and he turned and addressed them,
“If anyone comes to me without hating his father and mother,
   wife and children, brothers and sisters,
   and even his own life,
   he cannot be my disciple.
Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me
   cannot be my disciple.
Which of you wishing to construct a tower
   does not first sit down and calculate the cost
   to see if there is enough for its completion?
Otherwise, after laying the foundation
   and finding himself unable to finish the work
   the onlookers should laugh at him and say,
   ‘This one began to build but did not have the resources to finish.’
Or what king marching into battle would not first sit down
   and decide whether with ten thousand troops
   he can successfully oppose another king
   advancing upon him with twenty thousand troops?
But if not, while he is still far away,
   he will send a delegation to ask for peace terms.
In the same way,
   anyone of you who does not renounce all his possessions
   cannot be my disciple.”

At the end of the Gospel, the Deacon, or the Priest, acclaims:

The Gospel of the Lord.

All reply:

Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

Reflection

In today’s Gospel, Jesus is not satisfied just to have us as followers. He also desires to make us aware of the price that we must be prepared to pay. Large crowds never impress Jesus. What matters to Him is the motivation of those who follow. He even places three conditions upon those who want to follow Him:

“Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself …”

“Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me …”

“… if you do not give up all your possessions.”

Apart from this, the call to follow Jesus requires thoughtful discernment: “For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not first sit down and estimate the cost … Or what king, going out to wage war against another king, will not sit down first ...”

Jesus invites us to sit down and discern whether we are able to reach the goals He sets. When I sit in silence with this passage, I become aware of the thoughts and sentiments that well up inside of me. Do Jesus’ words confuse me? What is He asking of me? How can Jesus ask me to place Him before those who are dear to me, before my possessions? I might come to the point of giving up my possessions, but it is not that easy to give up those who are dear to me. Our emotional and material attachments can come between us and Jesus and consequently weaken our ability to follow Him.

In his Spiritual Exercises, St Ignatius of Loyola tells us that Jesus desires us to be free from the disorders that these attachments bring to our lives. It is a fact that Jesus has a great desire to bring order into our lives. Discernment helps us recognise our limits and frees us from unrealistic conclusions. 

Jesus desires that we follow Him, detached from lamenting what we have left behind to do so. Like Peter, we might calculate what we have to give up, as well as what we expect in return as compensation. 

In another passage, Jesus tells us that whatever we leave behind for love of Him, He will repay a hundred times over. Do you remember these words?

Prayer

Lord, deliver me from being discouraged to follow You.

Stay beside me and allow me to lay my heart bear before You.

 

Read Past Sunday Readings