ONE of the harshest words delivered
by our Lord to his
apostles is the following: “Do not think that I have come to bring
peace upon the earth. I have come to bring not peace but the sword.
For I have come to set a man against his father, a daughter against
her mother…” (Mt 10,34ff)
Down the line, we can hear him say: “Whoever loves father
or mother more than me is not worthy of me…whoever does not take up
his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his
life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find
it.”
These words remind us, first of all, that we really have
to handle the word of God properly. Otherwise we would be crippled in
contradiction and even in scandal. We have to be wary of relying
simply on our common and current understanding of things. The word of
God requires much wider and deeper efforts for it to be understood
properly.
We need to consider the overall sense or intent of faith
(sensus fidei) of the Bible, giving due attention to the human
elements that go into its inspired writing, like the cultural and
historical context, linguistic style of the people then, etc. Through
them, we can get an idea of what the sacred writers had in mind when
they put divine inspiration into words.
We just cannot automatically apply our current mindset on
something written centuries ago. That approach would miss a lot of
things and would distort the meaning of the inspired word even
drastically.
In this particular passage, we simply cannot conclude that
our Lord does not want us to have peace, since he is referred to as
the Prince of Peace. Even on his birth, angels in heaven sang: “Glory
to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men of good will.” (Lk
2,14) How can we ever think he is does not want peace for us?
Much less can we think that he is asking us to hate our
father and mother, since the 4th commandment precisely requires us to
honor our parents, and he himself told us to love one another as he
has loved us. Nor that we lose our life.
The “harsh” tone of our Lord’s words is meant only to
highlight one thing—that our detachment from persons and things in
this world should be total to give way to our full commitment to God.
It’s a total self-giving that involves a self-emptying, so
we can be filled with nothing less than God himself, and with him, we
would have everything else. As St. Teresa of Avila once said: “Solo
Dios basta.” (Only God suffices)
And our Lord himself said: “Seek first the kingdom of God
and his justice, and all these things shall be added unto you.” (Mt
6,33) This should be the trajectory of our attitude towards life, our
work and the use of material things. Any other direction would be
fatal to our spiritual and moral life.
So the detachment our Lord is asking of us actually does
not mean that we hate our life, our parents and others, and the things
of this world. Rather it is a detachment that asks of us to have
rectitude of intention, that everything that we do be for the glory of
God.
St. Paul in his first letter to the Corinthians said as
much: “Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatsoever else you do,
do all to the glory of God.” (10,31)
We should not be afraid to go through the required
sacrifices and self-denial, since these can only lead us to the joy
and peace meant for us. We need to do better than have a shallow and
narrow view of our earthly life, a knee-jerk reaction to things.
We need to give due attention to this duty of rectifying
and purifying our intention, filling it with love, and expressing it
with generosity and heroism even. Our problem is precisely our
tendency to take this duty for granted, and so we open ourselves to
the subtle forces of pride, greed, lust, envy, anger, gluttony, sloth,
etc.
Detachment does not remove our involvement and engagement
in our earthly and temporal affairs. It simply puts them in the right
context and the right direction. It frees us from unnecessary baggage.
It improves our vision and understanding of things, and predisposes
our heart to the real love which can only a sharing in God’s love.
Let’s live detachment everyday to be properly involved in the world!
apostles is the following: “Do not think that I have come to bring
peace upon the earth. I have come to bring not peace but the sword.
For I have come to set a man against his father, a daughter against
her mother…” (Mt 10,34ff)
Down the line, we can hear him say: “Whoever loves father
or mother more than me is not worthy of me…whoever does not take up
his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his
life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find
it.”
These words remind us, first of all, that we really have
to handle the word of God properly. Otherwise we would be crippled in
contradiction and even in scandal. We have to be wary of relying
simply on our common and current understanding of things. The word of
God requires much wider and deeper efforts for it to be understood
properly.
We need to consider the overall sense or intent of faith
(sensus fidei) of the Bible, giving due attention to the human
elements that go into its inspired writing, like the cultural and
historical context, linguistic style of the people then, etc. Through
them, we can get an idea of what the sacred writers had in mind when
they put divine inspiration into words.
We just cannot automatically apply our current mindset on
something written centuries ago. That approach would miss a lot of
things and would distort the meaning of the inspired word even
drastically.
In this particular passage, we simply cannot conclude that
our Lord does not want us to have peace, since he is referred to as
the Prince of Peace. Even on his birth, angels in heaven sang: “Glory
to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men of good will.” (Lk
2,14) How can we ever think he is does not want peace for us?
Much less can we think that he is asking us to hate our
father and mother, since the 4th commandment precisely requires us to
honor our parents, and he himself told us to love one another as he
has loved us. Nor that we lose our life.
The “harsh” tone of our Lord’s words is meant only to
highlight one thing—that our detachment from persons and things in
this world should be total to give way to our full commitment to God.
It’s a total self-giving that involves a self-emptying, so
we can be filled with nothing less than God himself, and with him, we
would have everything else. As St. Teresa of Avila once said: “Solo
Dios basta.” (Only God suffices)
And our Lord himself said: “Seek first the kingdom of God
and his justice, and all these things shall be added unto you.” (Mt
6,33) This should be the trajectory of our attitude towards life, our
work and the use of material things. Any other direction would be
fatal to our spiritual and moral life.
So the detachment our Lord is asking of us actually does
not mean that we hate our life, our parents and others, and the things
of this world. Rather it is a detachment that asks of us to have
rectitude of intention, that everything that we do be for the glory of
God.
St. Paul in his first letter to the Corinthians said as
much: “Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatsoever else you do,
do all to the glory of God.” (10,31)
We should not be afraid to go through the required
sacrifices and self-denial, since these can only lead us to the joy
and peace meant for us. We need to do better than have a shallow and
narrow view of our earthly life, a knee-jerk reaction to things.
We need to give due attention to this duty of rectifying
and purifying our intention, filling it with love, and expressing it
with generosity and heroism even. Our problem is precisely our
tendency to take this duty for granted, and so we open ourselves to
the subtle forces of pride, greed, lust, envy, anger, gluttony, sloth,
etc.
Detachment does not remove our involvement and engagement
in our earthly and temporal affairs. It simply puts them in the right
context and the right direction. It frees us from unnecessary baggage.
It improves our vision and understanding of things, and predisposes
our heart to the real love which can only a sharing in God’s love.
Let’s live detachment everyday to be properly involved in the world!
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