Carrying our Cross in Battle

Homily
TWENTY-THIRD SUNDAY OF THE YEAR --
9 SEPTEMBER 2007

Luke 14: 25 - 33

[Luke 14:25] Great crowds were traveling with him, and he turned and addressed them,
[Luke 14:26] "If any one 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.
[Luke 14:27] Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.
[Luke 14:28] 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?
[Luke 14:29] Otherwise, after laying the foundation and finding himself unable to finish the work the onlookers should laugh at him
[Luke 14:30] and say, 'This one began to build but did not have the resources to finish.'
[Luke 14:31] 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?
[Luke 14:32] But if not, while he is still far away, he will send a delegation to ask for peace terms.
[Luke 14:33] In the same way, everyone of you who does not renounce all his possessions cannot be my disciple.
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In today's Gospel, Our Lord emphasizes that anyone who does not repudiate absolutely any relationship, which comes between himself and God, does not deserve to be a disciple of Christ. He includes even the closest of human relationships--those with father, mother, wife, children, brothers, sisters, and even that person's relationship with himself. The word used in the original Greek is misei, which means "hate", a strong word indeed.

The figure of speech used seems strange, since Our Lord commands us to love unconditionally--even our enemies. When He says "he who does not hate his father and mother" He is referring to any part of even that close natural relationship which might be taking precedence over God. A man loves his parents, but must repudiate any part of his relationship even to them, which stands opposed to the will of God. For example, no man can be so misguided in his love for parent or spouse that he would be willing to commit a sin at their behest. This does not mean that he loves them any less--it means that his love for God and for creature must be kept in the right order of the sovereign will of God.

Our Lord then admonishes each of us to carry our own cross and follow Him. He does not ask us to carry His cross, as did Simon of Cyrene; we are to carry our own cross. What is meant by "cross" can perhaps best be understood in comparison with penance. An act of penance is something I choose to mortify my sinful inclinations, and draw closer to God. The cross I am to carry accomplishes the same purpose. The important distinction between the two is this:

I choose my penance; The Lord chooses my cross.

Without minimizing the necessity for acts of penance, I suggest that willingness to carry the cross chosen for me is more efficacious than acts of penance I choose for myself. The cross in the life of a Christian is often experienced as a result of life's unpredictable vicissitudes. However, the pious Christian must acquire the conviction that the cross that he receives is a special loving and salvific gift of Divine Providence. He acquires this conviction through prayer, fasting, spiritual reading, the sacramental life, and the performance of good works.

Our Lord further instructs us in the parables of the tower builder and the king preparing for battle. In these parables, Our Lord admonishes us to prepare ourselves adequately for living the life of the Christian in this world, which will subject His disciples to many trials, some of which will be severe. We read at the beginning of Chapter 2 of Sirach:

[Sir 2:1] My son, when you come to serve the LORD, prepare yourself for every temptation.
[Sir 2:2] Be sincere of heart and steadfast, undisturbed in time of adversity.

The battle for which we are to be prepared is that which is against the world, the flesh, and the devil. Our ongoing preparation is comprised by our growth in the spiritual life, through Sacred Scripture, the sacraments of the Church, spiritual reading, the performance of good works, the evil we endure, and the cross each of us bears.

We do battle against the world: the term "world" has several meanings in Scripture. The meaning referred to here is the world of allurements and distractions, from the truth and love of God, toward those counterfeits of truth and love to be found in a society which does not promote, and often is in open hostility to, our walking the narrow path leading to Heaven. We do battle against a world which winks at sin, ignores the appalling reality of sin, and promotes sophistries which constitute an open assault on the intellect (for example, regarding the human life at certain stages of its development as merely a "mass of cells"). We do battle against a world which even extols evil for its own sake.

We do battle against the flesh: this of course includes the inordinate, unseemly use of the generative and nutritive functions. It also includes what St Thomas Aquinas called the "concupiscence of the eyes", which can lead to aberrations such as compulsive purchasing of unneeded goods, obsessive gambling, and any other inordinate use of material goods which in their proper place should serve as stepping stones, not hindrances, to life with God.

We do battle against the Devil: two errors are possible here--we can make either too little or too much of the activity of Satan and his minions in the world. At this time in history, the first error seems more prevalent. Our Lord has won the complete victory over Satan. Nevertheless, Our Lord permits us to share in this victory by having us repel the pomps of the devil using the spiritual weapons He has given us, especially through the Church.

How can a defeated enemy still have power? A simple parable can be illustrative here. A little girl is walking through a zoo which is owned by her father and managed by her older brother. If she obeys her father and brother, the caged beasts can do her no harm whatever--they are utterly defeated. Nevertheless, they still have power. If the little girl disobeys her father and brother and slips through the bars of one of the beasts' cages, she puts herself in grave peril.

Likewise, we stand confidently against the worst ragings of the enemy, holding our ground won for us by Our Lord's passion, death, and resurrection. We are never so foolish as to do the equivalent of "slipping through the bars of a cage". To this end, we avoid everything forbidden by the First Commandment, including such things as horoscopes, seances, fortune-telling, and any other superstitious practice. Steadfastly following Our Lord as we carry our cross, we battle with Him and look forward to our share in His victory. Listen to what Our Lord promises in the Book of Revelation to those who persevere through to the ultimate triumph in His declarations to the seven Churches:

[Rev 2:7] "Whoever has ears ought to hear what the Spirit says to the churches:"

To the Church in Ephesus:

[Rev 2:7] "...To the victor I will give the right to eat from the tree of life that is in the garden of God."

To the Church in Smyrna:

[Rev 2:11] "...The victor shall not be harmed by the second death."

To the Church in Pergamum:

[Rev 2:17] "...To the victor I shall give some of the hidden manna; I shall also give a white amulet upon which is inscribed a new name, which no one knows except the one who receives it."

To the Church in Thyatira:

[Rev 2:26] "To the victor, who keeps to my ways until the end, I will give authority over the nations.
[Rev 2:27] He will rule them with an iron rod. Like clay vessels will they be smashed,
[Rev 2:28] just as I received authority from my Father. And to him I will give the morning star."

To the Church in Sardis:

[Rev 3:5] "The victor will thus be dressed in white, and I will never erase his name from the book of life but will acknowledge his name in the presence of my Father and of his angels."

To the Church in Philadelphia:

[Rev 3:12] "The victor I will make into a pillar in the temple of my God, and he will never leave it again. On him I will inscribe the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from my God, as well as my new name."

Finally, to the Church in Laodicea, the great promise of salvation history:

[Rev 3:21] "I will give the victor the right to sit with me on my throne, as I myself first won the victory and sit with my Father on his throne."

Praise, honor, power, empire, dominion, and everlasting glory be to Our Lord God and Savior Jesus Christ, immortal redeemer and eternal Victor. Amen.