Daily Reflection Wednesday of the Thirty-first Week in Ordinary Time

Having taught high school literature for many years, I understand the importance of figures of speech to convey a message. When Paul tells us to “work out our salvation with fear and trembling,” he uses exaggeration to get his point across to us. In other words, take very seriously this commitment that each of us has made with God. Jesus also uses the hyperbole when he warns us to hate family members even hate ourselves if we want to be his disciples. Like any good language instructor or morality teacher, Jesus exaggerates in order to get his message across to us. If we put a selfish value on people and things, then we will have a difficult time deepening our relationship, our experience of God. 

    What both Jesus and Paul are asking us to do is quite difficult especially when we are bombarded with messages luring us in the opposite direction through the written word and the media. Perhaps, this is an appropriate time to take inventory of our own thoughts and words, our attitudes towards people different from us. No matter how we feel, we need to re-orient our priorities in light of the works of mercy and the beatitudes. This is also a good time to re-visit those gifts and fruits of the Holy Spirit given to us through Baptism and Confirmation. These gifts and fruits may not have the same clanging sound and reverberation that we have been experiencing.  But like Ignatius and so many of the saints that have preceded us, let us discern between good and evil, right and wrong, healthy and poisonous. 

    Jesus asks us to renounce our possessions. This hyperbole instructs us to “get our act together.” Like fall housecleaning, we need to take inventory of which possessions are really necessary and lead us into a deeper companionship with our God or which ones placate our ego and feelings. During this house soul cleaning, we also want to evaluate our concern for others—our level of respect for people we don’t like or understand, our appreciation of cultures different from our own. These are the crosses Jesus is asking us to carry. And these crosses—like good housecleaning—take time, reflection, understanding and prayer. But our God who loves us unconditionally listens and accompanies us on this journey.