Fr. Jude Botelho:
We sometimes wonder why we did a particular action or what
made us say things we later regretted. There are also times we question the
wisdom of God when we can't figure out some happenings in our lives. In life
everything has a price tag, nothing is free. It is not easy to make wise
decisions, we need God's help. What price have we paid for being a disciple?
Have we pondered over it? Have a discerning weekend contemplating the cost of
faith!
Today's first reading from the Book of Wisdom reflects that it is hardly surprising
that we have trouble figuring out the intentions of God when we have so much
difficulty figuring out each other. There are times when we can't even
understand those close to us; there are times we can't even figure out our own
intentions, so how can we understand God and his ways? "Even though God
has revealed himself through the Holy Spirit we cannot understand the mystery
of God. We still have much to figure out.Nearness and distance
Seamus Heaney, an Irish poet has reflected on his relationship with his father, a quiet man who had reason to believe that language was a kind of betrayal. In his writing Heaney tries to figure out his father whose inwardness and reserve are a constant challenge to a son who wants to fathom him and get close to him. The son starts following in his father's footsteps but he later discovers that their skills are different: the son's new produce is poems not potatoes. There doesn't appear to be much common ground there; but even though their skills divide them, their roots keep them attached. Perhaps it is true to say that no matter how close people may be, everyone has a lot of figuring to do! - Much of our lives involve figuring out what is within our reach and what we can achieve in life.
Denis McBride in 'Seasons of the Heart'
In Luke's Gospel Jesus speaks of the cost of discipleship and dedication needed to follow Him. Jesus presented two parables. He compared the Christian life to a building project and to warfare. Jesus pointed out that before someone wants to build a tower, he sits down and calculates the cost. If he does not have the resources to finish the tower, in all wisdom, he does not begin the project. Otherwise the project will end before it is completed and he will look foolish. So it is with disciples! In the second parable Jesus points to a king going to battle against an enemy far superior to him, who must calculate wisely the consequences. He must carefully consider his chances of winning. If the risk is too high, he must surrender unconditionally or else all will be lost. Jesus points out that so it is with Christian discipleship. We have to make wise choices. We cannot serve two masters. We have to be totally dedicated or else we will fall by the wayside.
The choices we make are absolute, we cannot be lukewarm or half hearted. Jesus uses strong language to highlight the cost of discipleship: "If a man comes to me without hating his father and mother, wife, children, brothers and sisters, yes, his own life too, he cannot be my disciple." A true disciple must be ready to forsake all to follow Jesus, he has to commit himself to a life of self-renunciation. True wisdom alone can guide us to this detachment from all to be attached to God alone. This is not accomplished by will power but by God-power, the power of the Holy Spirit.
Hating father and mother
Thomas Moore was Lord Chancellor when Henry VIII was king of England. He was a successful lawyer, a great linguist and a renowned spiritual and political writer. When he refused to take an oath in the 'Act of Succession', which recognized the offspring of Henry and his second wife Anne Boleyn, as the heir to the throne, declaring Henry's first marriage with Catherine as null and void, and repudiating the Pope, he was imprisoned in the Tower of London in the year 1534. His family implored him -for his sake and theirs- to take the oath; his beloved daughter Margaret took the oath thinking that this would induce her father to take the oath, but he refused. He spent fifteen lonely months in the prison -in poor health, isolated from other? prisoners, deprived of his beloved books; even paper and pen were not given to him. He was convicted of treason and sentenced to death. On July 1535, he was beheaded proclaiming that he was, "the king's good servant but
God's first." St. Thomas Moore loved God more than his wife, his children, nay, even his life itself.
John Rose in 'John's Sunday Homilies'
Ready to pay the price?
An English lady traveling in Germany left a valuable fur coat in charge of a German woman in the carriage. When she returned the German was wearing the coat and said it belonged to her. The guard tried in vain to find out to which of the two it belonged and finally sent her to the consul. The consul asked to examine the coat, and brought it back a few moments later saying, "This is a very serious affair; who so ever the coat belongs to has been smuggling cocaine. Here are the two packets I found in the coat."? The German woman excused herself and bowed out of the room saying: "Just my little joke." The English woman said: "I can't understand how they could have got there." The Consul replied: "Don't worry, it is only salt, that I put to find out whose coat it really was."
John Arbuthnot in 'More Quotes and Anecdotes
Pay nothing? you get nothing!
A man came to buy a saddle for his horse. He saw a fine piece and asked, "How much?" "Five hundred rupees", the shop owner replied. "But that is too much," the man replied. "As it is the saddle is overly decorated. Remove some of the decoration and cut down the price." "All right" the shop owner said and took away some of the decoration. "Now it will be Rs. 400." "Rs. 400? Even that is too much. There is still some decoration you can remove." And so it went on till the price was brought down to Rs. 250. Even so the customer found the price too much. At last the shop owner said, "All right, sir. The saddle will cost you nothing." The buyer asked excitedly, "Nothing? Wonderful! What do I get? The shop owner told him. "Nothing." - We get according to our willingness to pay. This holds good in the spiritual realm too.
G. Francis Xavier in ''Inspiring Stories'
Keeper of the flame
Sometime ago, the Los Angeles Times carried a moving story by reporter Dave Smith. It was about a modern Christian who, put God First in his life, other People second, and himself third. His name is Charlie DeLeo. After returning from Vietnam, He got a job as maintenance man at the Statue of Liberty. Charlie told the reporter that part of his job is to take care of the torch in the statue's hand and the crown on the statue's head. He has to make sure that the sodium vapour lights are always working and that the 200 glass windows in the torch and the crown are always clean. Pointing to the torch, Charlie said proudly, "That's my chapel. I dedicated it to the Lord, and I go up there and meditate on my breaks." But Charlie does other things for the Lord, as well. He received a commendation from the Red Cross after donating his 65th pint of blood. And since hearing of the work of Mother Teresa in India, he has given over $12,000 to her and to people like her.
Charlie told the Los Angeles Times reporter: "I don't socialize much; don't have enough money to get married. I don't keep any of my money. After I got my job, I sponsored six orphans through those children's organizations." Charlie ended by telling the reporter that he calls himself the "Keeper of the Flame" of the Statue of Liberty. Later a park guide told the reporter: "Everybody knows Charlie is special. When he first gave himself that title, people smiled. But we all take it seriously now. To us, he's exactly what he says: 'Keeper of the Flame."
Mark Link in 'Sunday Homilies'
The first reading from the book of Sirach is a lesson on
humility. While pride is the deadliest of the seven deadly sins, because it is
founded on falsehood which destroys ourselves and those around us, humility is
perhaps the most characteristic of Christian virtues. The humble person finds
favour with God not because that favour is a reward for humility, but because
humility, like faith, means abandoning self-assertion, all trust in oneself,
and allowing God to act where we can do nothing.
Humility is Truth
William Carey, the great missionary of India, was a very humble man despite his great linguistic skills and botanical achievements. He had translated the Bible into several Indian languages. The intellectuals and men of high positions in Calcutta recognized him. On one occasion the Governor General of India invited him to a party. As they sat around the table, one of the invitees asked another whether this was the Carey who was once a shoemaker. Carey overheard this comment and turned to the person and said, in all humility, “No, Sir, I was only a cobbler.”
John Rose in ’John’s Sunday Homilies’
In today’s Gospel Jesus is at a meal in the house of one of the leading Pharisees. He notices the undignified scramble for the places of honour and is moved to comment on what he sees through a parable. The parable looks like a bit of prudential advice on how to behave at a dinner party so as to avoid embarrassment. But since it is a parable one need not take it at face value, as a piece of worldly wisdom or even as a lesson in humility. It deals rather with an aspect of one’s relationship with God. God in the person of Jesus Christ is inviting all peoples to the messianic feast. The only way to respond to the invitation is to renounce any claim or merit of one’s own. The Pharisees expected the best seats in the banquet for keeping the Torah, but like the outcaste, they have to learn that salvation is an unmerited gift –freely given and humbly to be accepted. Our acceptance at the heavenly banquet will depend not on our merit or good deeds but on our acceptance of others now. Humility in a Christian sense is not a purely passive virtue; like faith, to which it is closely akin, it is highly active.
Humility Speaks in Silence!
For a lady traveller it was a pleasant journey by train from New York to Philadelphia as there was only one more passenger besides her. Her co-passenger was rather a heavy-set man. But her joy of comfort was disturbed when the man lit a cigar and started smoking. The lady deliberately coughed and showed an unpleasant face. Nothing worked. He continued to smoke. Then she blurted out, “You might be a foreigner. But don’t you know that there is a smoking car ahead. Smoking is prohibited here. The man quietly threw his cigar out of the window and maintained his equanimity. When the conductor came to examine the tickets the lady passenger realized with horror that her co-passenger was the famous General Ulysses Grant. She had boarded his private car by mistake. As the lady made a hasty exit the General did not even look at her so as not to embarrass her. He turned his head and smiled only after the lady was out of sight. –Great humility is displayed by stronger men. Humility comes from strength.
G. Francis Xavier in “Inspiring Stories”
Learning from the Great
Dr. Richard Evans was a psychologist at the University of Houston who had developed an interesting series of films. They consisted of interviews Evans did with some great leaders in the fields of psychology and psychiatry –people like Carl Jung, Eric Fromm Erik Erikson, Carl Rogers, B.F. Skinner and Jean Piaget. Surprisingly, the major thing Evans learned from these great figures was the need for humility: What these great thinkers profess to know and their assessment of it is rather humble. Some people tend to oversell what psychology and psychiatry can do to help people solve their problems. Not so with the really great personages in these fields. The really important people have a modest view of what they have contributed, much less what the field had contributed in general. –Humility is the mark of all truly great men. A healthy sense of humour is closer to humility than self-depreciation. Pope John XXIII once remarked: “Anybody can become pope; the proof of this is that I have become pope.”
Albert Cylwicki in ‘His Word Resounds’
Inflated Ego
Some time ago in Florida, the St Petersburg Times carried an interesting story about Don Shula, the coach of the Miami Dolphins, vacationing with his family in a small town in northern Maine. One afternoon it was raining and so Shula, his wife and his five children decided to attend a matinee movie in the town’s only theatre. When they arrived the house lights were still on in the theatre, where there were only six other people present. When Shula and his family walked in, all six people stood up and applauded. He waved and smiled. As Shula sat down he turned to his wife and said, “We’re thousands of miles from Miami and they are giving me a standing ovation. They must get us on television all the way up here. Then a man came to shake Don Shula’s hand. Shula beamed and said, “How did you recognize me?” The man replied, “Mister, I don’t know who you are. All I know is just before you walked in the theatre manager told us that unless four more people turned up we wouldn’t have a movie today.”
Mark Link in ‘Sunday Homilies’
Self-Effacing Humility
One type of humility is self-effacement – the habit of doing good deeds, or indeed just daily work, secretly and anonymously, without expecting thanks. A good example of that is a teacher, who in preparation for Thanksgiving Day asked her class of first graders to draw a picture of something they were thankful for. She thought of how little these children from their poor neighbourhood had. She imagined that most of them would draw pictures of turkeys or tables of food. But the teacher was taken aback with the picture little Douglas handed in -a childishly drawn hand. The teacher showed it to the class to decide whose hand it was. “I think it must be the hand of God that brings us food,” said one child. “A farmer,” said another, “because he grows the turkeys.” When the others were at work, the teacher bent over Douglas’ desk and asked whose hand it was. “It is your hand, teacher,” he mumbled. It was only then that she recalled that frequently at recess she had taken Douglas, a scrubby forlorn child by the hand. She often did that with the children; it had obviously meant a lot to Douglas. For herself, she was grateful for the chance, in whatever small way, to give self-effacingly to others.
Harold Buetow in ‘God Still Speaks: Listen!’
Humility is Truth
William Carey, the great missionary of India, was a very humble man despite his great linguistic skills and botanical achievements. He had translated the Bible into several Indian languages. The intellectuals and men of high positions in Calcutta recognized him. On one occasion the Governor General of India invited him to a party. As they sat around the table, one of the invitees asked another whether this was the Carey who was once a shoemaker. Carey overheard this comment and turned to the person and said, in all humility, “No, Sir, I was only a cobbler.”
John Rose in ’John’s Sunday Homilies’
In today’s Gospel Jesus is at a meal in the house of one of the leading Pharisees. He notices the undignified scramble for the places of honour and is moved to comment on what he sees through a parable. The parable looks like a bit of prudential advice on how to behave at a dinner party so as to avoid embarrassment. But since it is a parable one need not take it at face value, as a piece of worldly wisdom or even as a lesson in humility. It deals rather with an aspect of one’s relationship with God. God in the person of Jesus Christ is inviting all peoples to the messianic feast. The only way to respond to the invitation is to renounce any claim or merit of one’s own. The Pharisees expected the best seats in the banquet for keeping the Torah, but like the outcaste, they have to learn that salvation is an unmerited gift –freely given and humbly to be accepted. Our acceptance at the heavenly banquet will depend not on our merit or good deeds but on our acceptance of others now. Humility in a Christian sense is not a purely passive virtue; like faith, to which it is closely akin, it is highly active.
Humility Speaks in Silence!
For a lady traveller it was a pleasant journey by train from New York to Philadelphia as there was only one more passenger besides her. Her co-passenger was rather a heavy-set man. But her joy of comfort was disturbed when the man lit a cigar and started smoking. The lady deliberately coughed and showed an unpleasant face. Nothing worked. He continued to smoke. Then she blurted out, “You might be a foreigner. But don’t you know that there is a smoking car ahead. Smoking is prohibited here. The man quietly threw his cigar out of the window and maintained his equanimity. When the conductor came to examine the tickets the lady passenger realized with horror that her co-passenger was the famous General Ulysses Grant. She had boarded his private car by mistake. As the lady made a hasty exit the General did not even look at her so as not to embarrass her. He turned his head and smiled only after the lady was out of sight. –Great humility is displayed by stronger men. Humility comes from strength.
G. Francis Xavier in “Inspiring Stories”
Learning from the Great
Dr. Richard Evans was a psychologist at the University of Houston who had developed an interesting series of films. They consisted of interviews Evans did with some great leaders in the fields of psychology and psychiatry –people like Carl Jung, Eric Fromm Erik Erikson, Carl Rogers, B.F. Skinner and Jean Piaget. Surprisingly, the major thing Evans learned from these great figures was the need for humility: What these great thinkers profess to know and their assessment of it is rather humble. Some people tend to oversell what psychology and psychiatry can do to help people solve their problems. Not so with the really great personages in these fields. The really important people have a modest view of what they have contributed, much less what the field had contributed in general. –Humility is the mark of all truly great men. A healthy sense of humour is closer to humility than self-depreciation. Pope John XXIII once remarked: “Anybody can become pope; the proof of this is that I have become pope.”
Albert Cylwicki in ‘His Word Resounds’
Inflated Ego
Some time ago in Florida, the St Petersburg Times carried an interesting story about Don Shula, the coach of the Miami Dolphins, vacationing with his family in a small town in northern Maine. One afternoon it was raining and so Shula, his wife and his five children decided to attend a matinee movie in the town’s only theatre. When they arrived the house lights were still on in the theatre, where there were only six other people present. When Shula and his family walked in, all six people stood up and applauded. He waved and smiled. As Shula sat down he turned to his wife and said, “We’re thousands of miles from Miami and they are giving me a standing ovation. They must get us on television all the way up here. Then a man came to shake Don Shula’s hand. Shula beamed and said, “How did you recognize me?” The man replied, “Mister, I don’t know who you are. All I know is just before you walked in the theatre manager told us that unless four more people turned up we wouldn’t have a movie today.”
Mark Link in ‘Sunday Homilies’
Self-Effacing Humility
One type of humility is self-effacement – the habit of doing good deeds, or indeed just daily work, secretly and anonymously, without expecting thanks. A good example of that is a teacher, who in preparation for Thanksgiving Day asked her class of first graders to draw a picture of something they were thankful for. She thought of how little these children from their poor neighbourhood had. She imagined that most of them would draw pictures of turkeys or tables of food. But the teacher was taken aback with the picture little Douglas handed in -a childishly drawn hand. The teacher showed it to the class to decide whose hand it was. “I think it must be the hand of God that brings us food,” said one child. “A farmer,” said another, “because he grows the turkeys.” When the others were at work, the teacher bent over Douglas’ desk and asked whose hand it was. “It is your hand, teacher,” he mumbled. It was only then that she recalled that frequently at recess she had taken Douglas, a scrubby forlorn child by the hand. She often did that with the children; it had obviously meant a lot to Douglas. For herself, she was grateful for the chance, in whatever small way, to give self-effacingly to others.
Harold Buetow in ‘God Still Speaks: Listen!’
Truly Humble
An arrogant American musician once visited the house of the great composer Beethoven, sat down at the piano and proudly began to play Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata. When he had finished, he asked the concierge, “I suppose many celebrities come here?” “Yes,” replied the man, “Pederewski was here last week.” The American continued, “And did he play the piano too?” “No,” said the old concierge, “He said he wasn’t worthy.” Ignacy Jan Pererewski was a brilliant Polish pianist, composer, orator, writer, social worker and philosopher who eventually became Prime Minister of Poland in 1919. He was deeply humble and is a model of what today’s readings exhort us to be.
Francis Gonsalves in ‘Sunday Seeds for Daily Deeds’
An arrogant American musician once visited the house of the great composer Beethoven, sat down at the piano and proudly began to play Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata. When he had finished, he asked the concierge, “I suppose many celebrities come here?” “Yes,” replied the man, “Pederewski was here last week.” The American continued, “And did he play the piano too?” “No,” said the old concierge, “He said he wasn’t worthy.” Ignacy Jan Pererewski was a brilliant Polish pianist, composer, orator, writer, social worker and philosopher who eventually became Prime Minister of Poland in 1919. He was deeply humble and is a model of what today’s readings exhort us to be.
Francis Gonsalves in ‘Sunday Seeds for Daily Deeds’
****
ILLUSTRATIONS:
1. Cross walk
It may begin with a phone call in the middle of the night: a
child has been in an accident, a parent has suddenly taken ill.
Or it may take the form of a lesson plan you struggle to
lead your students through — kids who are for more interested in video games
than subject/verb agreement, algebraic equations, or the Gospel of Luke.
It may be trying to keep peace in the family despite a
disagreeable relative or struggling to keep the project going while dealing
with a clueless boss or an incompetent team member.
It can come as ridicule or addiction. It is often
formed by the intersecting beams of despair and abandonment, of exhaustion and
anger.
It may be the money you have — or the money you don’t
have. It may be the passion you have for a cause or the compassion
you feel for the victims.
The cross — those struggles and challenges we can’t avoid,
those people and situations we try to sidestep, the hard reality that forces us
to delay our hopes and abandon our dreams.
But the cross is not necessarily a death sentence or an
instrument of torture. In the right hands, the cross can be a means
of healing, an instrument for transformation, a vehicle for
resurrection. It begins with realizing that another set of hands
carries that cross with us, that another shoulder bears the load with us.
*******************
2. Christ’s.
To follow Jesus of Nazareth requires us to take up the
cross. We never know precisely when or how the cross falls to us:
deep darkness of mind or heart, aching and persistent loneliness, foreclosure
of a future, immeasurable loss, diminishment, breakdowns in society, the burden
of speaking the truth. But when the cross presents itself, we must
pick it up and follow Jesus. As we walk, the wide road leads to a
narrow way; ruts and obstacles jolt us on the journey. Jesus is just
ahead of us, but we see him through a glass darkly. Not much is
clear. Faith and love, hope and prayer are the meat and bread and
drink that sustain us, along with the example of the saints who have walked
this way before us — and who walk with us now.
[From an essay by M. Shawn Copeland in America, January 26,
2007.]
***************************
3. Bid for Heaven ( Fr.
John Speekman)
It happened when I was staying at the home of one of my many
sisters and one of her daughters came home from school. She was about 15 at the
time and she was not in a good mood.
'Mum' she said 'you'll never guess what happened during
Religious Education today. We had an auction and we were all given $1000
dollars to spend. The teacher was auctioning things like popularity, good
looks, sporting ability, fame, wealth, and so on. Down the bottom of the list
was heaven.'
'I wanted heaven and so when my turn to bid came I said
'$500 for heaven'.
'Well, mum, you know Michelle, the girl who doesn't like me,
she doesn't even believe in God, well, she knew I was after heaven and so when
her turn came she said, '$1000 for heaven.'
'And she got heaven, Mum, and I didn't!'
My sister and I couldn't help laughing, which didn't help
matters, and finally she said, 'Well, what does that show you?'
My niece replied, 'I should have given everything and not
tried to bargain.'
4. The mark of a great
leader
is the demands he makes upon his followers. The Italian
freedom fighter Garibaldi offered his men only hunger and death to free Italy.
Winston Churchill told the English people that he had nothing to offer them but
"blood, sweat, toil, and tears" in their fight against the enemies of
England. Jesus demanded that his followers carry a cross. A sign of
death.
Andrew died on a cross
Simon was crucified
Bartholomew was flayed alive
James (son of Zebedee) was beheaded
The other James (son of Alphaeus) was beaten to death
Thomas was run through with a lance
Matthias was stoned and then beheaded
Matthew was slain by the sword
Peter was crucified upside down
Thaddeus was shot to death with arrows
Philip was hanged
The demands that Jesus makes upon those who would follow him
are extreme. Christianity is not a Sunday morning religion. It is a hungering
after God to the point of death if need be. It shakes our foundations, topples
our priorities, pits us against friend and family, and makes us strangers in
this world...
___________________________
5. You know the feeling.
It is between 2 and 3 in the afternoon - the "pit in
the pm" in the words of biorhythm experts. Energy ebbs. Eyelids sag. Your
attention span becomes goldfish-short (3 seconds). You are wiped out, wozzy and
snoozy. The urge to grab a cat-nap becomes overwhelming. God invented coffee,
and energy drinks, for this time of day. Fighting fatigue we all look for ways
to revive, reboot, refresh ourselves for the second half of our
day.
How many of us this morning long to revive, reboot, refresh
ourselves for the second half of our lives? The second half of high school? The
second half of college? The second half of our career path? The second half of
our family's life? The second half our retirement plan? The most basic law of
life is that "things change" and "nothing stays the same."
But the most challenging aspect of life is how we deal with this "law of
life." Things change. In the words of our kids, "Deal with it. Get
over it. Or get help."
From prison Paul wrote a letter to his friend, his
co-worker, his trusted church and Christian community leader. In this letter
Paul challenges Philemon to "refresh" himself and reboot his
attitudes and expectations. But instead of being confrontational or combative,
Paul's highly personal letter is a model of how much easier it is to attract
flies with honey than with vinegar. Paul's focus is not on confronting
Philemon, but on congratulating and celebrating this Christian
colleague.
From the initial greeting Paul asserts that Philemon is a
"dear friend and co-worker." In the "thanksgiving" section
(vss. 4-7) of this letter, Paul praises Philemon for his "love"
("agape") and his faith ("pistos") towards "all the
saints" and towards "the Lord Jesus." Paul also thanks Philemon
for "sharing" his faith and for making his faith
"effective" - that is, active - in the world. Faith alive is not
static. Faith alive is an active, growing, dynamic thing...
_____________________
6. A Picture of
Discipleship Drawn from the Military
Jesus draws a picture of discipleship from the military. To
be a soldier means getting into battle, risking your life. In other words,
Christianity isn't lived in a vacuum. There are struggles and conflicts. Our
hymn, "Onward Christian Soldiers," reflects the fact that we must
fight when demonic forces attack us in life. A Christian must be willing to do
spiritual battle for Christ. That's a high cost.
Soren Kierkegaard said that there are a lot of parade-ground
Christians who wear the uniforms of Christianity, but few who are willing to do
battle for Christ and his kingdom. When it comes to doing battle for the Lord,
too many church members are just sitting on the premises instead of leaning on
the promises of God.
Ron Lavin, Sermons for Sundays After Pentecost (Middle
Third): Only the Lonely, CSS Publishing Company, Inc.
_____________________________________________
A religion that gives nothing, costs nothing, and suffers
nothing, is worth nothing.
Martin Luther
_________________________
7. How Will the Church Be
Lighted?
Several centuries ago in a mountain village in Europe, a
wealthy nobleman wondered what legacy he should leave to his townspeople. He
made a good decision. He decided to build them a church. No one was permitted
to see the plans or the inside of the church until it was finished. At its
grand opening, the people gathered and marvelled at the beauty of the new
church. Everything had been thought of and included. It was a
masterpiece.
But then someone said, "Wait a minute! Where are the
lamps? It is really quite dark in here. How will the church be lighted?"
The nobleman pointed to some brackets in the walls, and then he gave each
family a lamp, which they were to bring with them each time they came to
worship.
"Each time you are here'" the nobleman said,
"the place where you are seated will be lighted. Each time you are not
here, that place will be dark. This is to remind you that whenever you fail to
come to church, some part of God's house will be dark"
That's a poignant story, isn't it? And it makes a very
significant point about the importance of our commitment and loyalty to the
church. The poet Edward Everett Hale put it like this:
I am only one,
but still I am one.
I cannot do everything,
But still I can do something;
And because I cannot do everything
I will not refuse to do the something I can do.
What if every member of your church supported the church
just as you do? What kind of church would you have? What if every single member
served the church, attended the church, loved the church, shared the church,
and gave to the church exactly as you do? What kind of church would you
be?
James W. Moore, Some Things Are Too Good Not To Be True,
Dimensions: Nashville, 1994. pp. 117-118.
_______________________
8. The Right Stuff
"The right stuff" describes the qualities of
character, competence, and temperament possessed by the early astronauts. They
had "the right stuff" for the job and all of us admired them for
this. In terms of American history, they are kin to those sturdy folk who first
settled this nation, as well as those who later broke out of the confines of
the eastern seaboard and courageously headed into the western wilderness. Some
years ago there was a book about these latter heroes titled Men to Match My
Mountains, telling the story of those who had the tough, "right
stuff" to stretch this country from coast to coast.
Jesus is certainly talking about having "the right
stuff" in this passage. He is telling us what it would take then, and what
it takes now, to be his follower. There is no soft sentimentalism in these
words of his. He says that the disciple must be prepared to part with family,
to endure suffering, to face enormity of the task, and to give up everything
for the sake of the Kingdom. Here, compressed in these brief verses, is the
delineation of the "right stuff" required of anyone who accepts
Jesus' offer to follow him.
Wallace H. Kirby, If Only..., CSS Publishing Company
______________________________
9. Are You God's Wife?
A little boy about 10 years old was standing before a shoe
store on the roadway, barefooted, peering through the window, and shivering
with cold. A lady approached the boy and said, "My little fellow, why are
you looking so earnestly in that window?" "I was asking God to give
me a pair of shoes," was the boys reply. The lady took him by the hand and
went into the store and asked the clerk to get half a dozen pairs of socks for
the boy. She then asked if he could give her a basin of water and a towel. He
quickly brought them to her. She took the little guy to the back part of the
store and removing her gloves, knelt down, washed his little feet, and dried
them with a towel. By this time the clerk returned with the socks. Placing a
pair upon the boy's feet, she purchased him a pair of shoes. She tied up the
remaining pairs of socks and gave them to him. She patted him on the head and
said, "No doubt, my little fellow, you feel more comfortable now?" As
she turned to go, the astonished lad caught her by the hand, and looking up in
her face, said, "Are you God's wife?"
Traditional
_________________________
10. Unexpected Cost
When I was in college I was one of several young men who
decided to go to work on the section gang of the railroad during the summer vacation.
At that time, there was very little automation on the railroad, and most of the
work was done by manual labour. Many people warned us about the job. It was a
hot job ... very, very hot. It was difficult. Everything out there was heavy.
It was a dirty job, and to some extent, it was dangerous. But the pay was most
attractive. None of us could make as much money doing anything else in the
summer. So we went to work on the railroad, and only one of the five of us
lasted the first week. It was too tough or we were too weak. We thought we were
ready for this tough job, but we were not. We had not accurately counted the
cost.
Thomas C. Short, Good News for the Multitudes, CSS
Publishing
____________________________
The demand for absolute liberty brings men to the depths of
slavery.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Cost of Discipleship
_________________________
There are three conversions necessary: the conversion of the
heart, the mind and the purse. Of these three, it may well be that we moderns
find the conversion of the purse the most difficult.
Martin Luther
_________________________
11. The Word Hate
"If anyone comes after me and does not hate ..."
"Hate" is not primarily a feeling word in the Aramaic language, the
language Jesus spoke. It is primarily a priority word. It means to abandon or
to leave aside; the way a sailor needs to abandon a sinking ship or the way a
general needs to leave aside distracting things to win his battle.
John G. Lynch, Troubled Journey, CSS Publishing Company.
___________________________
From Father Tony Kadavil's Collection:
1. We will drill you, and drill you, then drill you again:
Each Fall, a lot of young boys aspire to become football players. But only a few will find their way onto the high school or university teams. Every year a coach challenges the hopefuls, explaining the cost involved: “Your muscles will ache from calisthenics. We'll run you till you think you can run no more. We will drill you and drill you, then drill you again, every day, after school. There'll be no drugs, no alcohol. Only if you work hard will you make the team. If you don't, you won't.” The personal, economic, and emotional cost of becoming an Olympic or professional athlete is still higher. Young children spend hours a day practicing their skills and submitting themselves to rigorous programs of diet and exercise to become great gymnasts or dancers. Others accept the cost of dedicating years to study and hard work to become outstanding doctors or lawyers or scientists or writers. In today’s gospel, Jesus challenges his would-be followers to calculate the cost in following him, because they will have to leave their families and possessions and accept the pain and suffering involved in following him as true disciples.
2. Hating father and mother:
St. Thomas More was the Lord Chancellor, when Henry VIII was
the King of England. More was a successful lawyer, a great linguist and a
renowned spiritual and political writer. His book, Utopia, has become a
classic. When he refused to take an oath supporting the Act of Succession,
which recognized the offspring of Henry and his second wife Anne Boleyn, as the
heir to the throne, declaring Henry’s first marriage with Catherine as null and
void, and repudiating the Pope, he was imprisoned in the Tower of London in the
year 1534. He honestly could not approve Henry’s second marriage to Anne, and
he could not acknowledge the King as the supreme head of the Church of England.
His family implored him – for his sake and theirs – to take the oath. More's
beloved daughter, Margaret, took an oath to persuade him to do so, in order
that the family might visit him in prison. With More's wife and
son-in-law, Margaret tried hard, but Thomas refused. He spent fifteen lonely
months imprisoned in the Tower of London – in poor health, isolated from the
other prisoners, deprived of his beloved books; not even paper and pen were
given to him. Thomas More was convicted of treason, sentenced to death and, on
July 6th 1535, he was beheaded. On mounting the scaffold, More proclaimed that
he was ‘the king’s good servant but God’s first’. St. Thomas More paid the
price for his discipleship by loving God more than his wife, children, nay,
even his life. (John Rose in John’s Sunday Homilies).
3. “The beauty remains; the pain passes.”
During the last several years of his life, the famous
French artist, Auguste Renoir, was virtually crippled by arthritis. But he
continued to paint every day. His wife Alice had to insert the paintbrush
between his fingers in order for him to continue his work. One day his close
friend, the famous artist Henri Matisse, watching Auguste paint while he
suffered excruciating pain at each colorful stroke, asked him, “Auguste, why do
you continue to paint when you are in such agony?” Auguste Renoir’s response was
immediate, “The beauty remains; the pain passes.” Passion for his art empowered
Renoir to paint until the day he died. Those who continue to admire the
enduring beauty of his smiling portraits, his landscapes, his still-life
studies of flowers and fruit will find no trace therein of the pain required to
create them. Most will agree that the cost was worth it. In today’s gospel
Jesus tells us that following him as a true disciple is costly, but the reward
is worth the suffering involved.
***
The mark of a great leader is the demands he makes upon his
followers. The Italian freedom fighter Garibaldi offered his men only hunger
and death to free Italy. Winston Churchill told the English people that he had
nothing to offer them but "blood, sweat, toil, and tears" in their
fight against the enemies of England. Jesus demanded that his followers carry a
cross. A sign of death.
Andrew died on a cross
Simon was crucified
Bartholomew was flayed alive
James (son of Zebedee) was beheaded
The other James (son of Alphaeus) was beaten to death
Thomas was run through with a lance
Matthias was stoned and then beheaded
Matthew was slain by the sword
Peter was crucified upside down
Thaddeus was shot to death with arrows
Philip was hanged
The demands that Jesus makes upon those who would follow him are extreme. Christianity is not a Sunday morning religion. It is a hungering after God to the point of death if need be. It shakes our foundations, topples our priorities, pits us against friend and family, and makes us strangers in this world...
In a jewelry store window of a large shopping center, a sign
was posted which read: "Crosses for sale, half-price." That sign just
set my mind to reeling with its implications.
In our culture it means very little to wear a cross. For many it is a meaningless piece of jewelry. When the singer Madonna wears a cross, her audience does not presume she is making a faith statement. Perhaps a fashion statement, but not a faith statement.
I am convinced that were it not for all the jewelry, lots of major league baseball players could steal more bases. All that stuff slows them down. When that 300 hitter steps to the plate with a cross dangling from his ear, neither the sportscasters nor the fans presume that he is making a faith statement. People wear lots of jewelry these days, including crosses, around the neck, on fingers, in ears, attached to navels and noses. For thousands of people, the cross is just one more popular piece of jewelry without any clear symbolism.
Contrast our situation with some cultures where today the cross can cost you your life. In Nepal today there are 168 people in the court system charged with nothing more than being Christians. Recently a Christian named Abraham was killed in India by a hostile Hindu group. Bishop Dolok of Indonesia returned home to find that Muslim groups had burned down many of his churches, and one pastor's family was burned to death within the church building. Christians today are the most persecuted religious group in the world, and the persecution is intensifying. Crosses are not cheap everywhere.
Jesus said, "If anyone wants to be my follower, he must deny himself, take up his cross dally, and follow me." In that context, a cross refers to some suffering or sacrifice that you undertake voluntarily out of love for Christ and concern for other people. Carrying a cross will not earn you a ticket to heaven. Those tickets are free gifts from God, paid for by Christ on a cross. But if you have received that free gift of salvation....
__________________________
A Picture of Discipleship Drawn from the Military
Jesus draws a picture of discipleship from the military. To be a soldier means getting into battle, risking your life. In other words, Christianity isn't lived in a vacuum. There are struggles and conflicts. Our hymn, "Onward Christian Soldiers," reflects the fact that we must fight when demonic forces attack us in life. A Christian must be willing to do spiritual battle for Christ. That's a high cost.
Soren Kierkegaard said that there are a lot of parade-ground Christians who wear the uniforms of Christianity, but few who are willing to do battle for Christ and his kingdom. When it comes to doing battle for the Lord, too many church members are just sitting on the premises instead of leaning on the promises of God.
Ron Lavin, Sermons for Sundays After Pentecost (Middle Third): Only the Lonely, CSS Publishing Company, Inc.
____________________
A religion that gives nothing, costs nothing, and suffers
nothing, is worth nothing.
Martin Luther
_____________________
How Will the Church Be Lighted?
Several centuries ago in a mountain village in Europe, a wealthy nobleman wondered what legacy he should leave to his townspeople. He made a good decision. He decided to build them a church. No one was permitted to see the plans or the inside of the church until it was finished. At its grand opening, the people gathered and marveled at the beauty of the new church. Everything had been thought of and included. It was a masterpiece.
But then someone said, "Wait a minute! Where are the lamps? It is really quite dark in here. How will the church be lighted?" The nobleman pointed to some brackets in the walls, and then he gave each family a lamp, which they were to bring with them each time they came to worship.
"Each time you are here'" the nobleman said, "the place where you are seated will be lighted. Each time you are not here, that place will be dark. This is to remind you that whenever you fail to come to church, some part of God's house will be dark"
That's a poignant story, isn't it? And it makes a very significant point about the importance of our commitment and loyalty to the church. The poet Edward Everett Hale put it like this:
I am only one,
but still I am one.
I cannot do everything,
But still I can do something;
And because I cannot do everything
I will not refuse to do the something I can do.
What if every member of your church supported the church just as you do? What kind of church would you have? What if every single member served the church, attended the church, loved the church, shared the church, and gave to the church exactly as you do? What kind of church would you be?
James W. Moore, Some Things Are Too Good Not To Be True, Dimensions: Nashville, 1994. pp. 117-118.
_________________
The Right Stuff
"The right stuff" describes the qualities of character, competence, and temperament possessed by the early astronauts. They had "the right stuff" for the job and all of us admired them for this. In terms of American history, they are kin to those sturdy folk who first settled this nation, as well as those who later broke out of the confines of the eastern seaboard and courageously headed into the western wilderness. Some years ago there was a book about these latter heroes titled Men to Match My Mountains, telling the story of those who had the tough, "right stuff" to stretch this country from coast to coast.
Jesus is certainly talking about having "the right stuff" in this passage. He is telling us what it would take then, and what it takes now, to be his follower. There is no soft sentimentalism in these words of his. He says that the disciple must be prepared to part with family, to endure suffering, to face enormity of the task, and to give up everything for the sake of the Kingdom. Here, compressed in these brief verses, is the delineation of the "right stuff" required of anyone who accepts Jesus' offer to follow him.
Wallace H. Kirby, If Only..., CSS Publishing Company
__________________________________
Are You God's Wife?
A little boy about 10 years old was standing before a shoe store on the roadway, barefooted, peering through the window, and shivering with cold. A lady approached the boy and said, "My little fellow, why are you looking so earnestly in that window?" "I was asking God to give me a pair of shoes," was the boys reply. The lady took him by the hand and went into the store and asked the clerk to get half a dozen pairs of socks for the boy. She then asked if he could give her a basin of water and a towel. He quickly brought them to her. She took the little guy to the back part of the store and removing her gloves, knelt down, washed his little feet, and dried them with a towel. By this time the clerk returned with the socks. Placing a pair upon the boy's feet, she purchased him a pair of shoes. She tied up the remaining pairs of socks and gave them to him. She patted him on the head and said, "No doubt, my little fellow, you feel more comfortable now?" As she turned to go, the astonished lad caught her by the hand, and looking up in her face, said, "Are you God's wife?"
Traditional
___________________________________
Unexpected Cost
When I was in college I was one of several young men who decided to go to work on the section gang of the railroad during the summer vacation. At that time, there was very little automation on the railroad, and most of the work was done by manual labor. Many people warned us about the job. It was a hot job ... very, very hot. It was difficult. Everything out there was heavy. It was a dirty job, and to some extent, it was dangerous. But the pay was most attractive. None of us could make as much money doing anything else in the summer. So we went to work on the railroad, and only one of the five of us lasted the first week. It was too tough or we were too weak. We thought we were ready for this tough job, but we were not. We had not accurately counted the cost.
Thomas C. Short, Good News for the Multitudes, CSS Publishing
___________________
The demand for absolute liberty brings men to the depths of slavery.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Cost of Discipleship
___________________
There are three conversions necessary: the conversion of the
heart, the mind and the purse. Of these three, it may well be that we moderns
find the conversion of the purse the most difficult.
Martin Luther
______________________
The Word Hate
"If anyone comes after me and does not hate ..." "Hate" is not primarily a feeling word in the Aramaic language, the language Jesus spoke. It is primarily a priority word. It means to abandon or to leave aside; the way a sailor needs to abandon a sinking ship or the way a general needs to leave aside distracting things to win his battle.
John G. Lynch, Troubled Journey, CSS Publishing Company.
_______________________
Knowing Our Business
Some of us had the joy of listening to one of our generation's truly great preachers, Fred Craddock when he was chaplain at Chautauqua for a week. One morning he told a story from the early years of his ministry in Custer City, Oklahoma, a town of about 450 souls. There were four churches there, a Methodist church, a Baptist church, a Nazarene church, and a Christian church (where Fred served). Each had its share of the population on Wednesday night, Sunday morning, and Sunday evening. Each had a small collection of young people, and the attendance rose and fell according to the weather and whether it was time to harvest the wheat.
But the most consistent attendance in town was at the little café where all the pickup trucks were parked, and all the men were inside discussing the weather, and the cattle, and the wheat bugs, and the hail, and the wind, and is there going to be a crop. All their wives and sons and daughters were in one of those four churches. The churches had good attendance and poor attendance, but the café had consistently good attendance, better attendance than some of the churches. They were always there - not bad men, but good men, family men, hard-working men.
Fred says the patron saint of the group that met at the café was named Frank. Frank was seventy-seven when they first met. He was a good, strong man, a pioneer, a rancher and farmer, and a prospering cattle man too. He had been born in a sod house; he had his credentials, and all the men there at the café considered him their patron saint. "Ha! Old Frank will never go to church."
Fred says....
*****
Fr. Tony Kadavil's Collection:
1: ‘We will drill you and drill you, then drill you
again.” Each Fall, a lot of young boys aspire to become football players. But
only a few will find their way onto the high school or university teams. Every
year a coach challenges the hopefuls, explaining the cost involved: “Your
muscles will ache from calisthenics. We’ll run you till you think you can run
no more. We will drill you and drill you, then drill you again, every day,
after school. There’ll be no drugs, no alcohol. Only if you work hard will you
make the team. If you don’t, you won’t.” The personal, economic, and emotional
cost of becoming a professional athlete or an Olympics Medalist is still
higher. Young children spend hours a day practicing their skills and submitting
themselves to rigorous programs of diet and exercise to become great gymnasts
or dancers. Others accept the cost of dedicating years to study and hard work
to become outstanding doctors or lawyers or scientists or writers. In today’s
Gospel, Jesus challenges his would-be followers to calculate the cost in
following him, because they will have to leave their families and possessions
and accept the pain and suffering involved in following him as true disciples.
2: Hating father and mother: St.
Thomas More was the Lord Chancellor, when Henry VIII was the King of England.
More was a successful lawyer, a great linguist and a renowned spiritual and
political writer. His book, Utopia, has become a classic. When
he refused to take an oath supporting the Act of Succession, which
a) recognized the offspring of Henry and his second wife Anne Boleyn as the
heir to the throne; b) declared Henry’s first marriage with Catherine as null
and void, and c) repudiated the Pope, More was imprisoned in the Tower of
London in the year 1534. Thomas More could not, with any honesty, approve
Henry’s second marriage to Anne, and he could not acknowledge the King as the
supreme head of the Church of England. His family implored him – for his sake
and theirs – to take the oath. More’s beloved daughter, Margaret, took an oath
to persuade him to do so, in order that the family might visit him in prison.
With More’s wife and son-in-law, Margaret tried hard, but Thomas refused. He
spent fifteen lonely months imprisoned in the Tower of London – in poor health,
isolated from the other prisoners, deprived of his beloved books; not even
paper and pen were given to him. Thomas More was convicted of treason,
sentenced to death and, on July 6th, 1535, he was beheaded. On
mounting the scaffold, Thomas More proclaimed that he was “the king’s good
servant but God’s first.” St. Thomas More paid the price for his discipleship
by loving God more than his wife, children, nay, even his life. (John Rose in
John’s Sunday Homilies).
3: “The beauty remains; the pain passes.” French
artists Henri Matisse and Auguste Renoir were close friends and frequent
companions despite the fact that Renoir was twenty-eight years the senior of
Matisse. During the last several years of his life, Renoir was virtually
crippled by arthritis; nevertheless, he painted every day, and when his fingers
were no longer supple enough to hold the brush correctly, he had his wife,
Alice, attach the paintbrush to his hand in order that he might continue his
work. Matisse visited him daily. One day, as he watched his older friend
wincing in excruciating pain with each colorful stroke, he asked, “Auguste, why
do you continue to paint when you are in such agony?” Renoir’s response was
immediate, “The beauty remains; the pain passes.” Passion for his art empowered
Renoir to paint until the day he died; those who continue to admire the
enduring beauty of his smiling portraits, his landscapes, his still life
studies of flowers and fruit will find no trace therein of the pain required to
create them. Most will agree that the cost was worth it.
(Patricia Datchuck Sánchez).
4) President in search of a true Christian disciple: Abraham
Lincoln was debating whom to hire as Indian Commissioner. He called his
advisors Ben Wade and Senator Daniel Voorhees for assistance in selecting the
right man. “Gentlemen,” said President Lincoln, “I want an honest, decent,
caring, moral Christian man, a man frugal and self-sacrificing!” “Mr.
President, I feel certain you won’t find him,” said Voorhees. “And why
not?” asked the President. “Because he was Jesus of Nazareth who was
crucified eighteen hundred years ago,” said the Senator.
5) Christian burial for a non-disciple? One morning
Rev. Desmond went to the front door of his rectory to get his newspaper and
found a dead mule on the street. He quickly called the city health
department and asked to have the mule disposed of. The smart
secretary on duty said, “Hey, Reverend Pastor, I always heard that you pastors
buried your own dead even if they are not practicing Christian disciples”.
“Yes, we do, “the pastor, replied. “But not in all cases. In this case, I
would like to meet the deceased’s close relatives in the Health Department in
person to offer my condolences and to give a special blessing!
6) Prince George of England learning the alphabet using
Bible sentences: (Different from A for Apple style): https://youtu.be/JhJ1EDyUbpc
19-Additional anecdotes
1) Cheap grace and costly grace: During the era
of World War II, the great German Protestant theologian, Dietrich
Bonhoeffer (1906-1945), wrote a book entitled The Cost of Discipleship.
“’Cheap grace,’” Bonhoeffer wrote in his book “is the grace we bestow
on ourselves…grace without discipleship, while ‘costly grace’ is the
Gospel that must be sought again and again, the gift, which must be asked for,
the door at which a man must knock… It is costly because it costs a man
his life, and it is grace because it gives a man the only true
life.” As a religious scholar in a country where the Nazis were
bent on expanding an ideology of national and racial superiority, Dietrich
Bonhoeffer struggled inside himself and chose to resist the Nazis as a true
disciple of Christ. He joined the underground in the conviction that it was his
duty as a Christian to work for Hitler’s defeat. His convictions inspired
many to resist, but this cost them their freedom and lives at the hands of the
Gestapo. Bonhoeffer’s theologically rooted opposition to National Socialism
first made him a leader, along with Martin Niemoeller and Karl Barth,
as an advocate on behalf of the Jews. Indeed, his efforts to help a group
of Jews to escape to Switzerland were the cause of his arrest and imprisonment
in the spring of 1943. He was hanged in the concentration camp at Flossenbürg
on April 9, 1945, on the false charge of plotting to assassinate Hitler. Thus,
he paid the cost of discipleship with his life and death.
2) The cost paid by great musicians: Someone
once said to Paderewski, the great pianist, “Sir, you are a genius.” He
replied, “Madam, before I was a genius, I was a drudge.” He continued: “If I
missed practice one day, I noticed it; if I missed practice two days, the
critics noticed it; if I missed three days, my family noticed it; if I missed
four days, my audience noticed it.” It is reported that after one of Fritz
Kreisler’s concerts a young woman said to him, “I would give my life to be able
to play like that.” He replied, “That’s what I gave.” The door is narrow. Why
should we think we can “drift” into the Kingdom of God? The Christian life is a
constant striving to do the will of God as Jesus revealed it. We need to strive
because there are forces of evil within us and around us, trying to pull us
down.
3) The cost of discipleship for Dr. David Livingston.
Livingston was a brilliant scholar. He studied Greek, theology, went to Glasgow
University and graduated with a degree in Medicine. He could have been anything
he wanted to be: a professor, an author, a doctor. But God had called him to
the mission field in the interior of Africa where no white man had ever
entered. The sacrifice he made was incredible. While he was out in the bush,
preaching the Gospel one day, a huge lion leaped on him, clamped its teeth on
his shoulder and crushed it, leaving his left arm totally useless. One of his
helpers killed the lion and saved him. He was taken back to Scotland for
treatment. Through that ordeal, Livingston was nursed back to health by a woman
named, Mary, who became his wife. She went with him to Africa. As the years
passed, they had five children. While they were crossing one of those vast
plains of Africa, one of their children died. They concluded that it would be
safer for his wife and four remaining children to go back to Scotland.
Livingston said that decision was the most difficult of his life. They left,
and for five years Livingston did not see the faces of his wife and children.
The loneliness was unbearable. Finally, when Livingston was able to return home
to see his relatives, it was to see them returning from the cemetery after
burying his beloved father. Another price had been paid. Many years after his
return to Africa he received a letter that caused his heart to leap. The
children were now grown, and Mary was coming to Africa. But she had barely arrived
when she was struck down by an African fever. Dr. Livingston used every ounce
of his medical skill to try to save her, but he could not. He buried his wife
under a huge African Baobab tree. After having a short memorial service, he
went back to his cottage and wept like a baby. He wrote that day in his diary:
“My Jesus, my King, my Life, my All; I again dedicate my whole self to Thee. I
shall place no value on anything I possess or on anything I do except in
relation to the Kingdom of Christ.” Was his sacrifice worth it? Well, consider
this. Twenty-five years after his death in 1900, there were ten million
Christians in Africa. Today, there are over 300 million. Nothing great is ever
done without sacrifice. But any sacrifice for Jesus is always great.
4) Cost paid by famous golf & basketball players: Arnold
Palmer, for many years, was one of America’s finest golfers. Certainly, he was
our most popular golfer. Wouldn’t it be great to be a “natural” athlete like
Arnold Palmer? Except that Arnold Palmer practiced golf eight hours a day, day
after day after day. Being a great golfer requires commitment. Some of you who
play the game are thinking to yourselves that even being a poor golfer requires
commitment! You don’t excel in athletics or anything else unless you are
willing to pay the price. Larry Bird won the Most Valuable Player award in the
National Basketball League for three years in a row. How did he achieve such
excellence? Larry Bird is legendary for his dedication to the game of
basketball. An opposing player tells of arriving at Boston Garden with his
teammates to play the Boston Celtics several hours before an important game.
There was the great Larry Bird standing at the foul line of dark, deserted
Boston Garden practicing free throws over and over again. The coach of the
opposing team preached a little sermon about dedication to the game using Larry
Bird as the prime example. Successful living requires commitment. It requires
dedication. That’s true in athletics. It is also true in business. Jesus says
in today’s Gospel that it is true in our relationship with God.
5) Cost of being soldiers of Alexander the Great: In
his world-conquering march, Alexander the Great approached a highly fortified
city and through a messenger demanded to see the king and set out his terms of
surrender. The king laughed at him and said, “Why should I surrender to your
emperor Alexander? You can’t do us any harm! We can endure any siege.” As the
messenger returned Alexander ordered his men to line up in single file and to
march towards the cliff within sight of the city walls. The city’s citizens
watched with horrified fascination as one by one Alexander officers marched
over the edge of that cliff and plunged to their deaths. After several men had
obeyed his orders, he commanded them to halt. He then called his troops back to
his side and stood silently facing the city. The effect on the citizens and the
king was stunning. From spellbound silence they moved to absolute terror. They
realized they had no walls thick enough and no defense strong enough to protect
themselves against that kind of commitment and that kind of devotion.
Spontaneously they rushed through the gates to surrender themselves to
Alexander the Great. That is the kind of surrender and sacrifice that Jesus is
asking for. One thing you have to say about today’s terrorists is that they are
willing to die for what they believe. The tragedy is that terrorists are more
willing to pay a price and are more willing to die for a lie than Christians
are to live for the truth.
6) Tie for no. 14: Some years ago, Time magazine
asked a group of Americans to rate one hundred famous events in history as to
their significance. The results of that poll are quite amazing. Number one was
Columbus’ discovery of America. Three events tied for fourteenth on the list:
the discovery of X-rays, the Wright brothers’ first plane flight, and the
crucifixion of Jesus. Notice that: Jesus tied for fourteenth. That poll
indicates that you and I have not done a very good job of communicating to the
world the meaning of the cross and the price Jesus paid for our salvation
7) The NCAA cross-country championship: Back in 1994,
128 runners lined up to compete in the NCAA cross-country championship in
Riverside, California. Unfortunately, one of the turns on the 10,000-meter
course was not well marked. Only five of the 128 runners stayed on the correct
path. Mike Delcavo was the first runner to notice the problem. He began waving
at the other runners to follow him, but most refused. Can you blame them?
One-hundred-and-twenty-three runners took the wrong path, only five took the
right one. What did the 123 runners think of Delcavo? He commented later, “They
thought it was funny that I went the right way.” (Leadership, Summer
1994, p. 49.) We all like to think that we’re on the right path; what a rude
awakening it would be to discover we aren’t, if we take the broad way leading
to eternal damnation.
8) Twenty million tons of cement. In 1974, in
the wake of the oil boom, the government of Nigeria decided to bring the
country at a single leap into line with most developed Western nations. The
planners calculated that to build the new roads, airfields, and military
buildings which the plan required would call for some 20 million tons of
cement. This was duly ordered and shipped by freighters from all over the
world, to be unloaded onto the docks at Lagos, Nigeria. Twenty million tons of
cement. Unfortunately, the Nigerian planners had not considered the fact that
the docks at Lagos were only capable of handling two thousand tons a day.
Working every day, it would have taken twenty-seven years to unload the ships
that were at one point waiting at sea off Lagos. These contained a third of the
world’s supply of cement much of it showing its fine quality by setting solid
in the holds of the freighters. Hasty transactions bring painful losses. Poor
planning causes disastrous results. Building a tower before counting the cost?
Three guesses!
9) “The Road Less Traveled”:
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And, sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
……….…………………………………….
And, sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
……….…………………………………….
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I–
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference (Robert Frost)
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I–
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference (Robert Frost)
10) “Beats me too.” A man remarked to a woman sitting to his
left at a Super Bowl game that he was surprised that there was an empty seat
between them. The woman said, “Oh, that belonged to my husband, but he died.”
The man offered his condolences and went on to express amazement that another
member of her family of a relative of friend hadn’t wanted to use his seat.
“Beats me too,” said the woman, “but they all insisted they needed to go to his
funeral!” How’s that for a story about values and commitment?
11) Clenched fists or open hands: African
aboriginals have an ingenious way of trapping monkeys. They carve out a small
cavity in the bark of a tree just big enough for a monkey to slip his hand in.
Then, they fill the cavity with peanuts – or ‘monkey nuts’, as we call them in
India – and lie in wait. Soon, curious monkeys come to investigate. They smell
the peanuts and sure enough one of them squeezes his hand through the cavity to
grab the nuts. But the cavity isn’t big enough for the monkey to pull out his
clenched fist. The monkey stupidly refuses to open his clenched fist and let go
of the nuts. He’s trapped. How often, like a monkey, I refuse to let go of
trifles and lose Life in the bargain. Let us listen to the conditions placed by
Jesus in today’s Gospel (Francis Gonsalves in Sunday Seeds for Daily Deeds;
quoted by Fr. Botelho).
12) Cost of architectural masterpiece of Antonio Gaudi: Visitors
touring the city of Barcelona in Spain are invariably drawn to the Sagrada
Familia (Holy Family) Church. An architectural masterpiece designed by
Antonio Gaudi, this neo-Gothic structure has been described as biological
surrealism in that it is comprised of human figures, vegetative formations,
molten-like cornices and cubistic towers, topped with twisted, mosaic-covered
finials. All of these elements are permeated by a logically ordered Marian
iconography. However, visitors are also invariably surprised to discover that,
since it was commissioned in 1882, only the choir and front of the church’s
east transept have been completed. Gaudi’s ornate and unusual architecture
proved too costly to build; therefore, behind the church’s impressive façade
stands an emptiness that bears silent witness to the lesson taught through the
twin parables in today’s Gospel, viz., that those who would become the
disciples of Jesus must first appreciate the cost, accept
it, and then be willing and prepared to persevere in
meeting that cost daily. (Patricia Datchuck Sánchez).
13) Cost of discipleship paid by a modern saint: St.
Gianna Berretta Molla understood well the cost of discipleship and all its
implications. Her canonization on May 16, 2004 was one of the last
canonizations celebrated by Pope St. John Paul II. She is a modern saint,
who died on April 28, 1962. Her husband and children were present for her
canonization. We haven’t heard a whole lot about her in the United
States, something in which we priests, and I as your pastor, are remiss.
I intend to remedy this today. Gianna Berretta was a doctor living outside of
Milan, Italy. She had a double residency and practice in pediatrics and
obstetrics/ gynecology. After she finished her residencies, her desire to
reach out to the people influenced her to open a clinic in a small town in her
native Italy. She was not a wealthy doctor; she never hesitated to give her
services free to those who could not afford to pay. A good doctor works long
hours and Gianna was no exception. Pregnant mothers felt very secure in her
care because they knew no matter what time of night, they needed her, she would
be there for them. After becoming a doctor, Gianna met and became engaged to
the man of her dreams, Pietro Molla. They were married on September 24,
1955. In November 1956, to her great joy, she became the mother of Pierluigi;
in December 1957 of Mariolina; and in July 1959 of Laura. With simplicity and
equilibrium, she harmonized the demands of mother and wife with those of her
continued practice as a doctor, all with the passion that she had for life. In
1961, Gianna became pregnant with the Molla’s fourth child. In September,
towards the end of the second month of pregnancy, she was touched by suffering
and the mystery of pain. She had developed a tumor in her uterus. She was given
the choice of having the uterus removed and thus kill the child, or risk
surgery that might save the child but kill her. She was
an Ob-Gyn. She knew the risk that her continued pregnancy brought,
but she pleaded with the surgeon to save the life of the child she was carrying
and entrusted herself to prayer and Providence. The baby’s life was saved, for
which she thanked the Lord. She spent the seven months remaining until the
birth of the child in incomparable strength of spirit and unrelenting
dedication to her tasks as mother and doctor. She worried that the baby in her
womb might be born in pain, and she asked God to prevent that. A few days
before the child was due, although trusting as always in Providence, she was
ready to give her life in order to save that of her child. She repeated
to her husband: “If you must decide between me and the child, do not hesitate
choose the child – I insist on it. Save the child.” On the morning of April 21,
1962, Gianna Emanuela was born. Despite all efforts and treatments to save both
of them, on the morning of April 28, amid repeated exclamations of “Jesus, I
love you. Jesus, I love you,” Gianna Berretta Molla died. She was 39 years old.
Was Gianna foolish for making the decision to allow
her death rather than the death of her child? Shouldn’t she have
considered staying alive for the sake of her other three children, her husband,
and even her medical practice? These arguments were presented to her by those
whom she had respected, doctors, family members, etc. But their thinking
was the thinking of the world. Gianna knew that she would accomplish nothing in
killing a child to keep her own life. The child that was saved, Gianna
Emanuela, followed in her mother’s footsteps and is now a medical doctor
and consulter to the Saint Gianna Berretta Molla Society. The cost of
discipleship seldom makes the demand on us that it made on Gianna Molla, but we
are all continually confronted with the choice of standing up for our Faith or
joining the world that rejects the Lord. (Fr. Pellegrino) Homilies.net
14) “We saw your smoke signal.” The only
survivor of a shipwreck was washed up on a small, uninhabited island. He prayed
earnestly to rescue him, and every day he scanned the horizon for help, but no
one seemed forthcoming. Exhausted, he eventually managed to build a little hut
out of driftwood to protect him from the elements and in which to store his few
possessions. One day, after scavenging for food, he arrived home to find his
little hut in flames, the smoke rolling up to the sky. The worst had happened;
everything was lost. He was stunned with grief and anger. “God, how could you
do this to me!” he cried. Early the next day, however, he was awakened by the
sound of a ship that was approaching the island. It had come to rescue him. The
weary man asked his rescuers: “How did you know I was here?” They replied: “We
saw your smoke signal.” God is at work in our lives, even in the midst of pain
and suffering. But we fail to see the invisible hand of God. (Fr. Bobby Jose).
15) The real cost of Christian discipleship is meeting
daily the demands Jesus makes upon his followers. The Italian freedom
fighter Garibaldi offered his men only hunger and death to free Italy. Winston
Churchill told the English people that he had nothing to offer them but “blood,
sweat, toil, and tears” in their fight against the enemies of England. Jesus
demands that his followers carry a cross– the sign of death.
Andrew died on a cross
Simon was crucified
Bartholomew was flayed alive
James (son of Zebedee) was beheaded
The other James (son of Alphaeus) was beaten to death
Thomas was run through with a lance
Matthias was stoned and then beheaded
Matthew was slain by the sword
Peter was crucified upside down
Thaddeus was shot to death with arrows
Philip was hanged
The demands that Jesus makes upon those who would follow him
are extreme. Christianity is not a Sunday morning religion. It is a hungering
after God, to the point of death if need be. It shakes our foundations, topples
our priorities, pits us against friend and family, and makes us strangers in
this world…
16) Calculate the cost before a war: Napoleon
Bonaparte, the French Emperor, decided to campaign against Russia, in 1812.
Napoleon was pushing on with preparations for war on a colossal scale. By the
summer of 1812 he had about 750,000 men under arms of whom 450,000 were
destined for the actual invasion. On 28 May this army of armies set out towards
East. Immense stores were collected. Two million pairs of boots were held in
reserve. The baggage was hauled by18,000 heavy draft horses, the siege-guns and
pontoons by 10,000 oxen. A million great coats had been bought. The army passed
into Russia unopposed. As Napoleon reached Moscow, he had understood the
mistake he had made. The marshals too were reluctant to march northwards. With
the first fall of snow the story of the march became an epic of human misery;
no food, no shelter, no fuel. Icy gales froze them and killed scores every
night. History testifies that it was one of the great errors of Napoleon. Out
of 450000 who had crossed into Russia only 20,000 marched back. If Napoleon had
corrected himself 430000 men who had crossed into Russia would not have lost
their lives or pushed into misery. Human history gives evidence that such human
errors have often proved fatal. The history of salvation too is a sum total of
such errors, often willful, that have estranged man from God, and God’s
interventions to make man aware of his own mistakes and of God’s offer of
mercy. (Fr. Bobby Jose) .
17) Seeing the white rabbit and chasing it: One
day, a young disciple of Christ who wanted to become everything that God had in
mind for him visited the home of an elderly Christian seeking
his advice. He had heard that this old man had never lost his love for Christ
in all the years he had known the Savior.
The old man smiled and replied, “Let me tell you a story:
One day I was sitting here quietly in the sun with my dog. Suddenly a large
white rabbit ran across in front of us. Well, my dog jumped up, and took off
after that big rabbit. He chased the rabbit over the hills with a passion.
Soon, other dogs joined him, attracted by his barking. What a sight it was, as
that pack of dogs ran barking across the creeks, up stony embankments and
through thickets and thorns! Gradually, however, one by one, the other dogs
dropped out of the pursuit, discouraged by the course and frustrated by the
chase. Only my dog continued to hotly pursue the white rabbit. In that story,
young man, is the answer to your question.” The young man sat in confused
silence. Finally, he asked, “I don’t understand. What is the connection between
the rabbit chase and the quest for God?” “You fail to understand,” answered the
older man, “because you failed to ask the obvious question— ‘Why didn’t the
other dogs continue on the chase?’ And, the answer to that question is that
they were only joining the excitement of the group. They had not seen the
rabbit. Unless you have actually seen the rabbit, the chase is just too
difficult. You will lack the passion and determination necessary to keep up the
chase.” And this brings us to the pertinent topic of this particular discourse:
Have you seen the Lord? Have you really seen Him? Do you realize
and accept that He is carrying a cross? Do you understand what it
means to be a Christian? In order to follow after Him, the first prerequisite
is that we actually see Him and understand what it means to be called to
Christian discipleship. (Rev. Byron Perrine).
18) The beggar boy or the beggar girl? A beggar
boy had staked himself on a bridge in Rome w/ an old violin on which he played
pitifully. The only people who gave money were those who felt sorry for him.
One day a man came by who after listening asked the boy if he could hold the
violin. Reluctantly, the boy surrendered his instrument. After the stranger
tuned it, he began to play a beautiful melody. Suddenly, a crowd gathered to
listen and began dropping money into the case As the crowd grew, the money
increased. When the man finished, he handed the boy his violin, along w/ the
money in the case. Who was the stranger? It was the great Paganini, the
renowned Italian violinist! Around the same time, a little beggar girl knocked
on the door of Adelina Patti, the renowned Italian-Spanish opera singer looking
for a handout. The great singer gave her no money but invited her momentarily
into her home and asked her to sing. Puzzled, the girl fulfilled her
request and sang. Patti detected a tiny spark of musical promise in the girl
and invited her to return the following day where she began to give the girl
daily lessons. The great opera diva trained the girl for seven years – when
finally, she introduced her to the world in concert. For the rest of her life,
the female urchin-turned-singer, trained by Adelina Patti, earned a large
salary and blessed multitudes of people. Of these stories –
which account do you think most portrays Jesus concept of making
disciples? Then why is it that we tend to default to the first method? Chinese
Proverb: – Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish
and you feed him for a lifetime. Discipling is teaching a man to follow Jesus
so he can feed on God for himself. It’s leading a man to take responsibility
for himself and for others. The call of every Christian is to become broken
bread and poured out wine to others until they can feed on God for themselves.
(Rev. Joseph Rogers).
19) The cost of Christian discipleship: Two
years ago in China, I met many pastors and church leaders who had suffered
terribly during the years of the Cultural Revolution under Chairman Mao and his
fanatical following of students. Their churches had been shut down, and they
had been sent to years of harsh living away from home and family for what
was called re-education on the factory floor or in the rice paddies of rural
villages. Some watched family members sent off to prison, and many endure
chronic health problems today resulting from the brutal treatment they received
in those awful years. All had productive years of ministry stolen from
them. Yet, none of the people I visited spoke of those times with bitterness or
resentment. None of them held up their personal experience as cause for special
commendation. It was simply the cost they had to bear in their time and place
for being a disciple of Jesus. One old pastor put it well: “God used those
years in the fields to help us learn how to be a church of the poor. Before
that, we had been a church of the educated, of the intellectuals. Now we know
how to be a church for the poor.” His simple eloquence reminded me of Joseph,
after his father’s death, meeting the brothers who had tried to kill him. “You
meant it for evil,” he told them, “but God meant it for good that an entire
people might live.” (Rev. John Thomas). L/19
