Daily Gospel Reflection
Join the Notre Dame family of faith. Receive God’s Word and a unique reflection in your inbox each day.
September 4, 2022
Great crowds were traveling with Jesus,
and he turned and addressed them,
“If anyone comes to me without hating his father and mother,
wife and children, brothers and sisters,
and even his own life,
he cannot be my disciple.
Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me
cannot be my disciple.
Which of you wishing to construct a tower
does not first sit down and calculate the cost
to see if there is enough for its completion?
Otherwise, after laying the foundation
and finding himself unable to finish the work
the onlookers should laugh at him and say,
‘This one began to build but did not have the resources to finish.’
Or what king marching into battle would not first sit down
and decide whether with ten thousand troops
he can successfully oppose another king
advancing upon him with twenty thousand troops?
But if not, while he is still far away,
he will send a delegation to ask for peace terms.
In the same way,
anyone of you who does not renounce all his possessions
cannot be my disciple.”
Whenever I hear today’s gospel proclaimed, I shift uncomfortably in my pew. How can Jesus, who commands us to “love one another” (Jn 13:34), also ask us to hate our parents and children?
Hoping to understand this dissonance in the English translation, I turned to the original Greek. We think of hatred as an extreme emotion—a lack of affection. The Greek word “μισέω” (miséō), however, is not incompatible with love. Instead, hating those close to us means putting God before all else, allowing no other relationship (however good in itself) to divide us from the Lord.
As a new mother, I’ve struggled to practice this invitation toward true discipleship. Caring for a newborn can feel all-consuming in both beautiful and profoundly difficult ways. How, I wonder, can I also carve out time to cultivate my spiritual life?
As I go about my day, I give glory to God by caring for the precious child he entrusted to me and communicating lovingly with my husband even when we’re both exhausted. I am learning that prioritizing my relationship with God is not a bullet point on my daily list of tasks. Instead, my love for God must suffuse each of the actions I undertake as a mother, wife, and daughter.
When asking us to hate those close to us, Jesus does not ask us to love them less. In drawing closer to the God who is love, we learn how to love one another more fully.
Prayer
Christ our King, you know well that our spirits are willing to follow you, but we are often overwhelmed by other desires. In your great love, send your Holy Spirit to drive out all that separates us from obeying your will. May we always see in you the way, the truth, and the life that leads to heaven. Give us the courage to help lead our brothers and sisters to eternal happiness with you. Amen.
Saint of the Day
The best information we have of St. Rosalia’s life comes from the evidence we have of the medieval Church’s devotion to her. Churches that are dedicated to her, inscriptions, and paintings reveal details of her life.
She was born in Sicily around 1130 to a family of nobles; she is said to be a descendant of Charlemagne.
While she was still young, she felt a call to dedicate her life to God. She left home to seek holiness in solitude and went to live in a cave near her parent’s home and spent the rest of her life in it. She lived her whole life apart from the world, consumed in prayer, and died alone and forgotten.
Five hundred years later, as a plague was troubling the nearby city of Palermo, she appeared in a vision to a victim and led him to the cave where she died. Her bones were discovered, and inscribed on the wall were these words: “I, Rosalia, daughter of Sinibald, Lord of Roses, and Quisquina, have taken the resolution to live in this cave for the love of my Lord, Jesus Christ.” Also found were a clay crucifix, a Greek cross of silver, and a string of beads (an early form of the Rosary).
Her relics were carried in procession through Palermo. Three days later the plague ended, her intercession was credited as having saved the city, and she was declared its patron.
Relics of St. Rosalia rest in the reliquary chapel in the Basilica, and her image is used here with permission from Catholic.org.
St. Rosalia, who gave her life to prayer and saved a city, pray for us!