In this section you can find a daily commentary on the Gospel of the Day.

Saturday 25 September 2021

Twenty-sixth Week in Ordinary Time

Word for today
The Gospel of Luke 9:57-62

Fit

A nest is a home, a house, a dwelling, a refuge, a shelter. It is safety, certainty, reinforcement, support, a prop, assistance, an advantage, protection, tranquility, a neighborhood, a place, a remedy, a covering, a position. A nest is the powerful man's chair, a throne, a social class, a name, a title. A nest  is a fireplace, the family, kinship, a cave. It is refuge, a home, a surname.
The man who said to Jesus: I will follow you wherever you go was seeking a lair through that choice. Jesus made haste to remind that man that by following Him and the gospel, that man would never find a lair or a nest on this earth. Instead he would find a mission and tasks without safety and support for the kingdom of Love, the kingdom of God, for humanity's benefit. Whoever follows Jesus to ensure a lair and a nest for himself is not fit for Jesus and the gospel.
Lord, let me go first and bury my father means asking to be set free, before even starting to serve the gospel and the kingdom of God, to sort out all the tasks concerning our relationship with parents, including taking care of them and following them until their death.  Jesus responds to those who choose to serve the Gospel and the kingdom of God: Let the dead bury their dead. But you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God. A hard and almost severe way of saying that every generation has to take care of itself by itself. Jesus says that those who choose to serve the gospel and the kingdom of God cannot have any other family than the humanity that they have chosen to serve. All the rest and all the others, parents included, will have to simply walk on their own.  First let me say farewell to my family at home, again, means considering the parental relationship as moreimportant than the evangelic proposal. Those who are called by Jesus to follow the gospel and to proclaim it to the world but whose hearts are chained to their familes as the heart of their treasures and who consider and deal with family members, neighbors, etc., as more authoritative, important, determinant, dominating with respect to following Jesus and his divine life proposal are not fit for the kingdom of God.