Putting Jesus First In Our Relationships
By Austin Achilke
When we love Jesus first and above all, every relationship is given its proper measure. We will be able to render the love from Jesus to our parents, spouse, children, siblings and ourselves in the right order without displacing Jesus as the first and centre of all relationships. Without putting the Lord at the centre, we end up worshipping other creatures and making them gods in our lives, seeking to possess them and ending up being slaves to them. And the truth is that although human relationships are important, such relationships cannot work out except when we place them under the Lord’s authority and guidance. [Romans 13:8-10; Psalm 112:1-2, 4-5, 9; Luke 14:25-33]
All embracing love of God for humanity.
The love of God and the love of neighbour, although distinguished, cannot be separated. We are called to love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength. What are the implications of this foundational principle? The first is that humanity is one. No one is excluded from the love of God. The second implication is the question “who is my neighbour?” The “neighbour” in Jesus’ consideration goes beyond fellow Jews, fellow Christians, or our enemies, but everyone, “just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.” (Mt 25:40) The third implication is on the relative importance of worship. Any worship that does not make us love God with all our heart, all our soul, all our mind and all our strength, and loving our neighbours as much as we love ourselves, is faulty. Can we accept that the God whom we worship is truly the God of all, even though not all know Him fully or even acknowledge Him? [Deuteronomy 6:2-6; Hebrews 7:23-28; Mark 12:28-34
Honouring the Saints.
Today, the Church rejoices in the victory of the saints in their struggle against sin and death. Saints are simply those who have lived out perfectly the life of Christ. If the Church canonizes some Catholics as saints, it is in order that the Church can provide models, exemplars of how we are called to sainthood following the path, the charisms and the circumstances we are in. We need concrete examples of Christians in our times who could show us how we can imitate Christ according to the peculiar circumstances in our lives. However, honouring the saints is not confined to merely seeing them as models but it gives us encouragement that we all belong to the communion of saints. This means that even after death, we are not cut off from our loved ones who are still on earth or with Jesus in heaven. [Revelation 7:2-4, 9-14; 1 John 3:1-3; Matthew 5:1-12]
The case for praying for the souls in purgatory.
What happens when a person who has some faith in the Lord but is not yet fully committed to Him enough to surrender his life? What happens to someone who loves the Lord but loves the world even more? How many of us can claim that we love God with our all heart, soul, mind, and strength? The reality is that for most of us our love for the Lord is neither perfect not pure. On this basis, we are called to pray for the souls in purgatory who are undergoing purification, not from mortal sins but from the lack of intense and total love for the Lord. The souls in purgatory are already saved but still not fully entered into the life of God. Purgation of their attachment to the world, letting go of their anger, hurts and pride, seeing God as their ultimate cause of happiness, accepting His unconditional love and mercy will help them to embrace God totally. Hence, we must give them support by our prayers and our love, especially offering Masses for them. [Isaiah 25:6-9; Romans 5:5-11; Mark 15:33-39]
Eternal rest grant on them, O Lord, and the perpetual light shine upon them. May they rest in peace. Amen
Distinguishing the truly big picture from the small picture.
When we adopt extreme positions with respect to the way we see each other, the values we hold, the doctrines and practices we adopt, then we will create tensions and oppositions. To ease tensions and build community, we need to hold both the big and small picture in a dynamic tension. The gospel today provides us a bigger picture with a small picture. In the parable of the lost sheep and the lost coin, the Lord reminds us that whilst the big picture is important, we must never forget that the biggest picture is concerned with the salvation of the lost, even of one soul. If every soul is important to us, we must seek to contain them, accommodate their differences and seek understanding and appreciation through sincere dialogue. We cannot dismiss and cut off those who are not able to accept certain practices of the Church. We need greater tolerance and inclusivity in the Church, realising that even if we have different views and practices, what is of utmost importance is that we have faith in the Lord and we live a life of charity. [Romans 14:7-12; Ps 27:1, 4, 13-14; Luke 15:1-10
Christ as the Conner-stone of the Church.
The Church of Christ must be able to embrace all peoples irrespective of culture, language, political and economic views, and even theological views. Only then can the Church be a Sacrament and sign of unity for the human race. If as Church we cannot embrace diversity and differences, we will never achieve unity. This is why we must bear in mind that unity is not uniformity. The strength of union does not lie in uniformity, or homogeneity but in diversity. When there is unity in spite of diversity, then that unity is solid, whereas a unity rooted in uniformity is a weak form of unity because it cannot withstand differences and diversity. What then is the basis for unity in the Church? [Ephesians 2:19-22; Luke 6:12-19]
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