My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, parishioners of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. What a joy it is to be with all of you today, here in ...
My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, parishioners of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
What a joy it is to be with all of you today, here in this beautiful church dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Her heart, so pure and so full of love for God and for us, is a perfect image of the kind of heart we are called to have. It's with that thought in mind that I'd like us to reflect on three simple yet profound words from our readings today: Commitment, Cross, and Conversion.
First, Commitment. In our Gospel today, Jesus gives us a challenging and almost shocking call. He says we must "hate" our father, mother, spouse, and even our own lives to be his disciples. Of course, Jesus is not telling us to actually hate our families. What he's doing is using a powerful, even jarring, way of saying that our commitment to Him must be absolute. It must come before everything else in our lives.
Think about a parent who works as an OFW (Overseas Filipino Worker). They are willing to endure long years away from their family, missing birthdays and milestones, all for the sake of providing a better future for their loved ones. That is a total and selfless commitment. Jesus is asking for that same kind of commitment, but directed towards our relationship with God. He wants to be the greatest love in our lives, the one we are willing to sacrifice for.
This leads us to our second word: Cross. Jesus tells us that anyone who wishes to follow him must "carry his own cross." For many of us, the cross is not a wooden beam, but the daily struggles and sacrifices we face. Perhaps it's the frustration of the morning traffic on the way to work, the patience required to deal with a difficult family member, or the challenge of letting go of a grudge. Our reading from Philemon speaks to this, as St. Paul asks Philemon to take up the "cross" of forgiving and accepting Onesimus, a runaway slave, no longer as a slave but as a beloved brother. That act of forgiveness, that act of welcoming, is a heavy cross to bear, but it is one that leads to life.
My dear friends, what cross are you carrying today? The cross of anxiety about your job? The cross of trying to raise your children in a challenging world? Whatever it may be, Jesus is telling us not to run from it, but to embrace it with Him, because He has already carried it for us.
And this brings us to our final word: Conversion. Ultimately, our commitment and our carrying of the cross are meant to lead to a conversion of heart. The readings from both Wisdom and Philemon show us this. In Wisdom, we are told how difficult it is to know God’s plan on our own. We need to convert our earthly way of thinking to a spiritual one. In Philemon, St. Paul is asking for a radical conversion of Philemon's heart—to transform his view of Onesimus from a person of property to a person of dignity, from a slave to a brother.
I remember a story of a neighbor who was very reserved and seemed uninterested in the people around her. One day, she saw a child crying because their balloon had flown away. Without a second thought, she bought the child a new one. It was a simple gesture, but it was a sign of a heart that was being converted, a heart that was opening up and softening towards others. This is the conversion we are all called to: to see Christ in everyone, even those we find difficult to love.
So today, as we leave this church, let us reflect on these three words: Commitment: What is Jesus calling you to be truly committed to? Cross: What burden are you being asked to carry with grace? Conversion: What part of your heart is God trying to soften and transform?
May the Immaculate Heart of Mary, our patroness, pray for us and inspire us to be disciples of true commitment, to carry our crosses with grace, and to allow God to constantly convert our hearts. Amen.
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