Life Choices

(Lk 14:25-33 )

When you fall in love and decide to get married it involves a very serious decision. Not only are you choosing a husband or a wife but you are saying that this relationship will take precedence over all other relationships in one’s life. That is why in the Book of Genesis when Adam falls in love with God the Lord God said that a man must leave his father and mother and become one.

We all have to make choices in life and such decisions have consequences; that is what we call becoming an adult, or becoming mature. We stop following the crowd and take responsibility for our own actions and preferences. It is utterly childish to blame someone else for our decisions.

In this Sunday’s Gospel Our Blessed Lord is telling us that to be a follower of his involves making choices also and sometimes these can be very hard and unpopular. There are certain life-styles, options and ways of thinking which are contrary to the Gospel.  This is not a very popular thing to say in modern Ireland. In a culture which claims to be pluralistic to say that certain things are not in line with Christ‘s or His Church’s teaching means that you will be labelled  as fundamentalist and even unchristian. But not according to Jesus.

In this Sunday’s Gospel Jesus is quiet clear that to chose to follow him has certain consequences and we need to be aware of them. It is no use saying that I am a Catholic and I am still free to hold opinions contrary to what the Church teaches. Of course you are free to hold whatever opinions you wish but not as a Catholic.

It is now popular to think that being a Christian means you can follow the popular culture. To be a follower of Christ is rather to be at times contra-cultural. Our culture espouses the culture of self-love and self-advancement to the cost of everything else. The Gospel asks us to die to ourselves so as to live for Christ.

So as you decide to go to Mass this Sunday, remember that you are choosing a lot more than simply going to Church you are also choosing to follow Christ for the rest of the week. But be assured that the following of Christ is the only sure way to true freedom and human happiness. We are truly free when we chose the good and the right and we are truly happy when we have God in our lives. All else is a sham, offering false happiness and freedom.

Fr. John Harris OP