Daily Mass Gospel Reflection- The Supreme Attachment

Word on Fire Ministry ^ | 07.17.23 | Bishop Robert Barron

[MurphsLaw]

Matthew 10:34-42,
Matthew 11:1

Friends, in today’s Gospel,
the Lord explains what it means to become a disciple.
Once we make the decision to follow Jesus,
then every other claimant to supremacy must fall away.
Every one of us has something that we consider greatest.
Perhaps it is money, material things, power, the esteem of others,
your country, your political party, or your ethnic identity.
Or perhaps it is your family,
your kids, your wife, your husband.

Now mind you, all of these are good things.
However, when you place any of them in the absolute center of gravity,
things go awry. When you make any of them your ultimate or final good,
your spiritual life goes haywire.
When you attach yourself to any of them with an absolute tenacity,
you will fall apart.

This is what Jesus means in our Gospel for today:
not that you should hate your family or country or wealth,
but rather that you should detach yourself from them lest they become idols.
And only if we do this are we truly ready for mission.
If we try to do this work while we are stuck to any number of attachments,
we will fail. Period.

[MurphsLaw]

+++Jesus said to his Apostles:
"Do not think that I have come
to bring peace upon the earth.
I have come to bring not peace
but the sword.
For I have come to set
a man against his father,
a daughter against her mother,
and a daughter-in-law against
her mother-in-law;
and one's enemies will be those
of his household.

"Whoever loves father or mother
more than me is not worthy of me,
and whoever loves son or
daughter more than me is not
worthy of me;
and whoever does not take up his cross
and follow after me is not
worthy of me.
Whoever finds his life will lose it,
and whoever loses his life for
my sake will find it.

"Whoever receives you receives me,
and whoever receives me receives
the one who sent me.
Whoever receives a prophet
because he is a prophet
will receive a prophet's reward,
and whoever receives a righteous man
because he is righteous
will receive a righteous man's reward.
And whoever gives only a cup of cold water
to one of these little ones to drink
because he is a disciple–
amen, I say to you, he will
surely not lose his reward."

When Jesus finished giving these
commands to his Twelve disciples,
he went away from that place to
teach and to preach in their towns.+++