DEACON TIM'S COLUMN 6-20-10 (FATHERS' DAY)

In the Gospel today (according to Luke) Jesus tells us “If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.” When I was teaching at Loyola on Fenkel in Detroit I would periodically take a different route and cut across Fenkel. When I did this I used to pass a store front church which had a sign in the window “The Gospel Made Easy”. I always thought about stopping in and asking “how?” The Gospel isn’t easy. Following it can become easier the more we practice (just like virtue) but it never is easy.

Each of us is continually challenged by the Gospel, challenged to follow Christ. I can only imagine having a conversation with Christ and asking him “was it easy?” I’ve got a pretty good feeling I know what the answer would be. Jesus laid out the two most important commandments, to love God and to love our neighbor as ourselves. In his public ministry he further defined these two when he gave us the Beatitudes (eight in Matthew and four in Luke) and the parables about forgiveness and love of neighbor (The Prodigal Son, The Woman Caught in Adultery, The Good Samaritan and so on).

Throughout Church history, the pages are filled with people (women, men and children) who did take up their cross and were concerned more with the life to come than the life in the here and now. These martyrs (both red and white) took up their crosses and often bore incredible hardships and suffering in following Christ.

In the second reading today from the Letter to the Galatians, Paul tells us that “There is neither Jew nor Greek, neither slave nor free person,, there is not male and female….” We are all one in Christ through our baptism. In this baptism we also become responsible for all of our sisters and brothers (in varying ways). At the very least we are called to pray for our sisters and brothers and not put any impediments in their way regarding their eternal salvation and their temporal welfare (to the best of our ability).

Blessings to all, especially to all fathers, grandfathers, step-fathers, foster fathers and all men who act as father figures.

Deacon Tim 734-502-1818 deacontim@tds.net http://shamrockdeacon.blogspot.com

www.pbjoutreach.org