23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time

Sunday, 5th September 2010

Jesus said to the crowds: “None of you can be my disciple unless you give up all your possessions”. Sometimes the teachings of Jesus seem impossible to follow, and this is certainly one of them! Because of this difficulty some people give up while others simply ignore it and go on their way. When Jesus talks about possessions he is not condemning them as evil but rather calling on us to look at the evil effect that they have on our hearts and lives and because of that to put them in their proper place. Possessions possess us so easily. The more we have the more of our energy and attention have to go into protecting what we have. We can become very self-centred and forget our responsibility to care for one another. Even within our homes and families, our possessions can become more important than the people we love. They certainly become more important than taking care of the poor of our world.

Fr. Johnny Doherty, C.Ss.R