Daily Gospel Reflection for November 3, 2021

Join us as we reflect, ponder, and pray together inspired by today's Gospel.

Today's Gospel: Luke 14:25-33

Settling into reading today’s Gospel I pictured the "great crowds traveling with Jesus" but His words when He turned back to speak to them took me by surprise.

"If anyone comes to me without hating his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple."

Ouch! This is harsh! Surely Jesus is not telling the crowd of people they cannot be His disciples unless they hate their loved ones? Was this a misprint or was the meaning of this verse "lost in translation?" My family, especially my grandchildren, children and husband are the world to me. I love them deeply.

And they came to me from God!

In fact, everything good in life comes from Him. He gives us our loved ones, our families. Even the crosses we bear throughout life can be considered good because they strengthen our faith, our love for Him. He carries them with us, stays near us.

Today’s Gospel is telling us, a bit harshly perhaps, to love God above all others in our lives. It is just repeating what Jesus has commanded before: “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment.”

God needs to come before everyone and everything we cherish. As much as we love our families, we must love God more. God has to come first if we want to be with Him forever.

It is as simple, and harsh, as that!

Ponder:

Do I value my time with God in prayer or do I fit Him in when it is convenient for me and my family?

Pray:

Lord, help me shut out the distractions which keep me from putting You first. Give me the grace to keep my eyes, my mind, and my heart always raised in glory to You. Amen.