A Radical Call

  

Matthew 10: 34-11: 1

Not Peace, but a Sword

³⁴ “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. ³⁵ For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. ³⁶ And a person's enemies will be those of his own household. ³⁷ 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. ³⁸ And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. ³⁹ Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

Rewards

⁴⁰ “Whoever receives you receives me, and whoever receives me receives him who sent me. ⁴¹ The one who receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet's reward, and the one who receives a righteous person because he is a righteous person will receive a righteous person's reward. ⁴² And whoever gives one of these little ones even a cup of cold water because he is a disciple, truly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward.”

Messengers from John the Baptist

11 When Jesus had finished instructing his twelve disciples, he went on from there to teach and preach in their cities.

As we celebrate the Memorial of St. Benedict  whose Monastic Rule has been an immeasurable gift  to those called to the contemplative life and to the whole world itself, we look at the challenges and demands, as well as the rewards Jesus presents to all of us. The demands of these few verses take a lifetime to fulfill but present an answer to a world that ignores them and flounders in chaos. Witness the violence,  unhappiness and uncertainty we experience daily, compared to the orderly,  focused and fruitful way of life proposed by this Gospel and the Benedictine Rule. What the world and its values offer cannot compare to the joy that results  from a life based on these radical demands proposed by  Jesus. We are not all called to be monks, but we are all called to take up our cross and follow Jesus, to put the things of God first and to give what we can of ourselves and our goods, even if it be only a cup of water, to others.

Bro. Rene.