Daily Reflection – 11/5/2025
Sacred Scripture
Great crowds were traveling with Jesus, and he turned and addressed them, “If any one 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. Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. Which of you wishing to construct a tower does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if there is enough for its completion? Otherwise, after laying the foundation and finding himself unable to finish the work the onlookers should laugh at him and say, ‘This one began to build but did not have the resources to finish.’ Or what king marching into battle would not first sit down and decide whether with ten thousand troops he can successfully oppose another king advancing upon him with twenty thousand troops? But if not, while he is still far away, he will send a delegation to ask for peace terms. In the same way, every one of you who does not renounce all his possessions cannot be my disciple.”( Luke 14: 25-33)
Reflection
The words of today’s Gospel need to be weighed carefully in light of their importance to our lives.
In Biblical times the expression ‘to hate’ often meant to ‘prefer less’. Jesus used strong language to make clear that nothing should take precedence or first place over God. God our heavenly Father created us in his image and likeness to be his beloved sons and daughters. He has put us first in his love and concern for our well-being and happiness. Our love for him is a response to his exceeding love and kindness towards us.
True love is costly because it holds nothing back from the beloved – it is ready to give all and sacrifice all for the beloved. God the Father gave us his only begotten Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, who freely offered up his life for us on the cross as the atoning sacrifice for our sins. His sacrificial death brought us pardon and healing, new life in the Spirit and peace with God.
Jesus willingly embraced the cross, not only out of obedience to his Father’s will, but out of a merciful love for each one of us in order to set us free from slavery to sin, Satan, and everything that would keep us from his love, truth, and goodness. Jesus knew that the cross was the Father’s way for him to achieve victory over sin and death – and glory for our sake as well. He counted the cost and said ‘yes’ to his Father’s will. If we want to share in his glory and victory, then we, too, must ‘count the cost’ and say ‘yes” to his call to “take up our cross and follow him” as our Lord and Savior.
The love of God compels us to choose who or what will be first in our lives. To place any relationship or any possession above God is a form of idolatry – worshiping the creature in place of the Creator and Ruler over all he has made. Jesus challenges his disciples to examine who and what they love first and foremost. We can be ruled and mastered by many different things – money, drugs, success, power or fame. Only one Master, the Lord Jesus Christ, can truly set us free from the power of sin, greed, and destruction.
It is an invitation not simply to acknowledge Christ, but to allow his ways, his grace and teaching, to become the guiding inspiration of our lives. Such a commitment cannot be made without the detachment that is willing to subordinate everything to the service of Christ
There is a price to be paid, and we need to know that and what it is. That price is the cross – a level of sacrifice and suffering – perhaps even of one’s life – that each one must be prepared to undergo for the sake of the Gospel and the building of the Kingdom.
Prayer of The Day
“My Lord and My God, Jesus Christ, I understand that following you is not easy. You ask me to put everything in second place to you and pick up my cross every day. I won’t be able to do this without your grace. You gave yourself so that we would be free. Against that gift, I know I must try to follow you.?
Daily Note
Jesus said in Matthew 11:28-29. ‘Come to Me. Learn of Me. Take My yoke upon you. And then you will have peace.’ Come to Jesus means to take His yoke upon us. It means that we establish a relationship with Him in which we acknowledge Him as the Lord of our life.
