13th Sunday, God Before Family

 

Saint Inocencia

“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.”

Our Lord today, reminds us of the stark reality that sometimes, we may put into positions, we must choose Him, over our family.

Here are some common ways, we can be placed in a difficult circumstance of choosing Jesus over our family.

For example: One of our relatives wants us to enter into a business agreement, which is dishonest.

Or a Catholic relative wants to get married outside of the Church in an invalid ceremony.

What if we are invited to dinner at the home of a non-practicing Catholic on a Friday during Lent, and they want to serve meat? Will eat the meat, knowing we would offend God to not offend a family member?

St. Hermenegild is a martyr for the Eucharist. Catholics only recognize properly consecrated Hosts by a priest as the true Body and Blood of Christ. This means we can't receive communion in non-Catholic churches. Non-Catholics do not believe the Eucharist is only a symbol. However, we believe the Eucharist is truly Jesus. King Leovigild and is family were Arians, who didn’t believe Jesus is God. His son, Hermenegild married the Catholic daughter of France’s King Sigebert. Her faith caused him to become Catholic. King Leovigild tried to convert his son back to Arianism. Eventually, the king captured his son, chained and locked him in a dungeon and tried force him believe false teachings about Jesus.

Hermenegild relayed to his father, he would not sway from his faith. On Easter Eve, his father tried to seduce him to change his mind by sending him an Arian Bishop to give him communion. Hermenegild refused to receive Arian communion from the hands of a heretical Bishop in what St. Gregory later called “Communion of a sacrilegious consecration.” His father sent soldiers to kill him and they went into the prison and found the saint calm and ready to die. They rushed at him, striking him with an ax over his head, killing him on April 13, 586.

St. Barbara's father did not believe in Jesus. He imprisoned his daughter in a tower. Because she secretly converted to Christianity, he turned her over to Roman authorities and beheaded her himself. As a result, he was instantly struck dead by lightning as divine punishment for killing his own daughter.

St. Innocencia loved to hear her Catholic friends talk about their First Communion. And she decided that she too wanted to become Catholic so she could receive Holy Communion. When she returned home, she told her father, she wanted to become Catholic. But her father became angry and told her to forget such foolishness.

One day, she was walking home and heard a nun teaching some girls in a home. She sat outside the window and listened to the lessons. Every day, after school, she would sit outside the window and listen to the lessons. The nun eventually saw her outside and invited her to daily come inside the house for lessons on the Eucharist. Her father was unaware that she remained in class until she could receive the Eucharist.

On the day of her first Communion, she wore a white dress that was lent her by the nun. With a communion candle in her hand, she received Holy Communion with the other children. On returning home to tell her father the good news he attacked her by stabbing her to death. The girl's body was later taken to the Cathedral in Guadalajara where it remained as a sign of her love for the Eucharist.

St. Kateri Tekakwitha's parents died from smallpox when she was young, and her aunt and uncle took care of her after that tragedy. Because she became Catholic, her non-Catholic relatives persecuted her, but she remained firm in her faith. Members of the Mohawk tribe often chastised her, which she took as a testament to her faith. Because she was persecuted by her Native American relatives, including threats on her life, she fled to an established community of Native American Christians located near Quebec, where she lived a life dedicated to prayer, penance and caring for the sick and aged.

Recall the words of Jesus: “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.” He did not come to bring peace, but rather division. Here He is speaking of earthly peace—peace between family members. But peace in one’s heart and peace with God is most important. Jesus said, “Whoever does not take up His cross and follow after me, is not worthy of me.”

Peace with God and with oneself is more important than peace with the family. If we choose God over our family member, we could be persecuted and division may occur. But, Jesus gave us these comforting words, “blessed are the persecuted the reign of God is theirs.” At times in our life when we need to be a witness to our faith, a witness to the teachings of the Church, and therefore witness to our family. Our Lord said, “If you deny Me, you will deny the One whom sent me.” As St. Peter said, “It is better to choose God than man.”

To be found not worthy of Jesus, would be terrifying at the moment of death.

As we prepare to receive Jesus in the Eucharist, let us pray for the gift of courage, that we may stand up for Jesus and His Church for what we believe. If we have a personal relationship with Jesus, we will choose to not offend Him, rather than the family.

With God’s grace, we will be like Our Lady, and St. John, the beloved apostle, who faithfully stood, with Our Blessed Lord, when He was crucified, so that we may have life, and have it abundantly, with Him, in the life to come.