Title: “The Narrow
Way of the Cross”
Gospel: Luke 14:25–33
Theme: The Radical Call of Discipleship
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
Today we are faced with one of the
most bracing and uncompromising teachings of our Lord. The Gospel of Luke tells
us:
“Whoever comes to me and does not hate
father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even his
own life, cannot be my disciple… Whoever does not carry his own cross and come
after me cannot be my disciple.”
These are hard words. But they are not
cruel.
They are words of divine clarity,
given by Christ Himself — not to drive us away, but to awaken us from spiritual
complacency.
In an age of compromise and comfort, our
Lord is calling us back to the truth — the full truth — of what it means to
be His disciple.
There is a temptation in every age,
including ours, to present a soft Gospel — a Gospel without sacrifice, without
suffering, without the Cross.
But that is not the Gospel of Jesus
Christ.
That is a counterfeit.
The real Gospel — the Gospel preached
by the Apostles, handed down through the Church, preserved in sacred Tradition
— is a Gospel of transformation.
It is a call to die to ourselves,
to put God first, to renounce sin, to strive for holiness, and to walk the
narrow way, no matter the cost.
When Jesus says, “Whoever does not
hate father and mother…”, He is not commanding hatred in the emotional
sense.
He is speaking in the Jewish idiom of preference
— to love Christ so completely that even the deepest human attachments are
secondary.
It is a warning against disordered
loves.
Even good things — family, career,
reputation — can become idols if they take precedence over our obedience to
God.
In our time, how often do people place
relationships, political loyalties, or public opinion above the truth of the
Gospel?
How many avoid speaking truth out of
fear of offending others, rather than out of love for God?
Christ is not asking us to abandon
love — but to purify it, to order it rightly.
We love our family best when we love
God first.
[Carrying the Cross: The Heart of
Discipleship]
Jesus then says, “Whoever does not
carry his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.”
To follow Christ is to follow Him
to Calvary.
There is no Christianity without the
Cross.
There is no discipleship without
sacrifice.
The saints understood this.
They embraced suffering as a path to
sanctification.
Whether it was St. Maximilian Kolbe,
offering his life in place of another in Auschwitz,
or St. Thérèse of Lisieux,
enduring hidden suffering with joyful love,
they saw the Cross not as a curse, but
as a gift — the means of their union with Christ.
In our own lives, the Cross may take
many forms: sickness, rejection, loneliness, the battle against sin, the
challenge of remaining faithful in a culture that mocks virtue.
But if we carry our crosses with
faith, they become altars of grace — places where Christ conforms us to
Himself.
[Counting the Cost: No Half Measures]
Jesus gives two examples — the man
building a tower and the king going to war.
Both must count the cost before
acting.
Christianity is not a hobby.
It is not a part-time devotion.
It is not a matter of attending Mass
once a week and then living as the world does.
To follow Christ means total
surrender.
It means daily conversion.
It means rejecting what is false, no
matter how fashionable, and standing by what is true, no matter how unpopular.
This is especially relevant in our
time, when so many moral truths — truths about life, marriage, family,
sexuality, and the sacredness of the liturgy — are being ignored or attacked.
But we are not called to blend in.
We are called to stand firm.
As St. Paul says, “Do not conform
yourselves to this age, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind” (Romans
12:2).
[Giving Up Everything for the Kingdom]
Jesus ends with a final challenge: “Anyone
of you who does not renounce all his possessions cannot be my disciple.”
He is not condemning material goods in
themselves.
He is warning us: if we cling to
the world, we cannot cling to Him.
The saints gave everything for Christ.
They left homes, lands, wealth,
comfort, and even their own lives.
Why?
Because they had found the Pearl of
Great Price.
And they knew that nothing compares
to the surpassing worth of knowing Jesus Christ.
In our own way, we are called to
detach from the things of this world — from greed, from distraction, from sin —
and to live simply, humbly, reverently, and obediently.
[The Church Needs Disciples, Not
Spectators]
The Church today needs not more
opinions, but more saints.
Not more compromise, but more conviction.
Not more spectators, but true disciples.
Christ is still calling men and women
to follow Him radically — to enter the priesthood and religious life, to live
holy marriages, to raise faithful children, to pray deeply, and to suffer
joyfully.
But this call requires courage.
It requires a willingness to lose
everything, if necessary, for the sake of Christ.
[Conclusion: The Narrow Way Leads to
Glory]
Dear friends, we are not made for
mediocrity.
We are made for holiness.
And holiness is not comfort.
It is crucifixion.
But it is also resurrection.
For whoever loses his life for Christ
will find it.
And whoever follows Him to Calvary
will one day rejoice with Him in glory.
Let us then take up our cross, deny
ourselves, and follow the One who gave everything for us.
Let us count the cost — and pay it —
for the reward is eternal life with God.
“Eye has not seen, ear has not heard,
nor has it entered into the heart of man what God has prepared for those who
love Him.” (1 Cor 2:9)
Amen.
