This Gospel is troublesome. I clearly remember the day I heard it. I was 19 years old and heard it at a small community church where the preacher catapulted his sermon into the air, telling us over and over to hate others.
I remember clearly hearing a preacher preach it and I turned away from that community. I knew, as we all know, that God who loves each of us so much if we really understood how much he loves us it would take our breath away.
And as Romans tells us in our first reading, the second commandment given to us is to love our neighbor as we do ourselves. So, what is the truth. What does it mean. Why would he say these things.
It is a matter of translation from one language that has a multitude of words for what we have one or at least none that compares. It is also a figure of speech and hyperbole that Jesus taught with often.
Maybe a way to explain it is like this. The love we should possess for God is so much greater than that we love for even those closest to us, that there would be no question in our mind and heart, who we prefer and who we are most thankful for.
We love our spouse but Is our spouse our rock or is Jesus?
It can be difficult since those of us in the sacrament of marriage are united in a oneness with nothing on earth like it. The trinity is similar but not quite the same. So, our love and closeness for our spouse is very much a part of who we are. We are spouses first, ahead of others and always ahead of ourselves. Every day and all our decisions and movements through life require us to ask how it will impact our wife or husband. Our spouses needs and wants should be taken into consideration first as we strive to do what is best for them always.
So, to say we must possess a love for God greater than even family or spouse is a huge ask for us.
But that my friends is the requirement to even be allowed to enter heaven. Our faith journey must lead us to that point where Gods ways and will are our way even if it leads us away from everyone we know. His presence in our life should be a requirement and need so greater than for us that nothing and no one can move our focus on God.
So should we hate others as we use that word. No. Absolutely not. No more than we would pluck out an eye or cut off a hand that led us to sin….more hyperbole.
But if we love God, truly love God with all our heart mind and soul and strength we will live what he loves which is everyone around us. All people. And the closer we are to God the more we will love those around us, including our spouse.
As children’s God it is a matter of order. When we live within the order of priorities Jesus set for us in his commandments, blessings of joy and peace and calmness are present and given to us for our world makes more sense and how we view others is more realistic.
Someone who puts their spouse first ahead of God will always be disappointed when they fail to be perfect and divine. Someone who relies on a spouse for the gifts only God can give us will always feel dissatisfied. After all only God can give us the fruits of the Holy Spirit.
We love our families. We should love our spouse intensely. And care for them above all other people.
But the love we have for God should be so much greater than any of these it is an order of magnitude different.
Comparing our love for God and our love for others is like comparing the heights of the moon to the height of a tree. It’s not even comparable.
But that is the ask.
So, we work on it. We spend more time reading and meditating.
But our task to love as we are commanded, requires a plan. We must ask what we need to do to reach our goal. It is not a task for the luke warm.
Just as a builder must develop a plan and see if they have the resources to build, we must ask ourself if we have a plan and are ready to act on it purposefully every day. Do we need to gather more resources like slowly add a schedule that allows for more prayer in order to grow in faith. Do we need to stop that same old sin again and again in order to create a place in our heart for the Holy Spirit. Have we incorporated reaching out to Mary to help us, telling her our plans and ask her to speak to her son on our behalf.
Are we ready to build a better life where we choose what to do, what to drink, what to eat, who we want to be for others and ourself? The reward is amazing and we have a God who loves us dearly and is waiting for us to love him dearly. But we need to ask ourselves what will we need to do and what does that look like.
We cannot hope to reach our Father in heaven if we don’t plan for that goal by asking each day, if we are on track. Have we arranged life and schedule and prepared our heart to focus on him?
Deacon Tony Pynes 
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