About today
Readings
St. Irenaeus
Genesis 18: 16-33. The Lord is good and merciful – Ps 102 (103): 1-4, 8-11. Matthew 8: 18-22.
The Son of Man has nowhere to rest his head
There is a breathtaking intimacy in the way Abraham speaks to the Lord. God listens, engages, answers. When we sit open to conversation, we may realize that we are invited to the same intimacy.
Jesus reminds us that such intimacy is not necessarily easy. He “has nowhere to put his head” and those who want to follow him must open up to this radical freedom. This freedom is available to those who cultivate chastity. Not chastity as obsession, but as freedom from greed, from the need to submit creation and others to God.
Jesus’ language sounds harsh, “leave the dead to bury their dead,” but the emphasis could best be placed on the preceding “follow me”. This invitation calls us to reorientate ourselves, because an intimate relationship with Jesus gives everything else in our lives context and value.
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