Homily, September 7,2025
From The Pastor
An often-unnamed quality of Jesus is his wholeheartedness. Jesus is not double minded. In the Letter of St. James, it is noted that the prayer of the double-minded person is often unheard, and if heard bears little effect. To be double minded is common in our culture. The double-minded person is uncertain about their direction in life with a weak sense of personal or inner identity. The prayer of such a person often lacks clarity in their inability to perceive and be confident in the presence or action of God. Putting other people or things before God causes God to become one more person among the crowd of other loves.
For Jesus there is only one thing: God alone. The singular identity of Jesus was his relationship with and wholehearted commitment to the Father’s love. This identity revealed itself in the passion of Jesus to make the Father’s love known to us. As the divine Son, the death of Jesus on the Cross followed by his Resurrection revealed the Father’s love for the world. The singular will of the Father is accomplished in Jesus who reconciles and unites all things in the Divine union. The Father and the Son are distinct persons united in the Holy Spirit with a singular will of Divine union with all that is.
It is in this context that we hear the words of Jesus today. Hate is a strong word that unsettles us when we are called to hate father and mother, brothers, sisters, even our own life. Hate in this setting means to become unattached too, or to separate from. What does this mean?
Individuation is an essential part of maturing into a personal sense of self beyond the identity of parents, siblings, and the collective family identity. For many, individuation is a normal and relatively easy process of maturing into adulthood. Others, for several reasons, have great difficulty in letting go of the bonds of love, security, and identity of the family unit. A maturing child can be too satisfied, comfortable, and secure in the family home to ever consider leaving. Other times, parents can intentionally or unknowingly trap growing children in the needs and expectations of the parents whereby the child feels unfree to become the person they feel in their soul whom God is calling them to be. Self-identity is stilted in the limitations and expectations of the family unit. When creativity and initiative are diminished, a young person may struggle to identify or pursue their hopes and dreams, potentially hindering their development into the person they are meant to become.
A person cannot be in a freely chosen full-hearted relationship of faith if they are clinging to or made to cling to unhealthy relationships that disallow freedom of spirit and soul. These unhealthy bonds of love are not always from the family unit. Any undue attachments to persons, things, a job, an addiction, or a way of being, harms a free and committed relationship with God.
Jesus is saying: God is first. Love in the broadest and truest sense is our deepest identity. How this is lived out in our lives has countless expressions. The point is that God is first. If we seek to live in the Kingdom of God initiated by Jesus, the life of the Kingdom forms our deep identity. God is first. All other bonds of love, career choices, creativity, or manner of life will find its meaning and motivation in the Christ identity.
It is hard to grow up and leave the security of home and family and stand on our own two feet. Everyone must carry their own Cross, and a person cannot know what that Cross is until they come to know themselves in Christ. For this we have the image of the tower and the armies; both of which beg the universal question, Do I have enough? Do I have what it takes? How do I know what enough is?
These are life questions that we all face and deeply feel. The equation of enough is not a divine equation. God is not about amounts. God wants our hearts. A person can do all things, have all things, and be all things in the world, or they can have nothing and be without success or high esteem, in both cases God looks to the heart. If a person is loving God through the redemptive work of Jesus and seeking to live the gospel, that person knows who they are. They may have the joy of great love in their lives, with or without worldly goods, but they understand and seek God as the origin and source of every love and goodness.
Faith is a gift from God. Faith is not a buffet, nor is it self-made. Faith is built on a personal choice to believe in God, accept Christ, and find identity, meaning, and joyful purpose in gospel life. Find yourself in the Lord Jesus and be at peace. Put God first and the manner of your life will reveal the presence of God within you.
Father John Esper
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