Monday of the Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time

Today's readings offer a profound challenge, calling us to examine the authenticity of our faith. In Isaiah, God decries empty rituals and sacrifices, declaring, 'What care I for the number of your sacrifices?' He longs not for external displays, but for justice, goodness, and compassion in our hearts and actions. He tells us to 'Wash yourselves clean! Put away your misdeeds... cease doing evil; learn to do good. Make justice your aim.' The Psalmist echoes this, reminding us that God desires not just burnt offerings, but a heart that 'offers praise as a sacrifice' and 'goes the right way.'

Then, in the Gospel, Jesus confronts us with an even sharper truth. He declares he has come 'not to bring peace but the sword,' challenging our deepest attachments, even to family. This is not a call to discord, but a radical invitation to place Him, the source of all true peace, at the absolute center of our lives. 'Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me,' He says. This is a difficult teaching, especially when we consider the profound love we hold for our children, for Ben. Yet, it reminds us that even our deepest human loves are meant to lead us to God, not away from Him. When we love Ben, we love a gift from God; when we grieve Ben, we are invited to lean into the God who gave him to us.

To accept Ben's loss, to find peace amidst the pain, is to embrace this 'sword' – the radical reordering of our hearts to God's will. It means trusting that even in sorrow, God is at work, showing us His saving power. It means finding Ben not lost to us, but held in the loving embrace of Christ, where our love for him can continue, purified and deepened in God. This journey of faith, hope, and love for Ben and for God, is how we truly find our lives, even when we feel we have lost so much.