“if he does not renounce all his possessions.”
“Turning his back on his father and mother” (in other translation, “hating”) is a Semitic way of saying “giving his father and mother second place in affection”; Matthew’s version has: “He who loves father or mother more than me…” Jesus requires detachment from family ties and the willingness to carry a cross.”[9][i] It is only possible to detach from family, self and the good of the world if we have the thirst the desire for God as our first place. “Like a deer that longs for running streams, my soul longs for you, my God. My soul is thirsting for the living God.”[10][ii] “Whom else have I in the heavens? None beside you delight me on earth.”[11][iii] This does not mean that we can not have delight in the things of the earth, such as food, music, friendships, etc. It is when we love an earthly good or fear an earthly good more than we love or fear God that we fall into sin.[12][iv] If we begin to love or fear earthly goods more than God, then we have allowed earthly goods to bring us a delight that is limited, a delight that is only temporal. We have chosen to lavish upon ourselves goods which we can obtain for our self and in the process of denied goods which God wants to lavish upon us.
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled. This hunger is not for any bodily food, this thirst is not for any earthly drink: it is a longing to be blessed with righteousness, and, by penetrating the secret of all mysteries, to be filled with the Lord himself… It counts as nothing all that belongs to time; it is entirely consumed with desire to eat and drink the food of righteousness.”[13][v]
What do we hunger and thirst for? Everyone has hunger and thirst. We can hunger and thirst for “bodily food” and “earthly drink”, the things that “belongs to time” or we can learn to hunger and thirst for righteousness, to be in union with God. What kind of hunger did Jesus have? “Meanwhile the disciples urged him, ‘Rabbi, eat.’ But he said to them, ‘I have food to eat of which you do not know.’ So the disciples said to one another, ‘Could someone have brought him something to eat?’ Jesus said to them, ‘My food is to do the will of the one who sent me and to finish his work.’”[14][vi] It is true that we like the disciples, do not know this “food”. We do not yet have the desire to eat and drink the will of the Father, the work of the Father; it is this will, this work that is a hunger and thirst for the eternal, not the temporal, a hunger and thirst for righteousness.
As humans we hold onto what we have and are not ready to give up our hunger and thirst for one thing unless we have tasted something else that is better. Christ is telling us to give up our hunger and thirst of the world, which is all we know. He expects us to give up the world without yet fully tasting heaven. He expects us to trust Him, when He promises us that the eternal is better than the temporal, that heaven is better than the world, that the will of the Father is better than our will. The first step to righteousness is to renounce our possessions, to detach ourselves from the things of the world. When we fast from the temporal, we begin to have a hunger and thirst for the eternal, for righteousness.
Analogy - The Train
“But how harsh it sounds to say that we must take pleasure in nothing, unless we also speak of the consolations and delights that this renunciation brings in its train. Oh, what a great gain it is, even in this life.”[15][vii] Saint Teresa of Avila asks us to think of a train. In the analogy of the train below there are five carts, the first four carts are the steps toward having a hunger and thirst for righteousness and the last cart, the fifth is the cart which only God can fill, the last cart represents the soul, completely empty of self and of the word and waiting to be filled by God alone.
The first cart in the train is to renounce our possessions (unless you turn your back on mother, father, sister, brother). The second cart is to deny our self (turn back on self). The third is to pick up our cross (follow him in prayers, works, joys and sufferings[16][viii]), The fourth to hunger and thirst for righteousness (to do the will of the Father and to finish His Work). The last cart is the promise of Christ given in the beatitude “they shall be filled”. Filled with what? The promise of Psalm 31 which is the goodness “the goodness you have stored up for those that fear you”, that of which Saint Paul says, “No eye has seen, no ear heard, nor has the heart of man conceived.”
Story - The Pearl Necklace
The cheerful girl with bouncy golden curls was almost five. Waiting with her mother at the checkout stand, she saw them: a circle of glistening white pearls in a pink foil box. "Oh please, Mommy. Can I have them? Please, Mommy, please!" Quickly the mother checked the back of the little foil box and then looked back into the pleading blue eyes of her little girl's upturned face. "A dollar ninety-five. That's almost $2.00. If you really want them, I'll think of some extra chores for you and in no time you can save enough money to buy them for yourself. Your birthday's only a week away and you might get another crisp dollar bill from Grandma." As soon as Jenny got home, she emptied her penny bank and counted out 17 pennies. After dinner, she did more than her share of chores and she went to the neighbor and asked Mrs. McJames if she could pick dandelions for ten cents. On her birthday, Grandma did give her another new dollar bill and at last she had enough money to buy the necklace. Jenny loved her pearls. They made her feel dressed up and grown up. She wore them everywhere--Sunday school, kindergarten, even to bed. The only time she took them off was when she went swimming or had a bubble bath. Mother said if they got wet, they might turn her neck green. Jenny had a very loving daddy and every night when she was ready for bed, he would stop whatever he was doing and come upstairs to read her a story. One night when he finished the story, he asked Jenny, "Do you love me?" "Oh yes, Daddy. You know that I love you." "Then give me your pearls." "Oh, Daddy, not my pearls. But you can have Princess—the white horse from my collection. The one with the pink tail. Remember, Daddy? The one you gave me. She's my favorite." "That's okay, Honey. Daddy loves you. Good night." And he brushed her cheek with a kiss. About a week later, after the story time, Jenny's daddy asked again, "Do you love me?" "Daddy, you know I love you." "Then give me your pearls." "Oh Daddy, not my pearls. But you can have my babydoll. The brand new one I got for my birthday. She is so beautiful and you can have the yellow blanket that matches her sleeper." "That's okay. Sleep well. God bless you, little one. Daddy loves you." And as always, he brushed her cheek with a gentle kiss. A few nights later when her daddy came in, Jenny was sitting on her bed with her legs crossed Indian-style. As he came close, he noticed her chin was trembling and one silent tear rolled down her cheek. "What is it, Jenny? What's the matter?" Jenny didn't say anything but lifted her little hand up to her daddy. And when she opened it, there was her little pearl necklace. With a little quiver, she finally said, "Here, Daddy. It's for you." With tears gathering in his
own eyes, Jenny's kind daddy reached out with one hand to take the dime-store necklace, and with the other hand he reached into his pocket and pulled out a blue velvet case with a strand of genuine pearls and gave them to Jenny. He had them all the time. He was just waiting for her to give up the dime-store stuff so he could give her genuine treasure.
How do we empty our self, How do we detach?
We have to trust. We need to look at the pattern that Jesus has set before us, the train that Saint Teresa’s suggests. We don’t look at the whole train but look at what we must do first. We renounce our possessions, our inordinate desire for pleasure so that we can walk the way of Christ and we empty our self, so that we will be slowly filled in this life and in the next. We should look at what brings us pleasure, what do we delight in. The “inordinate desire for pleasure is the thing which turns your desires and affections toward creatures, instead of fixing them on God.”[17][ix] In other words if we care more about pleasing others or our self more than pleasing God, we are not empty, we are not detached. A good rule to use is found in The Christian’s Daily Exercise which says, “As to my eating, drinking, sleeping, and amusements, I should use all these things with moderation, and with a desire to please God.”[18][x] As we experience a detachment from the things of the world, we begin to care more about what brings God pleasure rather than what bring us pleasure.
[9][i] New Saint Joseph Sunday Missal and Hymnal, page 1276
[10][ii] Communion Antiphon in this Link to Liturgy
[11][iii] Psalm 73:25
[12][iv] We must hate sin above all other evils, so as to be resolved never to commit a willful sin, for the love or fear of anything whatsoever (Catechism of Christian Doctrine; The Penny Catechism; section 335).
[13][v] Spiritual Reading in this Link to Liturgy
[14][vi] John 4: 31-34 (The Samaritan Woman at the well)
[15][vii] Saint Teresa of Avila, Way, 12
[16][viii] The Morning Offering: O Jesus through the Immaculate Heart of Mary I offer you my prayers, works, joys, sufferings of this day in union with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass throughout the world.
[17][ix] Divine Intimacy; Father Gabriel of Saint Mary Magdalen, O.C.D.; section 81
[18][x] Catechism of Christian Doctrine; The Penny Catechism; section 361