Responding to Christ's Love with Love - Homily 2/2

Homily on the 4th Sunday of Great and Holy Lent, 2023
Part of a 2-part series. Part 1 can be found here: • The Love of God as the...
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[@KimtheElder]

Wonderful words 🕊️

[@dunewyrm3071]

I cannot thank you enough for these empowering words. You have helped me very much in my efforts towards understanding gospel.

[@chrisepp5569]

Fr Paul, I am a seeker, recovering evangelical originally from the Mennonite tradition. I have a question: is it accurate to say that loving Christ is to empty myself more and more of my ego and it's passions?

[@frpaul]

I would argue that emptying oneself of ego and passions is what makes room for love for Christ. We cannot serve God and mammon. Thus, while we still have a heart full of egoism, then we serve that egoism. The more we empty ourselves of self-love, the more we can be filled with love for Christ and others.

[@chrisepp5569]

And asceticism is the path which helps us empty ourselves of self-love? Having been raised to believe that the fear of punishment is why we practice self-disciplines, it has been a long process of getting past that in the depths of my mind and soul. I struggle to know that I am practicing asceticism as a response to Christ's love rather than a means to earn it, or worse, to inflate a sense of self-righteousness. How do I empty myself of ego, then?

[@frpaul]

@@chrisepp5569 Obedience and a faithful life within the Church seeking to love Christ… these are what will rid us of egoism. And asceticism is an integral part of these.