“And every one that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands for my name’s sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and shall possess life everlasting.”
- This was today’s Gospel in the Traditional Liturgy. It’s often said in Scripture we must leave our life, forsake it even, in order to have eternal life. Yet, we’re also told we have a vocation, most of us a vocation of marriage, and to leave our family would be abandonment and grave sin. So what could Jesus mean here?
This morning, while contemplating this, it occurred to me that we must, at times, leave our families and land emotionally and spiritually. Our spouses and kids, parents, and country are not going to always walk beside us in Faith and instead of staying where they are, we must turn and sprint towards Christ and Mother Church, even if that means “leaving” them in the sense that we no longer accept and sit in the worldly, the secular. To do this often causes confusion and makes it harder to be close to someone because they don’t love Christ as you do or they just aren’t there in terms of the spiritual life.
This message seems to be especially true for those who have a spouse who is not Catholic. You have essentially “left” the comfort of a shared religion or a shared atheism in order to pursue Christ. You hope and pray that your spouse will join you, and it’s very likely they will at some point, but you’ve had to grow and put God first and that is a painful cross to bear.
Cling to what Jesus says: you shall receive a hundredfold and possess life everlasting. He knows that it is hard when our physical family has differing views on life, eternity, morals, values, and God Himself. It involves suffering to not have a shared experience with our loved ones.
Yet, God is All-Good, so if He allows this suffering, and I think it’s present in every Catholic’s life to some degree because everyone isn’t Catholic, then we must assume it is for our good and continue to pursue Him as fervently as we did that first moment He called to us.
In the comments, please share how I can pray for you regarding conversions or suffering due to Christ’s call.
Does this ever justify a husband leaving his wife?
Divorce is never something I encourage. What God joins, you don’t tear apart. What I meant is that if you’re growing in your faith and trying to pursue the narrow path, sometimes you have to leave the shared culture behind. Not watch that movie or engage in that joke. Attend Mass on Sundays and keep it holy all day. If a spouse doesn’t understand, they should still respect this. And if not, it’s a heavy cross but one God would not give you without giving you the strength to carry it. Does that clarify enough for you?