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Monday, August 21, 2006
Alipio: Our higher loyalty
By Fr. Jose Alipio
Lifelines
Luke 14:25-33
PHILOSOPHERS have long worried over the problem of conflicting moral loyalties. We belong to different groups that make their own distinctive claims on our energy and devotion. Loyalties to family are often in conflict with loyalties to the work place. Loyalties to volunteer organizations conflict with loyalties to the church.
The government makes claims on us that may be in conflict with deeply held beliefs. How do we sort through this tangle of clashing claims on our conscience?
Moral philosophers have usually tried to resolve the problem by reducing all moral guidelines to a single principle, like fair play or ideal justice. But this simplification does not work as easily as it might seem. There is still the problem of deciding what fair play or ideal justice demands in a concrete situation.
Jesus took a different approach to the moral life. He took his moral bearings in relation to God. He believed that our highest loyalty belonged to God. At times, he overstated this position in order to drive home his point.
For example, today's gospel lesson seems to say that we owe loyalty only to God. Jesus seems to demand that loyalties to father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters have to be sacrificed loyalty to God. But this was not the point he was making.
Jesus was saying that none of our human relationships should be absolute. Our highest loyalty belongs only to God. All our lesser loyalties - loyalty to family and friends, loyalty to workplace and neighborhood, loyalty to church and state - are always open to criticism and change in the light of God's ideal love.
(August 21, 2006 issue)
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