Fr. Longenecker on Placing Christ First in Our lives

"What is it in me that likes the difficult sayings of Jesus more than the easy sayings?

"Everybody loves Jesus who says, 'Let the little children come to me' and 'Neither do I condemn you' But have you read the gospels lately? Jesus' teaching is much more forceful and strident than we like to remember. He's calling his enemies the 'Sons of Satan', 'whitewashed tombs full of dead and decaying bodies' and snakes. He's saying that the way to heaven is narrow and few get in. Most are on the wide easy downward slope. He talks about hell as the place where there is weeping and wailing and grinding of teeth. It is Gehenna - the great trash heap where 'their worm does not die.'"

In a recent commentary, Father Dwight Longenecker (parish priest at Our Lady of the Rosary Parish, Greenville, SC), reflected on the line "Life is a casting off." (from The Death of a Salesman) and its application to our call to place the love of Christ before anything else.

To access Fr. Longenecker's complete post, please visit:

Standing on My Head: Life is a Casting Off (14 NOV 14)

Background information:

Dwight Longenecker - Catholic priest and author