Daily gospel

Father Csaba’s reflection on the gospel Friday 16 August 2019

For there are eunuchs who have been so from birth, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by others, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Let anyone accept this who can.'

Matthew 19:3-12 Matthew 19, 3-12

A friar, a priest gives up married life of his own free will for the Kingdom of God . The one who is capable to understand this great secret ,to  the one who cannot it is very difficult to explain . The priest of the Old Testament stepped to the altar with the blood of the sacrificed rams , bucks. They sacrificed other living beings , out of their love for God and His people . According to the evidence of the gospel there were men who were invited by Jesus Christ, the eternal high priest of the New Testament : “come follow me!”the apostles also received from Jesus’ priestly power , so they did not offer others’ blood as a sacrifice but their own ! The priest of the New Testament therefore with their own bridled blood , with this endless  bloodless and yet very “bloody" sacrifice step into the sanctuary , to make present Christ’s one and eternal sacrifice of the cross in our churches . It is a great mystery ! 

When whilst studying theology I wrote my first sermon , I composed that for God , my people , I would rather sacrifice my leg, hand, my eye than family life . I did not feel that Christ would ask for this sacrifice , but deep in my heart I definitely knew , that , I want to reciprocate, return that infinite love with which Christ bends down to us , I also felt clearly , that for my people, living in minority , suffering under the yoke of communism I would like to offer willingly a sacrifice . Since the denial of a family seemed to me then and even now the greatest sacrifice , that is why I made a conscious decision , 30 years ago that out of my love for God and my people I accept this bloodless martyrdom , celibacy . The measure of a sacrifice undertaken out love is a sacrifice beyond measure . A narrow steep road , this stigmata tearing, often with its throbbing pain day after day reminding me as to who I am and where did I set out to go to !!

The number of callings for priestly, monastic life has decreased very much . According to many it is because the love in our hearts for God and our fellow human beings has diminished in our hearts ! It is quite certain because without a burning love for God the priestly , monastic life is meaningless ! It only makes sense to set out oaths journey if your heart is filled with a burning love for God ! If this love is great enough then you are capable just as the lover embracing his loved one , to shed everything , as a superfluous piece of clothing to throw away all that separates you from the One you love and with gay abandon put it aside ! The lover in the arms of his love is not making a sacrifice when leaving everything behind , because for him the naked poverty , total freedom , the lack of clothing in the arms of his beloved is the greatest riches . Perhaps the greatest joy of the worldly existence the beauty of family life , robbing myself of the love of the physical children did I give voluntarily and keep on giving , freely ! The one who received all of this perhaps can understand my stuttering , the decision of the priest , the friar of the new covenant a decision made voluntarily for a lifetime .

Noone has a greater love than the one who gives his life for his own .

With love,

Father Csaba 

translated by dr k.e. 

The Word of God

Some Pharisees came to him, and to test him they asked, 'Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any cause?' He answered, 'Have you not read that the one who made them at the beginning "made them male and female", and said, "For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh"? So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.' They said to him, 'Why then did Moses command us to give a certificate of dismissal and to divorce her?' He said to them, 'It was because you were so hard-hearted that Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but at the beginning it was not so. And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for unchastity, and marries another commits adultery.' His disciples said to him, 'If such is the case of a man with his wife, it is better not to marry.' But he said to them, 'Not everyone can accept this teaching, but only those to whom it is given. For there are eunuchs who have been so from birth, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by others, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Let anyone accept this who can.'

Matthew 19:3-12