"If we have died with Christ, we believe that we are also to live with Him." Paul seems to establish a sequence: we must die with Christ first and only then can we come to believe in the resurrection which is our own personal destiny.

Today's Gospel tells us something of what that dying with Christ could mean. Jesus' call to love Him more than father or mother, son or daughter is always puzzling, especially when our translations use the word "hate" in this context. It is always, then, helpful to try to express in different terms what we consider to be Jesus' meaning. We will never be Christians in the fullest sense if we remain ensconced and comfortable within the confines of our own families and never reach out to the stranger and the lost, the other and the different. That reaching out requires some dying to oneself. A good family is, of course, a blessing, and being such a great blessing it is the perfect base from which to open up to others who are not so blessed. Looking beyond one's immediate family to others will keep one's family alive with a joyous sense of the resurrection.