Do you have to hate your 'father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters' to be a Christian? What the verse means ...

I recently quoted Jesus in the gospel, where he says: 'If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters--yes, even their own life--such a person cannot be my disciple.' (Luke 14 v 26).

I explained that he did not mean that we should hate our parents and everyone important (after all, the 4th commandment is honour thy father and thy mother), but that what Jesus meant by that was that to follow the Christian way of life is to choose to be moral should the heavens fall, i.e. even if it comes at great cost in this world to the Christian and to all the people they love. It was a difficult verse of the bible I was explaining. I was not meaning people should hate their families, but that Jesus meant that morality should be pursued even at the ultimate cost of one's own life, and of everything that matters in life.

A suggested prayer ritual against the evil in today's world

Pray: Angel of God x7 for each of the virtues. Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be, O my Jesus: x10 for obedience to each of 10 commandments. Pray to St Michael, Memorare, Anima Christi. And then ask for all the prayers to apply to your spouse, kids, siblings, parents & to theirs too.

Add a request for such blessings of virtue, goodness, to also be granted to the people of the nations, nationalities and peoples your blood comes from, and is connected to, and to your community and to the nation in which which you live. Say it daily or as near that as you can.