Dear Parishioners,

Today’s Gospel tells us the cost of being a disciple of Christ. First, He is rejected by the Samaritans. Then, He warns someone that following Him will mean that He will be without a home. Then when He calls others, they wish to put conditions on following Him. Jesus does not have any time for any of this because He is determined to go to Jerusalem and fulfill His mission. He knows that it is the Father’s will that He dies in Jerusalem for our sins at a specific time.

When we read this passage, it is easy to think that our Lord is being impatient with people. That is probably how He seemed to the people who were talking to Him. It is unreasonable to drop everything in your life just because someone asks you to. It seems crazy to take on hardships and to purposefully set off to die. Yet, Our Lord tells us elsewhere in the Gospel that we have to be willing to seek the Kingdom of Heaven first and that is exactly what He is doing here.

He sees what is at stake better than we can, so He is acting reasonably even if He does not seem like it on a human level. For example, it is unreasonable to jump out of a second floor of a building since it would just lead to injury. But that action becomes reasonable if the building is on fire and it is the only way out. Or it might seem unreasonable to buy a piece of land that everyone considers worthless. Yet, it becomes a good purchase if the buyer realizes it has oil underneath it that he can sell for even more money. Likewise, God knows what is best and if He is calling us, we ought to answer.

So, I ask you, please pray to God right now. Ask Him to help you see what He is calling you to do. Then, ask Him for the will to do it. It might be something you have been avoiding for a while. But, if it is done out of charity, God will bring it to a good end.

God bless!

Fr. Carter