Follow Me

What does it mean to be successful in this life? Is it having riches, a successful career, or outstanding accomplishments? In my family, after my parents experienced a deepening of their Catholic faith, they spoke about their realization that who you know, what you did, or how successful you were meant very little. Instead, what matters most is doing the will of God in this life so that we can be with Jesus in Heaven in the next. Life is simple; all our roads need to lead us to heaven, a place of peace, love, and joy. 

We need to be careful not to delay our spiritual growth because we are distracted by this world. The first step to responding to the invitation to follow the Lord is to trust in His ways. Much like the birds of the air, we should trust God to provide for what we need to become more like Christ. We should give Jesus all our daily joys, works and sorrows. 

We need to be open to what the Lord has in store for us and see that each day is an opportunity to encounter the love of Christ in prayer and share His love with others. 

In this Gospel story, we see different people distracted by life's tasks, and others, like the Samaritans, reject Jesus. They were also invited to follow the Lord, yet their commitment was missing. In the last line of this Gospel, it states, "No one who sets a hand to the plow and looks to what was left behind is fit for the kingdom of God." May we always be fit to serve the Lord.
  
Today we celebrate the feast of St. Francis of Assisi, one of the great Saints who was “all in for Jesus” and followed the Lord. He knew he had an important mission from God to “Rebuild the Church.” His example and simplicity were not only good for his own soul in becoming a saint, but impacted many generations of Catholics. He is a living testimony of how one person can impact the entire world and bring about renewal. He once said, “Start by doing what is necessary, then what is possible, and suddenly you are doing the impossible.”

Of course, honoring our parents and performing our duties are essential, but what is most important is doing the will of God and following Jesus when we are invited to take the next step. Next, we must be willing to act and follow the Lord. We need to respond to his invitation to follow Him by trusting in His Ways, taking action through deepening our prayer life, and seeking to live a life rooted in virtue and hard work. A person plowing a field is doing hard work; sweat fills the brow, and at times it can be daunting, but if you stay focused on the task at hand, you can make significant strides each day to follow Christ. May we not look back at what we gave up for Jesus but see that we are invited to so much more as Christians.

By Emily Jaminet