13th Sunday of Ordinary Time Year C 2016:
Today in the gospel Jesus says:
follow me. Hopefully these aren’t just
words we hear, hopefully Jesus’ invitation to follow him is a call that each
one of us has heard in our hearts.
Hopefully this is a call to which all of us are responding every day. Isn’t that what brings us here to Mass? Jesus has called us, and we are here.
Yet, when Jesus calls us, he never
stops calling us. Following Jesus is not
a one-time decision. Following Jesus is
an ongoing call to change, to grow, to become saints. So, I guess I want to ask you, as I ask
myself, how is it going? As Christians,
we see every day as a new day where Christ says: follow me. Sometimes it can be easy to look back, to
fall into old habits, or to end up looking like people who don’t follow Christ.
So, where did it start for
you? When did you hear the call of
Christ, what changes did it cause? For
me, I was baptized as an infant, I went to Catholic school till 6th
grade, then Heritage High School for Junior and Senior high school. Now, I always went to church, but I don’t
think I could say that I saw every day as a chance to hear the call of Christ
to follow him. I mean, other than that
one hour a week, I effectively lived my life as though God weren’t real, or at
least, like God wasn’t a real influence on my life. He just never really entered into my life.
All that changed because my
brother-in-law asked me to be his baptism sponsor for the RCIA. As a result, I started going to classes with
him about the faith. I really started
getting more interested in reading and studying my faith. Even more important, I started a habit of
daily prayer. This is when I heard Jesus
calling me: follow me. I noticed I had
to make some changes in my life. I started
going to daily Mass, I started going to confession once a month, I started
cleaning up my language, I tried to be more respectful to people around
me. All of these changes involved some
sacrifice, but all of them made my life better, not worse. Because of all this, I also started hearing
the call of Jesus to go to seminary. So,
I ended up going to seminary. It has
been an adventure ever since. But, we
never stop growing, changing, following Jesus.
The people in the gospel weren’t
quite ready to let go, they weren’t quite ready to follow Jesus without looking
back. But, we should never fear letting
go. Following Jesus might mean sacrifice,
but he always makes our lives better, not worse. Pope Benedict said something once that really
stuck with me. He said, Christ doesn’t
ask us to give up anything authentically human.
Rather, he asks us to give up sin, which doesn’t belong to us anyway.
Don’t be afraid to follow
Christ. Don’t be afraid to let go. Nothing in this world is worth holding on
to. Only our faith, our relationship
with Christ will bring us salvation. So,
what’s holding you back? I’ve been
thinking about that question a lot recently in my own prayer life. What’s the next step, where is Jesus leading
us? What is holding me back from
following Christ? Is it the shows we
watch? The music we listen to? The conversations we have? The websites we see? What is it in your life that’s holding you
back? St Paul reminds us today: for
freedom, Christ set us free, do not submit again to the yoke of slavery. What’s holding us back? We will only hear the
answer to this question if we are in dialogue with Jesus. That’s the nice thing, it’s Jesus who will
show us the way.
So, do you remember that first time
you really heard Jesus’ voice saying: follow me? But, have you listened to that voice
recently? Following Christ is an
ongoing, daily reality. As we receive
Holy Communion today, we open our heart to Jesus and listen to him say: follow
me. Don’t be afraid to follow Christ.
