Called to Follow

Dear D____, 

I email you because a young man has asked my advice. He has encountered the living God and has fallen in love. In return, he wants to follow God with all of his heart. But he is not sure what path he should take. Today’s readings confuse him: Elijah permits Elisha to say good-bye to his family and then the younger prophet follows Elijah wholeheartedly; Jesus tells a man to leave his family behind immediately and not look back. The statement, “I will follow you wherever you go,” is how he feels, he says. But what does that mean? Should he leave the possibility of having a family behind and consider the priesthood? Is it that the deeper route, the more serious road to holiness? 

D., you are a man of eighty-plus years who has lived a deeply  Christian life. You are one of the most committed disciples that I know. Ever since your first Cursillo weekend, you have kept your eyes fixed on Jesus. You have not turned back. You linked arms with your wife and followed a straight path toward the Lord, walking together, raising your children to be faith-filled men and women of God. And you have touched so many, including me. 

This young man’s hesitation about the priesthood comes from peers whom he sees living what he calls “a dandified Christianity,”  in which a man is seen for his commitment, in religious garb that is obvious to all, adopting “a higher path” from which to look down upon the worldly life of family and work. That does not appeal to him. He wonders what is right for him. 

As a Christian layman, your faithfulness has been unseen and unsung. He would be inspired by your example. Would you be willing to talk with him? Thanks! K.

Consider/Discuss 

• The Catholic Church has often considered that to be ordained or a vowed religious was “a higher calling.” The Second Vatican Council emphasized that all of the baptized are called to holiness, to follow Jesus without reserve, without looking back. In your own life’s calling, what is the narrow path that best leads you to the Lord? Temptations can knock both ordained and lay people off track, though the particular temptations may be different. How can we all, the people of God, help each other toward holiness? 
• In today’s reading, St. Paul suggests that we serve one another, that the whole law is summed up in this: “You shall love your neighbor  as yourself.” Guided by the Spirit, do we dip a toe into the waters of  Christian self-sacrifice or do we plunge in wholeheartedly? Are we willing to give and give and give even when there is a cost? 

Living and Praying with the Word 

Jesus, you set your face resolutely toward Jerusalem, no matter what it was going to cost you. On our own power, we waffle and wander and weave. Send us a double dose of your Holy Spirit so that we stand firm, so that your determination is our determination, your willingness to give of yourself is our willingness to give. You empower us. You strengthen us. We depend on your help. When things succeed, help us to be grateful and not proud. For to you is the glory for all that is good! With the psalmist, we sing, “My heart is glad and my soul rejoices.” We too want to follow you wherever you go. Glory to you, God of the heavens and the earth!