23rd Sunday Ordinary Time

Readings: Wisdom: 9:13-18b, Philemon 9b-10,12-17, Luke 14.25-33

We are invited this week to have strong foundations of our faith, to live in wisdom and recognize the hand of God in all that happens to us. In the first reading from my book of Wisdom teaches us to have patience and not to think that we immediately understand the ways of The Lord. This is such good advice. Today, many people don’t even believe in God while others seem to believe that they are His spokesperson and interpret His word according to their own pleasure.

The Second reading , from the book of Philomen, indicates that even difficult situations such as slavery, can be lived in the Lord. That is not justification for slavery. It is simple acceptance that no matter what happens, we can find the presence of God in every situation. People who have spent long years imprisoned are often an incredible witness to this.

The Gospel speaks about the commitment of discipleship. Jesus is totally clear: to follow Him will cost everything even as it gives us everything. We must be willing to give up all in order to walk with the Lord . Jesus never asks us to give up what is bad for us. He does asks us to give up some good things for the sake of the Kingdom. That makes people unhappy today. We want to think that whatever is good is allowed for me. Jesus is clear that such is not the case. Jesus can ask us to leave behind our families, our wealth, our houses, etc. it is all for the sake of the Kingdom.

The challenge from these readings is this: Do I have wisdom to recognize what the Lord is asking of me here and now? Do I have the inner courage to follow the Lord, no matter what he asks of me?

Do we want to follow the Lord? Or are we just looking for a way to make sure that we don’t end up in hell? Or are we following the Lord for other reasons. There is only one reason to follow Jesus: we have come to know His love, even if it is ever so little, at work in our lives. We follow Him because we have come to believe in Him in some way. May we follow Him with joy and grow in our capacity to give our whole life over to Him.