7 years ago, before I changed Mass schedule at Holy Redeemer and Holy Trinity, I did a survey. Because I wanted to know the opinions of the parishioners. I can tell that I got good impressions, good responses. Most the people were open to the change. It is amazing to hear, some people saying that whenever Sunday Mass will be scheduled, they will be there. They will attend it. Because Sunday is for God.
But there were some exceptions. They did not surprise me: Someone said to me that, if I change the time for Mass, he will leave Catholic Church. Another said, It is ok to change Mass Schedule but hopeful it is going be short. Another said: It does not matter for him because he goes to Mass when he is in a good mood. In the same line, we often hear people saying that I am Catholic but I prefer to pray at home. God can hear me. There is not need to go to the Church. I want to serve God, I want to serve the Church, I want to be a reader, altar server, sing in the choir just for one year. I am Catholic but I am free to use my life however I want. So, we love God, we want to serve Him. But we want to serve Him on our terms, at the times and places we determine.
Today the church calls us to be totally committed to Christ. Without “Looking back,” we must freely “slaughter” all the forces, distractions, and obstacles that prevent us from serving the Lord well. Following Jesus is a demanding commitment. It requires a total commitment. Because the Gospel is all or nothing. Therefore serious decisions have to be done. Decisions that bring consequences.
In today’s gospel, we hear about people who want to “volunteer” following Jesus. They are good people who want to do something for God, for the church. They wanted to follow God but they are not ready to make sacrifice. They wanted to follow Jesus but they were attached to many things in their lives. That is why they gave excuses ………..let me say farewell to my family at home… let me to bury my father …..…(But) And Jesus warns them about the difficulties of being a disciple. Serious choices have to be made, and the commitment to Jesus has to be unconditional. The second man wants to go home and complete his duties as a son on the farm, and come back to Jesus only after his father dies. In other words he wants to do God’s will but only in the left over moments, only after all the business and family affairs have been done completely. We want the Lord in our lives, that is why we are here at Mass. But there are still those areas of our lives that we hold back from The Lord. We do not totally sell out for Him. We say that we are committed to our faith, but we really don’t want The Lord present in these aspects of our lives. However following Jesus, we must give God the first place in our hearts, ‘You must love God with all your heart and all your soul and all your mind and all your strength’. So, Jesus wants to conquer our entire heart.
Elisha, in the first reading, demonstrated a total commitment to his call. The slaughtering of his oxen, the kissing of his father, and the bidding of farewell to his men was an indication that he loved God more than his business, and his own self. The slaughtering of his oxen is very significant for us today. He “killed and abandoned everything” that could have become an obstacle to his decision to serve God in the future. Also, he overcame the temptation to keep them. This was the proof of his total committed to God. At this point, what have we sacrificed, and what is our proof of it? And one of the greatest obstacles we have today as Christians is that “our oxen” are still alive. Although we are professed Christians, our oxen are still hidden somewhere in the fabrics of our life. They represent old habits and mundane things that we are still strongly attached to. We must “slaughter” them as a sign of our total commitment to Jesus Christ or, our attention will remain divided because: “You cannot serve God and mammon at the same time” (Lk 16, 13).
So, this Sunday, the church calls us to be totally committed to Christ. Like Elisha, we must “slaughter all the forces, obstacles, and vices such as: selfishness, materialism, immorality, and old bad habits. My sisters and brothers, before the call of the kingdom of God, social and family concerns take a back seat. These stories show that to follow Christ is to follow him unconditionally. Jesus will not accept a second place in our lives. He will be first or nothing. It is all for Jesus or nothing at all. May our discipleship not be just words and good feelings, by the difficult task of truly following and making Jesus the most important person, the most important reality in our lives.
~Fr. Kalombo
