Commitment

There is a new organization with its accompanying website, called Vocation Boom.  It was founded three years ago by Jerry Usher, who had been praying for vocations all of his adult life (he's now 75!) and decided that besides praying there must be something else he could do to foster vocations.  So he began researching and learned that 40% of those thinking about or discerning a priestly or religious vocation can never follow through because of their commitment to repay their college loans.He discovered that there are 10,000 discerners, and out of these, 4,000 might never reach their dream or fulfill their call.  These are huge numbers in these years of vocation famine and cannot be ignored.  Vocation Boom raises money to help with this problem and slowly is helping one after another find the means to enter seminaries or novitiates.  A mutual commitment.
The Gospel for today, Mark 8:27-35, tells the story of the question Jesus asked, Who do people say that I am?" Various "hearsays" are offered, then Jesus asks the real question:  "Who do YOU say that I am.  St. Peter answers firmly, "You are the Christ."  Fine, but when Jesus warns of his coming condemnation, death and resurection, Peter does not buy it and rebukes Jesus for such a preposterous notion, and gets a vehement reponse from Jesus, "Get behind me, Satan."  Later he tells the disciples and gathered crowd that his followers must be ready to take up their crosses daily and lose their lives in order to find them.  A huge demand requiring a huge commitment.
One of our cross country runners the other day fell, hit his head on a stone, got up and kept running.  Commitment.  He suffered greatly at the end of his race, but wanted to finish it.  What a follower of Jesus he would be.  Can we?
Bro. Rene