Follow Without Reserve

 

 Luke 9: 57-62 

The Cost of Discipleship

⁵⁷ Now it happened as they journeyed on the road, that someone said to Him, “Lord, I will follow You wherever You go.”

⁵⁸ And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.”

⁵⁹ Then He said to another, “Follow Me.”

But he said, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.”

⁶⁰ Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and preach the kingdom of God.”

⁶¹ And another also said, “Lord, I will follow You, but let me first go and bid them farewell who are at my house.”

⁶² But Jesus said to him, “No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”

As we celebrate the Memorial of the beloved Francis of Assisi this Gospel passage clarifies his total abandonment to the providence and care of our loving God.  As youth, Francis was spoiled and devoted to worldly pleasures, but captivity and recovery from a severe fever reversed the direction of his life and he became the beloved "Poverello" and an inspiration to countless followers even to this day. We may not be as gifted and able to live as he did, but to some degree we can detach ourselves from the values and baubles of this world and with unencumbered hearts use our time and talents to serve God and our neighbor. 

Bro. Rene

Dear God, thank you for St. Francis and the example and challenge he presents to us. May we hear your call and follow you without reserve, as he did. Amen.