Monday 13th week in ordinary time
"Mt 8:18-22"
A scribe said to Jesus, "Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go." 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." Another of the disciples said to him, "Lord, let me first go and bury my father." But Jesus said to him, "Follow me, and leave the dead to bury their own dead."
The first man offers himself to Our Lord and Jesus warns him to be ready to do without even the most basic needs at times. The other one promises to follow Jesus, but only 'after' he had cared for his father until the old man died. Then, he argued, he would have no further commitments and he could follow Jesus.
However, Jesus doesn't agree with the plan. He is not happy having to wait for us to do what we want to do; He is not a God who waits until we have no further commitment, so that we can give Him the 'leftovers'. To follow God means to let Him decide our agenda. We may find ourselves without some comforts, the possibility to do what we fancy at any time, because now God 'leads' and we 'follow'.
In September 1991, Cardinal Ratzinger suffered a haemorrhagic stroke that impaired his eyesight temporarily. He was fitted with a pacemaker. From 1997, when he turned 70, he asked St John Paul II for permission to retire on several occasions but each time the Pope asked him to carry on. Joseph Ratzinger was 78 years old when he was elected Pope. He explained his thoughts when he realised he was going to be elected: "I started to feel quite dizzy. I thought that I had done my life's work and could now hope to live out my days in peace. I told the Lord with deep conviction, 'Don't do this to me. You have younger and better candidates who could take up this great task with a totally different energy and strength.' Evidently, this time He didn't listen to me...The ways of the Lord are not comfortable, but we were not created for comfort, but for greatness." God had different plans. Many years before, as a young lad, Pope Benedict XVI had said to Our Lord that he would follow Him. He obviously kept his word. Mother most Faithful, help me to say to your Son "I will follow you wherever you go." With your help I'll keep my word.
