Come Follow Me

by David Lins  |  08/07/2022  |  (Being) Catholic Matters

What if you lived in eastern Ukraine right now? War, bullets, and violence all around you? You’ve been told to lock yourself and your loved ones in your home. Ignore what you hear on the other side of those four walls. Resist the urge to despair. You will be alright if you wait. Just wait. Someone will be coming to evacuate you. When that moment comes, don’t hesitate. Just follow.

That’s the deal.

Do you feel the fear? Do you feel the hope? Do you feel the anxiety that comes with the uncertainty? Will someone actually come? Will you and yours really be rescued?

Then, there is the knock on the door. It’s time to evacuate.

Is it difficult to leave everything behind? To be sure. But the decision is not difficult. Something so much better awaits. True peace. That is what you’ll finally attain.

There is no physical possession worth more than what is being offered.

Beginning in Luke 12:32, “Jesus said to his disciples: ‘Do not be afraid any longer, little flock, for your Father is pleased to give you the kingdom. Sell your belongings and give alms. Provide money bags for yourselves that do not wear out, an inexhaustible treasure in heaven that no thief can reach nor moth destroy. For where your treasure is, there also your heart will be.”

Later Jesus continues, “Blessed are those servants whom the master finds vigilant on his arrival.”

Like the picture I painted at the top of this page, we cannot allow ANYTHING keep us from following our Savior. He wants to rescue us. He wants to save us from the cares of this world and show us the way to peace. If only we have the courage to leave behind everything and follow him.

Psalm 33 says plainly, “Blessed the people the Lord has chosen to be his own.” He wants us to be part of his family (Baptism), to have his Spirit (Confirmation), to be one with him (Eucharist), to be free of sin (Reconciliation), to find our true purpose (includes Marriage and Holy Orders), and to be healed (Anointing of the Sick). “Come follow me.”