Introduction: "Then Peter said, 'What about us? We have left everything and followed you. What are we to have then?'" (Matthew 19: 27). A reasonable question: a question Jesus desired, since following him is the road to total self-fulfillment, and not an exercise in spiritual masochism.

 

Gospel Passage: Luke 12: 32-34

 

"Sell your possessions and give alms. Get yourselves purses that do not wear out, treasure that will not fail you, in heaven where no thief can reach it and no moth destroy it. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also."

 

1. He is no fool.

 

A missionary, Jim Elliot, slain by Indians in South America, wrote the following in his diary before he was killed: "He is no fool to give up what he can't keep in order to gain what he can't lose."

 

How difficult it can seem to renounce so much in order to become a priest! The tantalizing allurements of pleasure, power and money; not to mention the goodness of marriage, family and children, all cry out to us: "Wait, don't rush your decision. Think about us." So much to give up.

 

I recall a young bank executive who came on retreat with me who had renounced a million dollar salary in order to follow his vocation. The newspaper had printed the sensational news, journalists assailed him during lunch at a restaurant, friends urged him to reconsider and even "religious" people told him to be prudent.

 

"I want to be sure that I'm doing the right thing," he said. "Yet, then I ask myself the question, 'What security will I have if I put my trust in the world, money, power, pleasures and even in human love?'"

 

"He is no fool to give up what he can't keep in order to gain what he can't lose."

 

Our problem is not that we want security, but that we are content with too little security. We don't seem to grasp the fleeting nature of our earthly hopes of security, and we certainly do not faintly perceive the basis for security that Jesus Christ is offering. Try reading the reply of Jesus as if you were reading it for the first time and allow your soul to be struck with amazement: "I tell you solemnly, when all is made new and the Son of Man sits on his throne of glory, you will yourselves sit on twelve thrones to judge the twelve tribes of Israel. And everyone who has left houses, brothers, sisters, father, mother, children or land for the sake of my name will be repaid a hundred times over, and also inherit eternal life."  (Matthew.19: 28-29)

 

"Indeed, if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that Our Lord finds our desires, not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased." (C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory).

 

"Hence, do not go after what the world promises you. Rather, consider that which the Creator of the world promises." (St. Augustine)

 

2. How could I doubt you?

 

Can you now impel yourself, my heart, above your futile fears and rise to think of who it is who calls you? The moment has come to be still; it is now that, in fullness of heart and with confidence unbounded, I turn my gaze to you, Jesus Christ:

 

How could I doubt you, Jesus? Since it is you who calls me, what can cause me to fear?

 

How could I doubt you, Jesus, who not only shed your blood for me, rose for me and wants only that I be with you, "The Love that moves the sun and all the other stars"?

 

What can come between you and me? Can death or life, anything that exists, anything still to come, any power or person, friend or foe, hope or fear, sorrow or delight, ever, ever separate me from you?

 

How could I doubt you when I have the power of your resurrection flowing through my veins?

 

How could I doubt you when I see you say to your Mother, "Behold your son?"

 

How could I doubt you when I look at Peter and John and the other apostles, flesh and blood like me, who followed you and received the hundredfold in this life and eternity?

 

How could I doubt when I see through the pages of history the martyrs - and among them so many young beautiful girls and young courageous soldiers - give their lives for you joyfully?

 

How could I doubt when I look at Benedict and Francis, Dominic and Ignatius, Francis Xavier and Don Bosco, two thousand years of saints marching joyfully towards eternal life?

 

How could I doubt when I gaze on you present in the tabernacle knowing that you are there to be with me?

 

You cried out to Peter amid the darkness of the night over Lake Galilee, "Do not be afraid!" I hear you say the same to me as you call me to place my security in you.

 

My heart, has anyone who placed his security in him ever been betrayed? Can I too not say with St. Augustine: "God is not a deceiver, that he should offer to support us, and then, when we lean upon him, should slip away from us."

 

Questionnaire:

 

To help you to examine your life, in the light of the inspirations God just gave you in these moments you shared with him.

 

1. Have I ever spent fifteen minutes reflecting on the "length" of eternal life? Did this move me to    keep on following Christ with more constancy?

 

2. Is it possible that anyone who is generous with Christ should be deceived?

 

3. What generous next step in my vocation have I been putting off? Why not tell Jesus Christ, "I trust you," and do it?