January 21, 2024
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My Dear Parishioners, In today’s Gospel Our Lord began his ministry with a simple message and he called four men who would soon become His apostles. With Simon, Andrew, James, and John our Blessed Lord invited them to be his disciples and to help him with his work. And all of them left behind their family, their business, and their colleagues to follow Our Lord. Ultimately all four apostles laid down their lives to show that serving Our Lord and loving Him was the one thing necessary for them. No matter what level of discipleship to which we are called, it always implies leaving something behind for the sake of something greater. It means leaving beside sin as the road to nowhere, but it can also mean leaving aside good things for the sake of more important, spiritual ones. It means leaving the world as we have found it for the world promised by God!
I have been a priest now for almost 30 years, and I have assisted many people at their last hours. And I have always marveled at God’s mercy at work in the souls of the dying. And I have always wondered if I would have the grace to go peacefully! Each of us is unique: in the person that I am, in the way I live, and in the way I shall die. Each of us has his own family, friends, admirers, fans. Each of us has his own favorites in terms of food, and drinks, and music, and books, and arts, and movies. And the more we are entrenched in this life with all those attachments, the more we are surrounded by things that make life wonderful, the more difficult for us to leave it. But leave it we must – some day! So we must start the process of detachment now. I do this by thinking about heaven everyday and beg our Lord to turn my heart upwards, towards where He is. I beg our Lord to sharpen my desire for things above and to lose interest for things here below. I beg our Lord to help me learn to do without certain creature comforts, to forsake certain habits, and to really the passing nature of this world! And I ask that He help me at the hour of my death so that I may say yes to His mercy!
