OUR CHRISTIAN COMMITMENT

Thirteenth Week in Ordinary Time

Pontifical Work of St. Peter the Apostle (Sancti Petri)

1 Kgs 19:16. 19-21 / Ps 16 / Gal 5:1. 13-18 / Lk 9: 51-62

Commitment is a word so difficult to realize in our lives today. With the world getting smaller by the minute because of advanced media and technology, it is now easy to change relationships and forget about our commitment.

Said one wife, “Since my husband does not love me anymore, I am committing my time to my dogs. “Maayo pa’ng iro, mohagwa-hagwa pa nako” (Dogs are better to attend to because they amuse me). A student would say, “Since student life is very difficult, I’d rather commit myself to my friends. “Maayo pa ning akong uyab kay answer to all my questions kaysa sa klase nga puros nalang pangutana” (My sweetheart is a lot better, my questions are paid attention to, unlike in my classes where I am confronted with so many questions). No wonder, Jean Paul Sartre was right when he said, “commitment is an act and not a word.” And that makes the practice of commitment very difficult today!

As Christians, we are called to commit ourselves to Christ. But how committed are we to the Lord?

Last Sunday, Luke reminded us of the demands of Christian discipleship. “Anyone who wishes to come after me, must deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow me.” Our Gospel today tells us the different responses to the call for discipleship. The first person said that he will follow the Lord. The second said that he will follow but he must first bury his father. And the third one said that he will first say goodbye to his family.

So we ask ourselves, who is the committed disciple? What does it mean to follow the Lord? Let us draw our answers from the words of Jesus in our Gospel today.

To the first one he said, “Foxes have dens and birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to rest his said.” Here, Jesus is teaching us that every committed disciple must PRACTICE THE FAITH 24/7. Our Christianity must not have an expiration date nor must it depend on our mood and disposition. Cardinal Bo in his homily during the 51^st IEC reminds us that the “the Mass of the devotee ends in an hour but the Mass of the disciple is unending.”

To the second one he said, “Let the dead bury their dead. But you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” Isn’t that rather disrespectful to the dead? Of course not! Jesus was, in fact, teaching us that the committed disciple is someone who would PRIORITIZE THE LORD in his life. To bury the dead is good but to proclaim the kingdom is not only better but even the best.  Why prioritize the Lord? Simply because only the Lord can give us joy, only the Lord can give us life in abundance, only the Lord can love us unconditionally.

Finally, to the third one he said, “No one who sets a hand to plow and looks to what was left behind is fit for the Kingdom of God.” Just as any farmer must focus on his plowing, every committed disciple must also be PURPOSE-DRIVEN. Because of the many offerings of the world today, the challenge to a purpose – driven life becomes difficult, much less difficult to focus on one single purpose. We are all multitaskers today. You sit in front of your TV, eating Mr. Chips with your right hand and texting on your phone with your left hand. Some watch TV shows or the news while preparing or even taking their meals. As you can see, a complicated life makes us not purpose-driven. But a committed disciple must focus on his purpose. As Christians, our purpose has always been to love. Focus on love today for that is our purpose.

The term “commitment” comes from the Latin term, “mittere” which means “to send.” When someone is sent, he or she has to be somewhere else, in a different place. The same is true with our commitment to Christian discipleship. When we commit to the Lord to follow him, then, we must be aware that we are with the Lord and not with someone else. We should commit ourselves with the three “P’s” of commitment – PRACTICE your faith 24/7; PRIORITIZE the Lord; and have a PURPOSE-DRIVEN life today! Amen.