Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Without Delay

Imagine this: Pope Francis personally contacts you and requests an audience with you. The Vatican will take care of the expenses and logistics for the trip. You would excitedly drop everything to accept Pope Francis’ invitation, right?

Jesus extends the same invitation to us every day, and we should meet his call to “follow me” with the same enthusiasm. However, we often allow our busy lives to get in the way of dropping everything to be with our Lord. Some days, at best, we will give a conditional acceptance to Jesus’ call. If I check off everything on my to-do list and am not too exhausted by the end of the day, then I will spend some time in prayer.

Nowadays, unfortunately, it seems more and more common and even acceptable or expected to avoid commitments or postpone promises. We like to keep our options open, so we wait until the last minute for a lot of things to see if something better comes along.

As disciples of Jesus, we cannot “wait for it” (shoutout to the Hamilton fans). In both Luke’s Gospel for this Sunday and the First Reading about Elijah following God’s instructions to recruit Elisha as his successor as a great prophet, there is no time for delay.

Pope Francis said, “Jesus pointed out to us, his disciples, that our mission in the world cannot be static, but is itinerant. The Christian is itinerant. The Church by her very nature is in motion; she does not stay sedentary and calm within her enclosure. She is open to the broadest horizons, sent forth—the Church is sent forth—to bring the Gospel through the streets and to reach the human and existential peripheries” (Angelus message on June 30, 2019).

We hesitate to make commitments because we value our freedom, but St. Paul tells us in the Second Reading in his letter to the Galatians not to use this freedom selfishly; “rather, serve one another through love” (Gal 5:13). Let us embrace our baptismal call to live as priest, prophet, and king as we journey without delay toward our Christian mission to know, love, and serve Christ.