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Gospel: Matthew 8: 18-22
When Jesus saw a crowd around him,
he gave orders to cross to the other shore.
A scribe approached and said to him,
“Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.”
Jesus answered him, “Foxes have dens and birds of the sky have nests,
but the Son of Man has nowhere to rest his head.”
Another of his disciples said to him,
“Lord, let me go first and bury my father.”
But Jesus answered him, “Follow me,
and let the dead bury their dead.”
The Gospel of the Lord.
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Saint Augustine was one of the most prolific writers and thinkers the Church has ever known. Once he converted to Catholicism, he was unstoppable, teaching the Gospel in northern Africa with exceptional clarity and depth.
Before his conversion, however, Augustine had quite the storied life. He was known for having many guilty pleasures, one being his love for women, something he didn’t want to give up.
Around the time of his conversion, he’s famously quoted for saying, “Lord, make me celibate… Just not yet.”
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Like some of us at times, Augustine wanted to do the Lord’s will. Just not yet.
The same is true for one of the figures in today’s Gospel. “Lord,” this person says, “I will follow you wherever you go…But let me first go and bury my father.”
“Follow me, and let the dead bury their dead,” Jesus says.
In other words, stop putting off the inevitable. “I have called you, and you are mine.”
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In what ways am I hesitant to follow the Lord? Am I putting off doing what is right?
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For example, COVID disrupted everyone’s routines – from school to work to gathering socially.
This is no less true spiritually. How many have put off returning to Mass – not because of fear, but because of sunny days, being busy, or lazy?
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“I have called you,” Jesus says. “And you are mine.”
If we belong to the Lord, then we must do his will.
Not tomorrow.
Today.
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Image credits: (1) Procrastination.com (2) Saint Augustine, Confessions (3) Fulcrum Labs