Dear Saints,

Jesus doesn’t pull any punches in today’s Gospel. He tells us exactly where he’s headed and where we can expect to go if we follow him. It’s a life of suffering and self-denial, plain and simple.

Why would anyone stick with such a plan? Are we really to believe that this is the “good news” he’s been sent to share? In short: yes.

And here’s why. Our plans might be full of all good things, but they’re still just that: our plans. God thinks bigger. His plans are full of even better things, and his understanding of “full” is beyond our wildest imaginings. So we have to choose: us or him.

It can be incredibly painful to let go of the life we’ve known and all its pleasantries. It’s excruciating to relinquish our dreams for the future, and to exchange them for true love’s reckless abandon. But as the saints who have gone before us discovered, it is the only way into the life of the truly living. That’s why we stick with the plan. That’s why we follow Jesus wherever he leads.

Christ’s Peace,

Father Daniel

δοῦλος Χριστοῦ Ἰησοῦ