Word to the Wise
Wednesday, October 1, 2025 - Wednesday in the 26th Week in Ordinary Time
[Neh 2:1-8 and Luke 9:57-62]"No one who sets a hand to the plow and looks to what was left behind is fit for the Kingdom of God." [Luke]
OCTOBER 1 ST. THERESE OF THE CHILD JESUS ocd
These lines from today's gospel passage from the Gospel According to Luke follow three responses to Jesus' challenge to various individuals to "Follow me!" The first challenge is not to worry about where you will be going or staying. The second and third challenges refer to family obligations! The line, "Let the dead bury their dead!" can seem hard to many, but it refers to those who have not come to faith. Discipleship will demand a total commitment, as many of the missionaries to whom Luke addresses his gospel could testify. They were suffering persecution on many fronts, and those who put other commitments first, even worthy ones like family, were leaving the field or lagging in their efforts.
Discipleship of the kind that Jesus preaches requires that we evaluate everything in the light of "following him." For some, the literal "leaving" may indeed mean saying goodbye to some otherwise valuable relationships or things. For others, the "leaving" may mean a change in lifestyle or behavior or attitudes that block them from a wholehearted witness to the Kingdom of God. St. Paul, in Philippians 3:7-9, speaks to this when he says, "For his sake I have accepted the loss of all things and I consider them so much rubbish, that I may gain Christ..." The way in which each disciple does this requires discernment so that his or her efforts will bear fruit. A wise spiritual director can be helpful in this process. But the challenge is there for all baptized Christians. Pope Francis, in his first encyclical, "The Joy of the Gospel," calls us all to be "missionary disciples." The feast, today, of St. Therese of the Child Jesus provides us with some inspiration. She became the patroness of all missionaries even though she never left her cloister! Her "little way" may be worth considering as a path forward in our own lives. AMEN