August 17, 2019: Joshua 24:14-18.
Do you welcomes a challenge? Or do
challenges make you uncomfortable because of the risk involved? Our first reading
today is about a challenge. Joshua, the successor of Moses as leader of God=s people, challenges them to renew
their commitment to the God who has delivered them from bondage in Egypt
The people accept Joshua=s challenge. Without hesitation, they
renew their commitment to the One whose miraculous care and guidance they have
experienced: AFar be it from us to forsake the Lord
for the service of other gods. For it
was the Lord, our God, who brought us and our fathers up out of the land of Egypt
Turning away from commitments is
common today. It is called Akeeping your options open.@ Many people consider that a key to
happiness. That explains why people live together without marrying. ALet=s try it out first,@ they think B not realizing that there you cannot
try out marriage without marrying, any more than you can try out parenthood by
baby-sitting someone else=s child.
The Church asks commitments of
candidates for priesthood, from Sisters and Brothers taking religious vows. Who
can promise the young man on the day of his priestly ordination, the young
woman on the day of her religious profession, that it will work out B not just for a year, but for a
lifetime? No one can make that promise! The commitment must be made simply in
faith
And the really big payoffs in life
come to people who make such commitments.
If you insist on keeping your options open, on retaining ultimate control of
your life, you may achieve a measure of fulfillment and happiness. Life=s greatest reward, however, you will not
achieve. That is reserved for those who choose an option and go for it; who
make a commitment with no strings attach; without any If or Ands or Buts.
More than sixty-five years after
ordination I can same the same of my own experience of priesthood. There have
been dark days, even dark years, as well as sunny ones. But I have never regretted
the commitment I made over sixty-five years ago B not one single day.
In this hour Jesus Christ is
challenging each one of us, as his namesake Joshua challenged the people in his
day: ADecide today whom you will serve.@ What is your choice? Will you decide
for yourself, for keeping your options open?
Or will you decide for Jesus Christ?
Jesus is waiting for our response,
right now.
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