September 22, 2004

Dear Friends,

“Follow the Leader” is a game we all played when we were children. If you grew up in the country, it involved jumping over gurgling brooks, crawling under split rail fences, or racing through spacious meadows. In Brooklyn we leaped over fire hydrants, weaved in and out between parked cars, and jumped up to slap street signs. Either way, it was fun following the leader.

Matthew, the tax collector, saw Jesus pass by, turn in his direction, and say two words which would change his life: “Follow me”. We are told that he got up and immediately began to follow Christ. How powerful to imagine him simply leaving his tax collecting table weighed down with stacks of coins and piles of parchment rolls! One wonders how long people waited on line before shrugging their shoulders and happily heading home.

Yes, the message we get from the Gospels is quite clear. When Christ comes and calls, there must be only one response – get up and go! Yet, for must of us our response to Christ’s call is quite different. We sit there preoccupied with ourselves and politely reply, “I’ll be right with you, Lord!” To keep people waiting is inconsiderate, but to keep God waiting is insane.

Some of you may be thinking, “…but I’ve never heard God call me”. Yes, He has called each of us. In fact, our very conception was a call! In short, the gift of life is one way God calls us. Our response is found in our first grade catechism: “God made me to love Him and serve Him in this life, so to be happy with Him forever in the next”.

How sad it is that unlike Saint Matthew, when Christ calls us, we sit there sadly staring at our puny piles of coins; that is, our personal plans, petty concerns, and perhaps subtle self-indulgences. How happy the saints who, like kids, quickly get up and joyfully follow Jesus. “Unless you become like children you cannot enter the kingdom of God!” – words of a true Leader.

Fr. Glenn Sudano, CFR
Community servant, residing at St. Felix Friary in Yonkers
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