Follow Me, those words seem so simple. All we have to do is follow Jesus and we will be on the right road and He will be there to lead us. All that is true but the road itself is not easy and the following in the footsteps of the Lord involves following Him in His passion and death as well as His triumph. There is a cost to being a disciple of Christ and part of that cost is explained to us in the Gospel. Jesus describes a life that is constantly in motion and a life that suffers isolation and rejection. It is easy to be a Christian when everything goes our way and the people around us agree with our principles and what we choose to do. Are we able to hold on to our faith when it is challenged or we are ridiculed for what we believe? That is the real question. There are times in all of our lives when we are forced to consider compromising our faith or watering down our principles in order to fit in with the norms of society. When we choose to do this we are not following in the footsteps of the Lord for He never wavered from His mission on this earth. Following Christ in fact means that we sometimes will stand up against the norm and witness to the truth of the message of Christ. The question the Gospel asks us is are we able to do that. It is relatively easy to say yes but when we run into real situations with family and friends are we strong enough in our faith to follow Christ? I think that this is a difficult challenge which the Lord gives us and I believe we need to ask Him often in our prayers to make our faith so much a part of what we are that we are able to accept even the difficult parts of following in His footsteps. We have as our models the many Martyrs who gave their very lives to defend the faith that they had been given. Luckily most of us will not be asked to give our lives for our faith but we may be challenged to live that faith and to do that we will need the constant help of the Lord.
Tuesday is the day that we will all meet at the ballpark to cheer on the Schaumburg Flyers, Be sure to get there early enough to hear our choir sing the National Anthem. Thanks again to our Youth Group for sponsoring this fun night for the parish.
Next Sunday is the Fourth of July but since many people will be celebrating the holiday on Monday the 5th we will have a special Mass on Monday July 5th at 9AM. Cap off you holiday weekend by joining us to give thanks to God for this the greatest country in the world and for the freedoms that we are privileged to enjoy.
A man prayed to God constantly to help him win the lottery. His prayers seemed in vain since he never even came close. Still he prayed that God would help him win the lottery. One day he heard a response from the Lord. Could you give me a chance to answer your prayer by at least buying a ticket? Even God can’t help you to be one of the lucky 500 winners unless you buy a chip. Lucky 500 is available now and the first big drawing will be a part of Hopefest on August 15th. I trust that all of you have circled that date on your calendars. We will have an outside mass and a picnic with many activities. This Hopefest will mark the 25th Anniversary of the ground breaking for the new church and facilities. This anniversary will certainly figure in our celebration that day. Don’t miss out.
Have a great week. If you are going to be away for the holiday have a safe and fun filled fourth, Know you are loved and live that love.
Fr. Clem