St. Francis of Assisi
Nehemiah 2:1-8  +  Luke 9:57-62
October 4, 2017

“I will follow you wherever you go.”

The two most important moments of your life are now and the hour of your death.  Likely we’ve known some who live as if death will never arrive, living only for “now”.  The spiritual goal is constantly to relate the two to each other:  that is, now, and the hour of your death.  The world around us, especially schools that want to churn out what they call “achievers”, encourages us instead to relate every now to goals that we plan for:  goals to be realized next week, or next month, or next year, or when we retire.  Those are short-sighted if they’re not set within the larger context of one’s death.

In fact, everything we do now, or don’t do now, bears on that hour of our death.  By everything we do or don’t do, we choose whether to follow Jesus.

If you are firmly resolved to prepare your self for the hour of your death, you will be firmly resolved in the “now” of every moment to follow what God is calling you to do.  Here we have to be mindful of the way in which God dwells in the present moment.  The need of a human person in the here and now often upsets our well-laid plans.  Yet Jesus often presents Himself to us in the present moment in the guise of those in need.

In other words, God’s will is the thread that links the pearls of each now throughout your life, and of the hour of your death.  They are pearls of great price.