Dear Parish Family,

To fully understand today’s First Reading one would need to read the whole 19th Chapter of I Kings from which today’s story is taken. The fact that Elijah is a prophet has involved his making other prophets and killing the false ones. He has fled the land to a distant place to escape the wrath of the civil leadership. He then hears the message from God to anoint new kings. Then comes the story we hear this Sunday, the anointing of Elisha as a replacement by throwing his cloak over Elisha. This prophetic garment was a symbol of property rights. Elisha receives his state as both servant and possessor of Elijah’s powers of miracles. The transmission is instantaneous as happens many times in God’s ways of calling. Elisha does have an excuse for not responding quickly, but Elijah reprimands him. Elisha then embarks on a course of no return by slaughtering the oxen and making a feast to bid farewell to his old way of life.

The Gospel narrative points to Jesus who from this point on has turned toward Jerusalem where he will be lifted up on the cross and raised up after his resurrection. The word “resolutely” speaks of his determination to fulfill his identity as priest, prophet and king. From here in these verses, Luke presents Jesus as working slowly upward and directly to the city of Jerusalem. This provides the context for the section of today’s reading.

Three persons are attracted to Jesus and the disciples. Jesus presents them with the basics of being one of his followers. There is an invitation offered to face the tensions between self-possession of one’s personal kingdom and self-donation for the Kingdom of God. These are healthy and normal desires for home and family-relations. We live in a situation of multiple choices. The ability to choose is our greatest exercise of God-given freedom. In making these choices we have to confront ‘our deepest desire’ which is our propensity to intimacy with our Creator. Many other concerns can cloud, delay or impede us from fulfilling this inner calling to grace. And in our serene moments of accepting the call we will soon discover that fidelity is never an easy journey. 
  Fr. Thomas Kunnel C.O.