Last week we heard Our Lord say, If anyone wants to be a follower of mine, let him renounce himself and take up his cross every day and follow me (Lk. 9.18-24). Today, three would-be disciples promise that they will follow Him, but they seem to intuit the renunciations that it will involve, and they begin to excuse themselves. How familiar this is to us, too. In prayer it is easy to say to the Lord, I will follow you wherever you go, but when the first trial comes... The gospel is replete with examples of enthusiasm without follow-through: the seed that falls on the path, sprouts quickly but has no roots; the many disciples in John, chapter 6, who turn back saying, This is a hard teaching, who can bear it; Peter, who promises to die rather than betray Jesus, on the very night that he denies Him three times.

The only people who cannot relate to this gospel are those who have never even started out after Jesus, who have never even had the grace of desiring to follow in His footsteps. But for every soul that, impelled by the example of Christ's death for us, has had a burst of generosity and a desire to suffer with Him, that soul has also experienced the dread feeling that one is unable to follow, unable to ever arrive with St. Paul at the exclamation I have fought the fight, I have finished the race. Too easily we become discouraged and feel that we have only our own energy to carry us.

The first step to take as a willing disciple, who will stop making excuses, is to eliminate all serious sin from one's life. We cannot be content with a lax attitude towards sin, counting on the Lord's mercy in confession. God will provide the grace to take every step closer to Him but one must begin with a daily meditation before a crucifix. The one who does this will be guaranteed to get out of his rut of sin, unless he gives up the prayer first. We must remember that while God requires a great effort, He always supplies what we cannot provide. We are not tempted beyond our strength. We must, as the old saying goes, "work as if everything depended upon us, and hope as if everything depended upon God." He will provide the help we need, but not so much as to keep us from difficulty. God does not give "extra" grace. When St. Paul prayed to God to be delivered of a certain difficulty, the response came, My grace is enough for you. But it is just enough. We, too, must sometimes experience what Jesus experienced upon the cross, a sense of abandonment: My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? But, of course, the Father was with his Son, more than ever, at that moment, and He is supporting us in our trials as well.

After one eliminates major sin, one can be tempted to settle at a plateau, a spiritual rut. Many people, perhaps most, lead this kind of spiritual life. We must fight mediocrity with all our forces. Mediocrity literally means "half-way up the hill." We have begun to climb the Holy Mountain of the Lord and we will not reach our goal until we die. Let us not stop half-way up. If the Lord leaves us time on this earth, it is because we have progress to make. Remember, too, that the degree of charity we have achieved at our death determines our degree of eternal happiness. It's worth making an effort now. Besides, as one begins to make progress after Jesus, the succeeding steps get, in a sense, easier and easier. Soon, love, true love of God above all things, will fill the soul of the disciple making him strong to meet and overcome whatever temptation, obstacle, or difficulty lies ahead. Remember that true love never delays: But "the lover flies, runs and exults: He is free and is not held back. ... Love feels no weight; it makes light of suffering; it attempts more than it is able; of impossibility it takes no account, because love considers all things possible..." (Imit. of Christ)