One of the most beautiful and powerful moments in the life of the Church over the last 10 years was the funeral of Blessed John Paul II and within that funeral most especially the homily of Benedict XVI, then Cardinal Ratzinger.

He traced the life of Blessed John Paul II as a continual call by Jesus to follow Him. In the midst of Nazi occupation of Poland, Jesus said to Blessed John Paul II “Follow Me” and he entered clandestinely into the seminary. Some years later after being ordained a priest, the Lord called again “Follow Me” and He was called to be a bishop, and of course in 1978, after the shocking death of Pope John Paul I, who was only Pope for 33 days, the Lord called to him again “Follow Me!” and he became Pope. And as Pope a continual following of the Lord. A continual “Yes” by Blessed John Paul II to what God was asking of him, no matter how difficult. We are blessed to have had in our lifetimes such a beautiful and powerful example of what it means to follow Jesus.

In the reading we see someone call out spontaneously to Jesus: “I will follow you wherever you go.” Now we can imagine that this person is caught up in the excitement of seeing Jesus. He’s preaching and teaching in a way that no one has ever heard before. He’s performing and healings. And this man seems to get all caught up in that and shouts out “I will follow you wherever you go!”

But Jesus knows the human heart very well, and He can see into the truth of this man’s heart. That’s why Jesus responds to him the way He does: “Foxes have dens and birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to rest His head.” In other words, Jesus is saying “You think it’s easy and exciting to follow Me, but following Me is not about ease or worldly excitement, it’s the way of suffering.” The suffering of self-denial when we say no to sin. The suffering of ridicule which comes many times for living the Christian life. The suffering of hardship which comes from doing God’s will and fulfilling our vocations faithfully. This is suffering that we cannot run away from if we are to be followers of Jesus.

But the suffering is not an end to itself. It is accepted for the sake of love and goodness and surprisingly when bourn in union with God brings great joy. Look again at the life of Blessed John Paul II. In many different ways, he suffered greatly in following Jesus. But look at the fruit of his life! Incredible! And he was filled with great joy. So yes, following Jesus means great suffering at times, but it also means great fruitfulness and joy.

But human beings being what we are, when the suffering comes our way for following Jesus, temptation to doubt and despair can be very real. Or when we are tempted with a sin that is very enticing, we may come to believe that Jesus is just too hard and the satisfaction that comes from the sin just too hard to pass by. This is when we need to surrender to God even more – to abandon ourselves to prayer. To allow God to carry us until the storms of temptation pass, and they reveal themselves to be the lies that they really are. By deeper abandonment to Jesus in the midst of suffering and temptation, we will find not that it is impossible to follow Jesus but that, as St. Paul says, “All things are possible through Christ who strengthens me,” and that the promise of Jesus is true: “My yoke is easy and my burden light.”

Jesus calls to us every day “Follow Me.” Having already put our hands to the plow, let us abandon ourselves into the hands of the Lord, never looking back.

Given by Father Mark Gurtner at Our Lady of Good Hope Church, Fort Wayne, Indiana, on the 13th Sunday of Ordinary Time.