1 Kings 19:19-20, ,Luke 9:61-62, Galatians 15:1

Beloved, I can always find a hundred and one excuses for not doing what You call me to do. It is human nature to want to take the easy path, not to rock the boat, to go with the flow rather than take a stand. To get lost in the crowd rather than stick out like sore thumb. Yet, if I run away from You I will never know true happiness or peace. Being Your disciple is not easy, but it is exciting and fulfilling. It is joyful and exhilarating to love You and experience Your love.

1 Kings 19:19-20
Elijah passed by him and cast his cloak over him. Elisha left the oxen, ran after Elijah and said, "Let me say goodbye to my father and mother; then I will follow you".

Luke 9:61-62
59 To another Jesus said, “Follow me.” But he answered, “Let me go back now, for first I want to bury my father.” 60 And Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their dead; as for you, leave them and proclaim the kingdom of God.”
61 Another said to him, “I will follow you, Lord, but first let me say goodbye to my family.” 62 And Jesus said to him, “Whoever has put his hand to the plow and looks back is not fit for the kingdom of God.” 

Elijah passed his cloak over Elisha as a sign of his calling to be a prophet after he Elijah, had gone. Elisha wanted to say goodbye to his parents and immediately Elijah told him to go back and not to worry about what he had done. Jesus, You too said, "Follow Me," to the man in today's Gospel reading and in the following verse we see another who wanted to follow You, but like Elisha he too wanted to say goodbye to his family first.

Nothing in the whole wide world is more important than responding to Your call and accepting Your invitation to be Your disciple. No human tie must be more binding that it has the power to dilute our commitment and that is why You say, "Whoever has put his hand to the plow and then looks back is not fit for the Kingdom of God.

Olds griefs, old attachments, even old, forgiven sins should be cast into the sea of oblivion . If we keep looking back, reliving old, hurtful memories and revisiting old griefs it has the power to render us into pillars of salt like Lot's wife. 

Galatians 15:1
Christ freed us to make us really free. So remain firm and do not submit again to the yoke of slavery. 

St. Paul reminds us that if You have set us free then we are free indeed.  Free to live as sons and daughters of the Most High God.