Following Jesus is not a comfortable journey. It demands  trust, sacrifice, and an undivided heart. When I reflect on my life, I realize how often I hesitate in surrendering to God. I want to follow Him, but I also cling to my own plans, comforts, and responsibilities. Like the people in the Gospel, I sometimes say, “Lord, I will follow You, but first let me . . .”

Once, I felt God calling me to submit all my worries and stop overthinking about the future. As someone who plans every little detail, it’s difficult for me to let things be. But that moment, I felt His gentle reassurance to trust Him. It wasn’t easy, but when I finally let go, I saw His faithfulness unfold in ways I never imagined.

Surrendering doesn’t mean losing control—it means allowing God to lead, knowing His plans are always greater than mine. Looking back, I see how every uncertain step was met with His grace. And that gives me the courage to keep trusting, one step at a time. 

Elle Silvestre (marialouise.s@shepherdsvoice.com.ph)

reflect

Letting go isn’t always easy, but I’m learning that when I do, His love meets me where I am and carries me forward.

Lord, help me trust You more deeply. Gently ease my doubts and fears, and give me the courage to follow You with an open heart. Let Your love lead me in every step I take. Amen. 

Saint Jerome, priest and Doctor of the Church, pray for us.

First Reading | Job 9:1-12, 14-16

Job proclaims the greatness and power of God, highlighting the futility of opposing Him. Rather than resisting, we must humbly respect His sovereignty. Any attempt to challenge God is destined to fail. Even when His work in our lives remains unclear, let us choose cooperation over resistance, trusting in His wisdom and purpose.

¹ Job answered his friends and said: ² I know well that it is so; but how can a man be justified before God? ³ Should one wish to contend with him, he could not answer him once in a thousand times. ⁴ God is wise in heart and mighty in strength; who has withstood him and remained unscathed? ⁵ He removes the mountains before they know it; he overturns them in his anger. ⁶ He shakes the earth out of its place, and the pillars beneath it tremble. ⁷ He commands the sun, and it rises not; he seals up the stars. ⁸ He alone stretches out the heavens and treads upon the crests of the sea. ⁹ He made the Bear and Orion, the Pleiades and the constellations of the south; 10 he does great things past finding out, marvelous things beyond reckoning. ¹¹ Should he come near me, I see him not; should he pass by, I am not aware of him; ¹² should he seize me forcibly, who can say him nay? Who can say to him, “What are you doing?” ¹⁴ How much less shall I give him any answer, or choose out arguments against him! 15 Even though I were right, I could not answer him, but should rather beg for what was due me. ¹⁶ If I appealed to him and he answered my call, I could not believe that he would hearken to my words.

Responsorial Psalm | Psalm 88:10-11, 12-13, 14-15

R: Let my prayers come before you, Lord.

¹⁰ Daily I call upon you, O Lord; to you I stretch out my hands. ¹¹ Will you work wonders for the dead? Will the shades arise to give you thanks? (R) ¹² Do they declare your mercy in the grave, your faithfulness among those who have perished? ¹³ Are your wonders made known in the darkness, or your justice in the land of oblivion? (R) ¹⁴ But I, O Lord, cry out to you; with my morning prayer I wait upon you. ¹⁵ Why, O Lord, do you reject me; why hide from me your face? (R)

Gospel | Luke 9:57-62

Jesus teaches that once we become His disciples, we must not look back. When we do, we risk being drawn to those who have not answered the call—lives that may appear more desirable through the lens of pleasure or worldly fulfillment. Let us resist this temptation and press forward, committed to fulfilling God’s mission for us.

Gospel Acclamation

I consider all things so much rubbish that I may gain Christ and be found in him.

⁵⁷ As Jesus and his disciples were proceeding on their journey someone said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” ⁵⁸ Jesus answered him, “Foxes have dens and birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to rest his head.” ⁵⁹ And to another he said, “Follow me.” But he replied, “Lord, let me go first and bury my father.” ⁶⁰ But he answered him, “Let the dead bury their dead. But you, go and proclaim the Kingdom of God.” ⁶¹ And another said,“I will follow you, Lord, but first let me say farewell to my family at home.” ⁶² Jesus answered him, “No one who sets a hand to the plow and looks to what was left behind is fit for the Kingdom of God.”

Reflect

What past memories hinder you from doing your God-given mission? How do you fight the temptation to go back to your old life?

Read the Bible in one year! Read PROVERBS 21 - 23 today.

God Never Takes Away

The Gospel today has very disconcerting words coming from the lips of Jesus. When a man expressed his desire to be His follower, Jesus responded, “Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.” Simply put, Jesus was saying, “If you want to be My follower, be ready to be homeless.”

Another one professed his longing to be His follower, but requested for some time to bid goodbye to his family. Jesus bluntly said, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the Kingdom of God.” Simply put, Jesus was saying, “If you want to be My follower, be ready to lose your family.”

Home and family are the closest things to any person’s heart. It is where faces and places are familiar. It is where we feel safe and secure

I am now on my 26th year as a priest. When I left home and family for the seminary in 1986, fresh from high school, I steeled my heart that I would be leaving home and family for the sake of the Gospel. There were countless moments of homesickness, but paradoxically, as a seminarian and later as a priest, I never really felt deprived of home and family. It is because wherever I go and wherever God sent me, I was welcomed in many homes and had new families to love and be loved by.

Indeed, home is not only where the places and faces are familiar. Home is where God is calling you. Wherever we are, whatever we do, if it is God’s calling for you, we are always at home. We are always with family! 

Fr. Joel O. Jason

reflection question

Don’t be afraid to surrender to God. Even when He seems to take away, He is actually giving us more.

“Only Thy grace, Thy love on me bestow, these make me rich, all else will I forego.” Amen.

Today, I pray for: __________________________________________