Are You Ready To Take the Jump into the Passion?

Jesus said, “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer, for I tell you, I shall not eat it again until there is fulfillment in the kingdom of God.” Throughout the gospels, we hear Jesus tell us often, “It is not my time yet.” He would work a miracle, and then people would come.

He would say, “It is not my time yet.” They would come to kill Him, and He would say, “It is not my time yet.” He would often go to a place to pray. This now becomes the pivotal moment where He realizes it is His time. There is no more running away. There is no more praying. There is no more avoiding. He has that final, gripping prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane. He says to the Father, “Father, if it be thy will, please spare me from this; but if not, thy will be done.” In that moment, he took that step to do God’s will over his own yearning to remain alive.

The reality is that for all of us there will be a point in our lives where we are going to take that step towards God or towards our own will. Sometimes that step is going to forever change the course of our lives. For me, it was the day I was ordained. It was a day that forever changed my life.

From that day forward, my life would never be the same. For some of you, it might be the person sitting next to you when you said “I do” to your spouse through good times or bad, sickness or health all the days of our life. You said, “I do” and made that promise. For the religious that are here with us today, there was a moment where they made a vow of poverty, chastity and obedience. From that moment, their life forever changed.

God is calling all of us to do His will, and our lives are constantly fighting against that. We are constantly fighting that – wanting to do our own will. Hopefully, there comes a time in our life where His will and ours are united. We make that decisive YES.

From that point forward, we decide no matter what happens with our life, we are doing His will. There is a tremendous freedom that comes from that. The image that came to mind as I prayed with this is when I went skydiving. There is that moment where you are hanging out, you are 10,000 feet in the air, you are on the edge of the plane, and you have to either jump or not jump. There is no going back when you decide to jump. Everything changes. You are out there in the open air.

All of us are called to take a leap of faith at some point in our lives. God is very patient with us – just as He was with his disciples. He is going to keep inviting us time and time again. Over and over He pleads, “Please do my will. Follow me because I will show you the way of life.”

The choices that we make forever transform our lives. I invite you to think about that in your own life as we come to this end of the season of Lent filled with prayer, fasting and almsgiving. Maybe we have come closer to realize what our will is, and maybe, where our will is not in accordance with God’s will.

Deep down we know what God is calling us to. This Holy Week could be the actual week that we take a step toward doing His will that forever changes our life. Taking that step is what could make us a saint. Taking that step is a step that will bring freedom. We are going to experience the cross I have experienced in priesthood. Married couples can testify to that. The religious and the single life have experienced that. Once we make that ultimate choice to go and to never go back, He can work with us as a wonderful instrument.

I invite you – as we enter into this Passion and Holy Week – to accept His holy will into your life. Whatever He is asking you to do. Maybe this is the time. Maybe this is the moment that you say YES and never take it back.