Before embarking on a new project, count the cost.

"This one began to build but did not have the resources to finish." (Luke 14: 30).

Sunday of the 23rd week in Ordinary Time. When you embark on a new project: building a home, a new career, volunteering for a new ministry, etc. Rule #1 is sit down and count the cost. This will save you embarrassment and mockery from friends, family and neighbors. The stakes are higher when you make a vow to God. You can not walk away from it.

The message of the 23rd Sunday can be expressed thus: God approves of those who seek first His Kingdom and give it their All. Jesus our Captain invites us to take His yoke upon ourselves and learn from Him.

“I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." (John 14: 6). Don't deceive yourself by looking for an easy way. The only way is the Cross. If we are the first to go through this way, you may be excused if you consider it an impossibility. But we have a cloud of witnesses that have gone this way before us.

This morning, I was humbled to sit in the exact spot Mother St Teresa of Kolkata sat when she visited the Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Atlanta, Georgia in 1995. Some other people have been in the very spots Pope St John Paul II was in his various visits to the US. Some of the clouds of witnesses might be sitting beside you in your parish this Sunday.

If Jesus is the light of the world, then follow Him. "I am the light of the world; who ever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." (John 8: 12).

Daily Bible Verse @ SeekFirstcommunity.com