September 30, 2026 // Memorial of Saint Jerome, Priest and Doctor of the Church

Read the Word // Open your Bible to today’s Gospel: Luke 9:57-62

Reflect on the Word // 

I didn't realize how often I was saying “yes, but” to God until I started paying attention to my prayers.

Yes, Lord, I trust You . . . but first let me figure out what's going to happen.

Yes, Lord, I'll follow You . . . but first let me feel more certain.

Yes, Lord, I'll take that step . . . but first let me make sure it won't cost too much.

None of those conditions seemed unreasonable. In fact, they felt responsible—wise, even. But over time, I began to notice that my desire for clarity was often disguising a deeper hesitation: I wanted to follow God, but only if I could keep one hand on the plow and one hand on the future.

In today's Gospel, Jesus encounters three people who express a desire to follow Him. Yet each conversation contains a condition, a delay, or a reason to wait. The requests themselves aren't bad. They are human. Reasonable. Understandable.

And yet Jesus' responses feel surprisingly direct.

Why? Because He knows something we often forget: discipleship cannot be lived with one foot moving forward and one foot planted in what we're unwilling to leave behind.

The final image stays with me: "No one who sets a hand to the plow and looks to what was left behind is fit for the Kingdom of God” (Luke 9:62). A farmer looking backward cannot move forward in a straight line. In the same way, following Jesus requires a certain freedom of heart—a willingness to trust Him with what lies ahead rather than constantly measuring what we're leaving behind.

That doesn't mean the road is easy. It means Christ Himself is worth following.

We all have our own versions of "but first" (Luke 9:61). May we have the courage to place them before the Lord and trust Him with what we cannot yet see. For the Kingdom is built not by looking backward, but by fixing our eyes on the One Who calls us forward.

Relate to the Lord // Is there something in the past that is keeping you from moving forward? Talk about it with a friend and pray together.