Points to Ponder

The excellence of a top class musician is the result both of talent and of ceaseless practice. The skill of a sports star comes from natural ability linked with painstaking training. In both cases, the performer chose a clear goal to which everything else took second focuses the energy and good will of the aspirant on greatness. Commitment is the core of real achievement.
In today's gospel, we find the beginning of a similar choice and commitment. This time the commitment is to a person rather than to a skill. Jesus called the first four disciples. They left all to follow him. Jesus became the priority focus of their lives.
We all need such a focus or else our lives are dissipated on money, television, alcohol, comfort or even gossip. Today's gospel is an invitation to hear God's call to launch out into new generosities, new depths of faith, prayer and service, and to trust Jesus to be opportunity is to leave behind our cuteness and fears and to focus on his proffered love. What if one of the gang of four had failed to respond to him?
Just as the young are greatly enhanced when an interested adult helps them to focus their lives on music, sports or academics, so too, they need to be enabled to choose Jesus Christ and his values as a priority in their live. Such enabling is the responsibility and privilege of parents, teachers, priests and every adult Christian, today and always.