“We all make choices, but in the end our choices make us.”

You're gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed. You're gonna have to serve somebody, Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord But you're gonna have to serve somebody. – Bob Dylan (1979 “Gotta Serve Somebody”)

Gospel Text: (MT 8:28-34)
When Jesus came to the territory of the Gadarenes,
two demoniacs who were coming from the tombs met him.
They were so savage that no one could travel by that road.
They cried out, “What have you to do with us, Son of God?
Have you come here to torment us before the appointed time?”
Some distance away a herd of many swine was feeding.
The demons pleaded with him,
“If you drive us out, send us into the herd of swine.”
And he said to them, “Go then!”
They came out and entered the swine,
and the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea
where they drowned.
The swineherds ran away,
and when they came to the town they reported everything,
including what had happened to the demoniacs.
Thereupon the whole town came out to meet Jesus,
and when they saw him they begged him to leave their district.

“Who do I serve and who is the Lord of my life?”

In today’s Gospel from Mass Jesus comes to the town and cleanses the town of two demoniacs and yet the response from the residents is to beg him to leave. This struck a chord with me. How often we invite Christ into our life but don’t like what happens when He is control. More often then not, our society’s reaction to situations like that usually is “enough of that, I think I like the way things used to be like.”

Therein lies the challenge for us.

We can easily attend Mass and other parish activities, donate offerings, partake in solemnities, but like the Israelites, reject God by our daily actions and choices. Watch the news today, you pick the channel, what you will see is numerous instances where like the Gadarenes in today’s Gospel reading, individuals by their actions and choices ask Jesus “to leave” when He actively is attempting to help them.

Our challenge every day is to accept the grace of God in as much totality as humanly possible and be up to the tests that might arrive. If we put our efforts into responding properly to Christ’s lordship in our life, great events will come to pass.