If you think about it in modern terms, the Lord was one of the biggest "influencers" of His time in Israel, due to His significant credibility and substantial audience. Every time He performed a miracle, more people approached Him and wanted to follow Him. In this Sunday's Gospel, we are told that a great crowd followed the Lord on the road to Jerusalem, the final journey on His way to the cross. Upon seeing the crowd, the Lord reminded them of what it takes to be His disciples: to prefer nothing to His love and to take up their cross and follow Him.

The path the Lord asks His disciples to follow is the same path His Heavenly Father proposed that the Lord should follow: the way of the cross. The Lord preferred nothing to the love of His Heavenly Father. His disciples should also prefer nothing to the Lord’s love. Neither should they prefer their family, their own person, or their material possessions.

This question has shaken many Christians: if a person believes his life's purpose is to serve God, should not he sacrifice everything to follow Him? And what if sacrificing his own well-being also sacrifices the well-being of others? For many Saints, the answers to these questions sundered and remade many of their relationships. St. Elizabeth Ann Seton is a relevant example for us.

Born in the Episcopal Church, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton converted to Catholicism at the age of 30. In 1803, she traveled to Italy with her ailing husband and her 8-year-old daughter to seek relief for her husband. A few weeks after their arrival, her husband died. St. Elizabeth Ann remained in Italy for six months after her husband's death. During that time, she was exposed to the Catholic faith through a family of devout Catholics who were hosting her. There she came to believe in the Catholic doctrine of the Real Presence of the Lord in the Eucharist.

St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, even from her affiliation to the Episcopal Church, had great faith in the Lord. And that faith helped her face the great difficulties that life brought her, such as the illness of her loved ones and financial hardship. The question is why St. Elizabeth Ann Seton wanted to follow the Lord in the Catholic Church, knowing it would strain her relationships with her family and New York society. The answer can be found in today's Gospel.

She knew very well the conditions for being a disciple of the Lord: she was to prefer nothing to the love of Him and she was to carry her own cross and follow Him. Pope Francis commented on this Gospel: “Jesus’ disciple renounces all his possessions because in Jesus he has found the greatest Good in which every other good receives its full value and meaning: family ties, other relationships, work, cultural and economic goods and so forth...” In Italy, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton found in the Eucharist the surest and most beautiful means to encounter the Lord, to possess Him.

In the Gospel, the Lord explains the requirement of renouncing everything with two parables. In the second parable, the Lord speaks about a king who recognizes that he cannot attack another king who has twice as many soldiers. Recognizing his disadvantage, he wisely decides to send delegates to negotiate peace.

This image of going to war refers to the spiritual war that Christians must wage: the war against evil and its seductions. This war takes place within us, in our bodies. This war demands that we be willing to pay in person. This is the example of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton. She renounced her family and her own person to follow the Lord. She carried the cross of the war against evil.

Let us humbly ask the Lord to grant us His grace to prefer nothing to his love and cherish Him as our greatest Good.