What If We Truly Gave Everything to Christ?

What would happen if we truly gave everything to Christ? Not just the comfortable parts of our lives or the time we have left over, but everything? In his homily for the Feast of St. Francis, Fr. Jantz challenged us to consider the extraordinary difference that one person, completely surrendered to Christ, can make in the world. Eight hundred years later, St. Francis remains, as Fr. Jantz described him, "eternally young." His radical embrace of poverty, joyful stewardship, and love of neighbor is the kind of witness we long to see on the front page of today's news or even as the first thing in our social media feeds. His life reminds us that holiness is not simply something to admire from a distance, but something we are all called to pursue. And then Fr. Jantz posed a remarkable question: What would happen if all of us did the same?

Imagine, for a moment, if an entire confirmation class at St. Thomas, roughly one hundred young people, answered God's call to the priesthood or religious life. As Fr. Jantz acknowledged, it sounds crazy! Yet consider how such a response could transform not only our parish but the entire state of Alabama and the work of the Gospel within it. Or imagine what might happen if our whole parish came together in a radical and prophetic way to meet the needs of our community. What if we stopped asking how little we could give and began asking how much of ourselves we could offer? St. Francis reminds us that such transformation is not beyond our reach. One person, wholly given to Christ, changed the world. Imagine what an entire parish could do.

Fr. Jantz offered three challenges that lie at the heart of such a transformation: a heartfelt embrace of Gospel simplicity, the conversion of our hearts to become joyful stewards of God's blessings, and a commitment to building a civilization of love in our own place and time. These are not merely beautiful ideals. They require us to examine how we live, what we value, and where we place our trust. Gospel simplicity asks us to loosen our grip on possessions and comforts. Stewardship calls us to recognize that everything we have is a gift meant to serve God and neighbor. And building a civilization of love requires us to move beyond good intentions into concrete acts of generosity, mercy, forgiveness, and service, especially toward those who are most difficult for us to love.

I keep returning to that question: What would happen if all of us did the same? But perhaps the more difficult question is, What would happen if I did? Radical discipleship is not simply about doing more good things; it is about allowing Christ to claim more of our hearts. It is surrendering our attachments, ambitions, fears, and even our desire for control so that we become free to love as He loves. This is the freedom that St. Francis discovered and that St. John of the Cross teaches through detachment: not an emptiness for its own sake, but a heart so completely given to God that nothing stands in the way of love. Perhaps we can begin this week by asking: What am I still unwilling to give to Christ? Where am I choosing comfort over love, security over trust, or my own will over His? Then, rather than simply reflecting on the answers, let us take one concrete step toward surrender, especially one that costs us something.

As we celebrate the 800th anniversary of St. Francis' passing into eternity, his life invites us to rediscover the joy of belonging entirely to Christ. Fr. Jantz reminded us that we stand together on holy ground, entrusted with countless blessings and called to make God's love visible in the world around us. May the great canticle of praise that St. Francis sang resound not only in our words, but through the way we live. The world does not simply need more people who admire St. Francis. It needs more people willing to follow Christ as radically as he did.