Loyalty

As I reflected upon today's first Scripture readings, Ruth1:1, 3-6, 14-16 ,   I am touched by Ruth's loyalty to her mother-in-law.  Naomi, from Judea,  and her two sisters-in-law, Moabites, are on their way back to Judah when Naomi says to them: "Go back home and stay with your mothers."  Ruth says to Naomi: "Don't ask me to leave you! Let me go with you. Wherever you go, I will go; wherever you live, I will live.  Your people will be my people, and your God will be my God.  Wherever you die, I will die, and that is where I will be buried.  May the Lord's worst punishment come upon me if I let anything but death separate me from you."

Wow!  Have you and I, in following our vocations in life, be that marriage,  religious life, or priesthood not said the same thing. We all left our homes to carry out what we know is God's will for us. Husbands and wives have said to each other: "Wherever you go, I will go; wherever you live, I will live. Your people will be my people, and your God will be my God. Wherever you die, I will die, and that is where I will be buried." "Nothing but death [will] separate me from you!"  We religious and priests say the  same to our religious communities/dioceses, to our vocation, to God's call to serve in the way we hear the Spirit calling us through our superiors, our Church, our community's charism and mission in the world.

What  a God who leads us in the path to salvation: surrendering to God's will as it is revealed in the  circumstances of our lives, as it was revealed to Naomi and her daughters-in-law.