A couple years ago, I had the chance to read a book called “Pierced by a Sword” — It’s a fascinating little novel that tells the story of several different characters who all undergo conversions and various trials of faith at the end of the world. 

One of the characters that you meet along the way is a well-known leader of the Mormon temple in Salt Lake City — and his name is John Lanning. We first meet John Lanning as he is beginning to doubt his Mormon faith. 

Then all of a sudden, he has a massive heart attack that leaves him medically “dead” for 18 minutes. And during that experience, God allows his soul to be brought face to face with the full reality of Hell — he actually feels the fires of Hell — And he realizes “WOW… If I died right now, this is where I’d end up…”

Then God intervenes, and John Lanning — this doubting Mormon — miraculously comes back to life. He leaves the hospital, and goes straight to the local Catholic Church to thank God for sparing his life.

As he enters the church, Lanning begins to come to grips with the full ramifications of what just happened. And he realizes that now that he knows the truth, he has to do something about it! He has to become CATHOLIC! And yet, he also knows that if he DID become Catholic, his entire world would implode as soon as his conversion became public:

He would lose all his friends.

He would lose the entire Mormon community.

He would lose his job.

He would lose his wife.

He would lose his relatives.

He would lose everything.

As he contemplated the risks and consequences of converting from Mormonism to Catholicism, he looked over at the Tabernacle. He saw the sanctuary lamp, and he realized: Jesus is right there. 

He then asked:

“What is the Body of the real Jesus in the Tabernacle worth?”

What is Jesus worth???

That is the most important question any of us could ever ask ourselves:

What is Jesus worth?

What is He worth to me? …What is He worth to you? 

To Judas, Jesus was worth only 30 pieces of silver… not a whole lot. To countless saints and martyrs up and down the centuries, Jesus was the Pearl beyond any price! 

How about you?

Have you ever asked the Lord what He is worth to you? Have you ever sat in front of Jesus in the Tabernacle and calculated the full cost of serving Him the way that you know full well He’s asking you to?

Because, that’s what Jesus tells us to do in our Gospel this weekend — to calculate the cost, to weigh His worth, and see whether or not we are really in this for the long haul:

“Which of you wishing to construct a tower does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if there is enough for its completion? Otherwise, after laying the foundation and finding himself unable to finish the work, the onlookers should laugh at him and say, ‘This one began to build but did not have the resources to finish.’”

Newsflash: Following Jesus is NOT easy. 

It is very COSTLY… It doesn’t just cost us one hour on Sunday — it should literally cost us every minute of our lives! 

If it isn’t costing you that much, then I believe Jesus is asking for more.

As St. Therese of Lisieux once said:  “You cannot be half a saint, you must be a whole saint or no saint at all.”

Jesus wants ALL …or nothing.

That’s what He means when he says stuff as shocking as:

“If anyone comes to me without hating his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, and even his own life… he cannot be my disciple.”

Our Lord is using hyperbolic language as a teaching tool — He obviously doesn’t want us to hate anyone! …but what Jesus is driving at is very obvious:

We shouldn’t prefer ANYTHING or ANYONE over Him.

Not sports. Not politics. Not money. Not education. Not popularity. Not romantic involvements. Not reputation. Not comfort and convenience. Not even our own family!

We can’t prefer ANY of these things over Jesus.

Following Jesus actually costs us something! In fact, it costs us EVERYTHING…

Now, one might think that this very HIGH PRICE of discipleship would be something of a turn-off. You might think the fact that it requires so much to follow Jesus could potentially discourage people from ever converting to the Catholicism…

But in fact, we find just the opposite to be true!

It’s precisely when we are totally up front and brutally honest about the cost of discipleship — when we hide nothing of the demand and give no illusions of what we’re up against in choosing to be Catholic — that people begin to respond in the greatest numbers and with the most zeal!!!!

I don’t know if you’ve heard about this yet — But for the first time in over 20 years, statistics show that the Catholic Church in America is actually gaining more members than we are losing!

This is amazing news! 

I have several friends who are campus ministers at Virginia colleges… and ALL of them are telling me that there’s been an INSANE uptick in numbers of people set to enter the Church next Easter. 

And these are not just casually interested people… No, they are ALL IN. SOLD OUT for Jesus…

What is going on? Why are so many people now interested in taking the plunge to become Catholic?

Here’s my take:

I think it’s because people in the pews are hearing that it actually COSTS something to be Catholic today.

That it COSTS something to follow Jesus intentionally. That it COSTS something to live according to the Truth of the Gospel.… but… if you’re willing to sit down and calculate that cost, then you’re sure to find that it’s actually WELL WORTH the high asking price.

There is just something inherently attractive about something that actually demands a sacrifice from us…

We all know this almost instinctively!

Imagine you go to a used car lot… and you find a really awesome looking car. It’s got all the specs you want… it seems like it’s in pretty good shape. The mileage is reasonable. No obvious dents or scratches…

Then you look at the price, and it’s ridiculously cheap for some reason…

What would be going through your head???

“What’s wrong with it???”

We are naturally suspicious when the asking price seems a little too good to be true…right?

Back when I worked at a web design agency, I remember one of our newly hired employees (at her very first staff meeting!) stood up and told my boss point blank: “You need to raise your prices.”

We were shocked.

But she proceeded to explain that all the other web design firms in the area were putting in bids for the same exact projects we were… and they were getting hired, because our prices were so insanely cheap. We weren’t being taken seriously!

I believe something like that is happening in the Church today.

It’s no secret that being intentionally Catholic today costs quite a lot. 

It requires many sacrifices. It demands that we consciously swim upstream, against the general cultural current… We need to be willing to look crazy to be Catholic today!!! There is no good reason, no personal advantage to being Catholic today UNLESS what we believe is actually OBJECTIVELY TRUE…

Instead of downplaying that extreme challenge, instead of downplaying the full brunt of the message — I think the Holy Spirit has raised up a generation of Catholic speakers and pastors who have presented the true, accurate cost of following Christ. 

Its glory. Its joys. Its sorrows. The opposition, pressures and temptations that you’re sure to experience…

Just the other day, I saw an interview with Fr. Mike Schmitz, and he was sharing how once while preaching to his college students, he looked out at the congregation and he suddenly realized that his job wasn’t just to help these students be slightly more devout Catholic after they graduated college. His real job was to prepare them to be martyrs… “to be witnesses in their faith in every situation, in every season, wherever [they were] called… no matter what it cost.”

I’m convinced that Fr Mike and so many others have been preaching what it ACTUALLY really costs to be a follower of Jesus today…

And so that’s the invitation people have been hearing. 

They’ve been invited to say YES to the radical, beautiful message of the Gospel with all its extremely high moral demands. With all its rich, jaw-dropping claims about the world. All its arguments and proofs for unchanging, transcendent doctrines…

More and more people have heard and digested that message… they have calculated the cost, they’ve come face to face with the Living God, and now — by His grace — many are stepping up and saying:

“Yeah, Jesus… You’re worth it. You are worth the cost! Nothing else in this world compares. In fact, You are the meaning and purpose of my life.”

This Sunday, Pope Leo canonized two young men who understood and paid the full price of following Jesus.

St. Carlo Acutis and St. Pier Giorgio Frassati… these are modern day saints!!! I believe they are set to inspire a whole new generation of young Catholics — to rise up to the challenge and become holy.

Pier Giorgio’s famous motto was “Verso l’Alto” — which means “To the HEIGHTS!”

What he was saying is exactly what Jesus said in our Gospel:

Aim for Heaven!

Aim upwards, to the heights! — Verso l’Alto!

Calculate the ACTUAL full cost of discipleship…

Don’t cheap out on Jesus… because He hasn’t cheaped out on you!

Don’t aim too low… Don’t just aim at Purgatory…at mediocrity!

Because if you miss… you’ll end up going even lower and you’ll be lost.

You will not have enough to finish building that tower…

So aim “to the heights” instead!

Calculate the demanding price that Jesus is actually asking of you.

And then respond… Say “yes.” 

  “Yes, Jesus, you are worth it all.”