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Homilies are posted no later
than during the week prior to the Sunday they are needed. |
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3 Ordinary Time
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Four year old Jill asked, "God is bigger then us and lives
in us, right?" Her mom agreed. Jill blurted out, "If God is bigger than
us and lives in us, shouldn't He show through?" Jill is a promising
theologian.
Jesus possessed a sophisticated Early Warning System. Word
reached him that John the Baptist had been jailed. He knew if He wanted
to avoid arrest, He must flee John's country. His instincts pointed Him
to Galilee. Even blindfolded, He knew that territory well. Nobody would
find Him there. Besides, the time had come for Jesus to begin His
preaching about His Father's Kingdom. He arrived in the north after a
forced march.
He checked in with His mother and had home-cooked meals.
After His forty day fast, Mary must have been terrified at the looks of
Him. He sold His tools at a yard sale. He would not be needing them
again. He put the funds in the Nazareth Savings Bank for His mom and
got a Visa credit card.
Jesus was about to begin His second career. It would last
but three years. Yet, the world still reels from that decision.
Then He set up His headquarters not in Nazareth but in
Capernaum. That was a gutsy call. Like many seaports, Capernaum was
seedy. Its citizens were among the most violent in Galilee. Many would
steal the eyes out of your head and tell you that you were born blind.
Citizens there would prefer to be called former citizens of Capernaum.
But it had one big plus. The town was sitting on a heavily
traveled road. Merchants from Syria and Phoenicia in the north would
motel overnight in the town as they headed south. Those coming out of
Egypt and other African countries heading for the north country would
do likewise. Jesus would never want for a ready audience. These people
would listen to fresh ideas. They would carry His story to whatever
countries their business took them. That is the reason we
non-Palestinians are Christians today.
Also from Capernaum He could move out into all of the
province of Galilee. It was not a large area. It measured about fifty
miles from bottom to top and perhaps twenty-five miles from west to
east. Jesus was no stranger to walking. He was in marvelous condition.
In addition, the plentiful winds on the Sea of Galilee would carry Him
in any direction by sailboat taxi.
He had to pick up a team first before He began His serious
work. Thus His famous invitation to the brothers Simon and Andrew and
to the brothers James and John.
These men were no spiritual midgets. Jesus had first met
them down in John the Baptist's country. Like Him, they had researched
the Baptizer and liked what they had seen and heard. They were
conscious of the spirit portion of their own persons.
Nor was Jesus an unknown to them. They had traveled in His
company. No doubt they had heard Him preach often. They may even have
witnessed miracles. They had become as charmed of Jesus as we are.
When they accepted His invitation to sign on, they were
bold men. They were trading in a middle-class living for a precarious
one. They were, after all, commercial fishermen. They owned their own
boats. When was the last time you could afford to put fresh lobster,
crabmeat, and shrimp on your table?
Jesus was offering them not peace but the sword. And an
executioner's two-edged sword awaited three of them a short way down
the road.
Jesus' invitation was directed not to their heads but to
their hearts. Had it been the other way around, they might not have
enlisted as charter members of a start up enterprise. Very few of us
reason our way into the Church. Most of us become hypnotized with
Jesus. It is not His clever words that move us. It is His very person.
He was and remains a complete original. One genuine contact and one is
addicted for life. (William Barclay)
Once Jesus had His team, He began His work in earnest. Do
reflect that today's Gospel tells us Jesus "cured the people of every
disease and illness." Count them and you will discover that nine of the
ten miracles in Matthew's Gospel concern healings.
He was concerned both getting these people to heaven and
in helping them today. His deeds, said an observer, became His message.
So it must be with us.
There is no dearth of work. According to the United
Nations, 800 million people and rising are malnourished in the world.
This week let God show through you. Do not
disappoint Jill,who opened this homily, and above all don't
disappoint yourself. |
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http://www.st.ignatius.net/pastor.html
3 Ordinary Time |
Peter and Andrew, James and John hear the call of the Lord, drop
everything and follow him.They were not the sort of people who
anyone would suspect of being religious.They were common,
everyday people, fishermen. They were not the sort of
people anyone would suspect could convince others to change their
lives.They were common, everyday people,
fishermen.They were not the sort of people that
anyone would suspect could take the position of leadership in the
conversion of the world. They were common, everyday people,
fishermen.But they were called.They
responded.And God worked his wonders through them.
They
and their companions were not an easy bunch to train in the Lord’s
way.They just couldn’t seem to get the message straight.
They wanted Jesus to call down fire and brimstone on the
Samaritans.They fought with each other over who would have the
greatest authority in the Kingdom of Heaven.They ran in fear
when Jesus was arrested.There must have been times that Mary
just rolled her eyes when she heard about the antics of these
characters.They were difficult to teach in the ways of the Lord,
but they did learn and as a result we are here, members of the Holy,
Catholic and Apostolic Church.
Of
course, the disciples had a secret teacher, a mystical teacher.
They had the Holy Spirit.Filled with the Holy Spirit they were
able to transform their lives and convey the joy of serving Christ to
their companions.
This
Sunday’s readings have led me to a reflection on the vocation to the
priesthood and religious life.I wish I could find a way to
communicate to you and particularly to our young people my feelings
about the priesthood.For me, the priesthood is the greatest life
possible.I certainly that our married and our single can also
say, “For me, this is the greatest life possible.”Back to the
priesthood, though.Sometimes I’m called upon in emergency
situations to bring the sacraments to a person I have never met.
If I only did that once in my life, my life would be have meaning and
purpose, but this is an everyday event for a priest.
The
ancient Hebrews of the psalms and wisdom literature spoke about their
longing to sit at the gates of the city and meditate on
Scripture.The priest is obliged to do this every day and every
week.We pray the Liturgy of the Hours, which is basically psalms
and readings from scripture.We prepare homilies.Sometimes
we need a break from preaching.Sometimes you need a break from
our preaching.But it is a wonderful life to be obligated to
spend so much time with the Word of God.
Then
there is the Mass.The Mass!One of my main motivation to
become a priest was to be able to celebrateMass.It is
beyond my imaging that God would allow human beings to act in his
person and recreate the offering of his Son at the Last Supper and on
the Cross, but that is what happens every time the priest celebrates
Mass.
I
remember way back when I was first ordained and was helping as a
chaplain at Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio.I took a class
at Ohio State University for new priests, lawyers, doctors, nurses and
social workers.The purpose of the class was to develop a
professional inter-disciplinary approach for people in critical
situations.The social worker objected to my presence.
“What does he have to offer? Just a lot of mumble jumble.He
shouldn’t be here?”Everyone looked at me for a response.
Having spent the last two years working with on the oncology floor, it
was easy for me to answer her question.I just stated what I had
experienced:“When the doctor says, ‘We’ll do our best to keep
the patient comfortable until the end comes,’ and the nurse is happy to
be able to be busy with other patients, and the lawyer waits for death
to complete his responsibilities, and the social worker has no programs
for the comatose, the family looks to the priest for hope and
consolation.That’s what I’m doing here.”
A
couple of years ago I was speaking to a seminarian who was helping out
at the International Institute for the Clergy.I told him that he
was entering the greatest life in the world.He responded, “Yeah,
I guess priests really do have it easy.They have everything that
they could desire.They routinely go on vacations that most
people would long to go on once in their lives.”I told him that
he completely misunderstood me.I certainly hope that he was not
becoming a priest for the sake of the temporal benefits of the
priesthood.If he was, I’m afraid that he wouldn’t last very
long.God takes care of his priests, true, but he also expects
more from them than anyone other than a priest could imagine.
What I tried to express to the seminarian was that the priesthood was
the greatest life in the world because it was thoroughly about
Jesus.The priest acts in the person of Jesus, Personna Christi,
by virtue of the call of Christ and the action of the Holy
Spirit.No action of a person’s life can be greater than acting
in the person of the Lord.
At
the same time, when I am at priests’ meetings I have to admit that,
“God, we’re a strange looking lot.”Priests have more
idiosyncrasies, more foibles than the average male.Maybe that’s
because we don’t have wives to keep us in line.Sometimes I think
that individualsare chosen to be priests who themselves can best
demonstrate that God can work through anyone.And that is what
makes being a priest so very exciting. The priest realizes that somehow
or other God does his work despite the human being he uses.
No
one should feel discouraged from being a priest or a sister for that
matter because he or she does not feel worthy enough. Who
is?And no one should be deprived of the opportunity to become a
priest, or a sister for that matter, because relatives want something
else for them.To discourage a vocation is to discourage a person
from entering into the greatest life in the world.
There was a day, not all that long ago, when the people felt obliged to
provide priests and sisters from their family for the future of the
Church. “Who is going to be the priest in our family?” they would
ask.I don’t believe that we need to go back to the methodology
of the past, but we do need to embrace the Christian, Catholic
attitudes that motivated the people to seek among themselves those who
would be open to the call of the Lord and encourage them to follow him.
This
Sunday we pray for vocations to the priesthood and religious
life.May more and more of our young men and women receive the
call.May they listen to the call.May they follow, and,
may they allow the Spirit to work through them. |
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http://www.geocities.com/seapadre_1999/
* available in Spanish - see Spanish
homilies
3 Ordinary Time |
Bottom line: Like Palestine after the arrest of John the Baptist, we
live in a situation that has dramatically changed.
Today we hear the opening words of Jesus' public ministry: "Repent, for
the kingdom of heaven is at hand." Perhaps these words sound familiar.
Well, they are exactly the same words John preached. (cf. Mt 3:2) It
seems like Jesus is a continuation of John the Baptist. In one sense
that is true. Jesus does pick up where John left off. Still, in two
important ways, Jesus gives a whole new meaning to John's words. The
most significant difference is the person of Jesus. John was the last
and the greatest prophet. Jesus, on the other hand, is God. He not only
announces the kingdom; he brings it about in his person. With Jesus
something new enters human history. This is major.
There is a second way that John's words have new meaning when Jesus
speaks them. Even though it is minor in comparison to the person of
Jesus, it is nonetheless significant: John had been arrested. It was a
whole new ball game. The situation for preachers had suddenly become a
lot more dangerous. John's imprisonment looms over Jesus' public
ministry.
We live at a moment in history when we can appreciate this changed
situation. We also find ourselves at a time when things have changed
quite drastically. I am not saying that any of us face the possibility
- at least in the immediate future - of being arrested and imprisoned
for our faith. Still, things are different than they were even a decade
or two ago. For example, people used to take it for granted that
marriage means the union between one man and one woman. Today, an
aggressive segment of our society wants to re-define marriage. Part of
their strategy involves intimidating Christians by accusing us of
teaching hate. In one case, they brought a lawsuit against a bishop for
teaching that homosexual acts are morally wrong - and that they can
have a negative affect on our society. * Beyond that one bishop -
ministers, priests and Christian parents have faced a range of legal
actions for defending traditional teachings on human sexuality.** We
are in different world.
Last week I mentioned another area where the situation has changed
dramatically: how we view the value of human life. Most people used to
consider it noble to defend the weak. That idea of chivalry - which has
deep roots in the Gospel - is being thrown out. Now, instead of
defending the weak, people are saying they better get out of the way.
Today Christians can get into trouble for standing with the weak. I
won't go into more detail, but I think you know what I mean. Our social
climate has changed greatly in a very short time.
As followers of Jesus, we do not stand on the sidelines and wring our
hands. Jesus did not allow John's arrest to intimidate him. He picked
up the prophet's message, "Repent." You and I have that same message.
Now, I don't recommend going out on the sidewalk and telling people to
repent. The first person we need to address is not the guy with the gay
pride sticker. The first person you and I need to address is the one we
see in the mirror each morning. You and I have absorbed our society's
lax views. In St. Paul's words, we have emptied the cross of its
meaning. Let's face it: We admire the strong - the rich, the famous,
the powerful - and we find the weak to be a nuisance. That attitude is
poison. Repent.
The Kingdom of heaven is at hand. In his book Jesus of Nazareth, Pope
Benedict asked, what exactly is the kingdom. The pope's answer is
beautiful: Jesus is quite simply "proclaiming God and that he is able
to act concretely in the world and in history and is even now so
acting." Jesus is telling us, "‘God exists’ and ‘God really is God,’
which means that he holds in his hands the threads of the world."
Do you see what Pope Benedict is saying? If God holds the threads of
the world in his hand, we have nothing to fear. The Kingdom of God is
at hand. Early Christians calmly faced torture and death because they
knew that God has the final word. At this very moment, in atheistic and
Islamic countries, Christians are facing persecution. Jesus' words
sustain them. What about us? Opposition to us is growing, but it is
still minor by comparison. The danger we face is not so much to our
bodies, but to our souls - and the souls of our children. That danger
has increased in recent years. But even though the situation has
changed, the solution is the same, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven
is at hand."
**********
*Bishop Henry raised the taboo topic of how the disordered behavior of
some affects the entire society. He admits that he could have expressed
the question better. For a provocative discussion of this same issue I
recommend Shattered Tablets (Why we Ignore the Ten Commandments at Our
Peril) by David Klinghoffer
**Here is a list of some thirty-five case from the past three years.
Spanish Version
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http://www.agreeley.com/homilies.html
3 Ordinary Time |
Background:
Galilee was the "wild west" of Palestine, a rough, unruly place
with bandits and revolutionaries wandering about and a population which
was considered by the religious elites in Jerusalem to be uncouth and
semi-literate religiously and infected by the paganism of the area. It
was called the "Galilee of the Gentiles" because there was a large
population of Hellenistic pagans mixed in with the Jews who had only
recently begun to resettle a land which had been devastated by earlier
wars.
A rough parallel to what Jesus did when he walked along the
lakeside and summoned his disciples would be if he had walked down the
pain street of Tombstone Arizona and selected the odd cowboy and
merchant and drifter for his band. He certainly did not search for the
best and the brightest of his time, though he probably knew of what the
men would be capable in years ahead. There are, perhaps, more
potentially great men (in the world) than humankind recognizes.
Story:
This is a story for those who cannot understand why Jesus didn’t use
better taste
in choosing those who would represent him in the world, especially his
priests.
One upon a time a group of boys in their late teens swarmed out
on the basketball court on a Sunday in January when the temperature had
risen to fifty degrees, warm enough to play basketball, right? In t
shirts, right? Anyway the outcome of their games was often determined
by the flip of the coin which decided who would have first chance of
choosing sides. The one who lost got the second and third choice and so
on. It was supposed to be fair but it was also BORING. So this
particular day, the kid that had the first choice picked the worst
player in the crowd. Of course his opponent choose the two best
players.
Then our hero choose the second and third worst until he had
chosen the four worst players. These guys think they’re hot stuff (not
his exact word!) he send to his bedraggled team mates. They think
they’re going to mop up the court with us. Lets teach them a lesson.
Well, the other guys were so over confident that they missed their
shots and the poor team beat them 21-10. See, the winning captain
whispered to the losing captain, I am so good I can win with inferior
players. So there too. Did Jesus do the same thing? |
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http://www.saintvincentarchabbey.org/homilies/index.lasso
3 Ordinary Time
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Gospel Summary
When Jesus heard that John the Baptist had been arrested, he left
Nazareth and went to Capernaum. Herod Antipas was ruler of this
territory, Galilee of the Gentiles, regarded as a region of
God-forsaken pagan ways. It is here that Jesus goes to take up what is
now the dangerous mission of John, to proclaim the coming of God's
kingdom.
Jesus then proceeds to call Peter, Andrew, James and his brother John
to follow him as disciples. Through Jesus, what has been spoken through
the prophet Isaiah is at last fulfilled: ". . . the people who sit in
darkness have seen a great light, and on those dwelling in a land
overshadowed by death light has risen."
Life Implications
Matthew graphically portrays the unredeemed human condition: John,
victim of the injustice of arrest and subsequent execution; people
sitting in darkness and the shadow of death. Hearers of Matthew's
gospel already know that Jesus and many who became his disciples soon
would meet the same kind of injustice and violent death as John.
Graham Greene, in his novel The Power and the Glory, portrays the
hopelessly fallen human condition in a similarly graphic way through
the thoughts of the main character: "The knowledge of the world lay in
her like the dark explicable spot in an x-ray photograph; he longed --
with a breathless feeling in the beast -- to save her, but he knew the
surgeon's decision -- the ill was incurable."
The good news of Christian faith is that no experience of our human
condition, however "incurable" it may seem, even death, is hopeless.
The mission of Jesus is to proclaim that God loves us and wants to give
himself to us if we but turn to accept him. Jesus, "God with us," is
the incarnation of this supreme love -- light for people who sit in
darkness, life in a land overshadowed by death.
The gospel today also reminds us that Jesus calls each of us by name to
follow him: our ultimate happiness depends upon our response. No human
project or love, however great, may be preferred (" They left their
boat and their father and followed him").
In this Sunday's liturgy we might pray for the gift of faith to follow
Jesus into the life of God's love. This is the faith that overcomes the
world of violence, darkness and death. And with the gift of sharing
Christ's faith comes a peace that surpasses understanding.
Campion P. Gavaler, O.S.B. |
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http://www.christusrex.org/www1/mcitl/lowhome.html
Meeting Christ in the Liturgy
3 Ordinary Time
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Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
"Reform your lives! The kingdom of heaven is at hand." These words of
Jesus warn us against sleeping our lives away, against spiritual
laziness. Like headlines about a disaster on the front page of the
newspaper, the words and actions of Jesus are urgent and often
unsettling. Our Lord makes it clear that we cannot afford confusion
about where we are heading. We must realize that our words and actions
of each day, of every moment, have eternal significance.
Sin is incompatible with the Gospel, but Christianity is not a science
of escaping as much punishment as possible in the hands of an angry God
simply by strict observance of the rules. Christianity is about a
relationship, important above all others. Our faith should be our very
life, more precious than all other things. We should pray that our
lives will be a gift that we return to the Lord in ever greater
generosity as we follow our call to heroic holiness. If we cannot say
this is true, then we are not the Christians our Lord calls us to be.
If we realize that the stakes are eternal, than the words of Christ
will not be lost upon us. We will take his words and teachings to
heart, as spirit and life. "Reform your lives."
The Catechism speaks about the way of conversion for Christians. "The
first work of the grace of the Holy Spirit is conversion, effecting
justification in accordance with Jesus' proclamation at the beginning
of the Gospel: "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." (Matthew
4:17) Moved by grace man turns toward God and away from sin, thus
accepting forgiveness and righteousness from on high. "Justification is
not only the remission of sins, but also the sanctification and renewal
of the interior man." (Council of Trent) (CCC 1989)
Our faith is also one of reaching out, proclaiming Christ to others,
inviting others to share the life of Christ. "Come after me and I will
make you fishers of men." Preaching, teaching and proclaiming the
fantastic news about the kingdom is not just for the apostles, the
pope, bishops, and priests, but for all the baptized. Our life, first
given in baptism, by its nature seeks to share itself with others.
Faith will not satisfy, will not grow or bring more life, if we are
content to keep it inside. True faith seeks generously to be shared
with all of the brothers and sisters we meet. Share your faith, be
"fishers of men", and your faith-life will overflow in joy and will
surely grow, welling up to eternal life.
Looking forward to meeting you here again next week as, together, we
meet Christ in the liturgy", Father Cusick
http://www.christusrex.org/www1/mcitl/ (Copy by permission only)
|
|
http://www.ctk-thornbury.org.uk/
3 Ordinary Time |
In our Gospel reading today we hear about the call of the very first
disciples right at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry—first Simon Peter
and Andrew then James and John.
You might think that these very first disciples were a bit simple.
While they are busy working at their everyday tasks as fishermen Jesus
comes up and asks them to follow him. They immediately drop their nets
and do just that—they follow him.
This seems to us to be quite a rash act, something rather unwise and
unconsidered. They know almost nothing about this man who wants them to
become his disciples and yet they drop everything and follow him. And
we know from the Gospels it literally did mean following him on his
tour around Palestine.
We are told that Jesus had already begun his preaching—but only just.
But we aren’t told in the text whether these first disciples had
actually heard his preaching or not. Yet even if they had heard Jesus
preaching they couldn’t have known very much about him or any of the
implications of his message.
Their actions do not sound like the behaviour of prudent or responsible
men. And yet in these few verses we have the very beginnings of the
Church of God on earth. And these reckless and impulsive men become the
models for all subsequent members of the Church.
We are not told their motives or any of their thought processes, just
the bare fact that they left their nets and boats and followed Jesus.
There are no whys and wherefores recorded for us, just the simple
actions of leaving and following.
All this would have seemed quite strange to Matthew’s Jewish readers
because their custom was for the disciple to search out and chose the
master. But here it is clearly Jesus who takes the initiative—he calls,
they follow.
One possible conclusion we might come to is how extraordinary
attractive Jesus must have been; his command must have been absolutely
compelling. The two sets of disciples both ‘immediately’ leave what
they are doing and follow him. The charisma of Jesus is underlined by
Matthew who indicates in the very next sentence after our chosen text
that his fame went ahead of him throughout the province.
In the few lines of the Gospel given for today we see how Jesus picks
up where John the Baptist left off. We are told that he has come to
fulfil the scriptures, that he will bring light to the people; we are
introduced to Jesus’ inner group of disciples and see how they are
called. And we are told about his ministry of healing among the crowds
that flocked to hear him.
Jesus came to bring light to those who live in darkness. Those who are
in the dark about what God plans for the world will be enlightened.
They will, through Jesus’ preaching, discover that God loves them and
brings them salvation in the very fullest sense. Their eyes will be
opened and they will see things now from God’s point of view.
Besides the attractiveness of Jesus’ personality the first disciples
suddenly have the insight that this man Jesus is the one who knows the
answers to all their questions, the one who can help them to achieve a
completely new perspective on life. This is why they leave everything
and follow him. They suddenly understand that Jesus can give them the
only thing worth having—knowledge of God.
The same goes for us. It is this realisation that the only real answers
to the great questions of life are to be found in Jesus that triggers
our desire to follow him. Unlike the disciples we don’t actually see
the man, all we have is his words recorded in the Gospels. And yet we
have chosen to follow him.
It must be because we have been given the insight to see that he really
is the way, the truth and the life, just as he claimed to be. This is
surely the action of God’s grace in our lives.
We are the apostles for the world we inhabit. It is our task to become
so well acquainted with the message of Jesus that we can teach it to
others. We therefore need to immerse ourselves in the Gospel, to become
completely familiar with the words of Jesus and know him deeply through
a lively conversation with him in prayer. It is only when we do these
things that we will become effective in our task.
This sounds like a lot to live up to. It sounds perhaps more than we
bargained for. It might even be something we are very reluctant to do.
But be clear, this is our mission; this is our God given task.
He chose us; we did not choose him. His grace has been quietly acting
in our lives all along. We might think that we are not worthy or able
for the task but he knows best.
Those first apostles weren’t made of very promising material and I
don’t suppose we are either. And even while they were with him they
misunderstood his intentions and went so far as to desert and even deny
him. And yet these were the ones he chose, they were the ones on whom
he built his Church.
They deserted him but he did not desert them. And when Jesus ascended
to the Father he bequeathed them his Holy Spirit to be with them as a
guide and protector. This same Spirit has been poured out on us and he
is with us in this great task we have been given to make Christ known
to the world.
In taking up this task, like the first apostles, we will find that
there are things we must leave behind. And like them too, this is a
journey we embark on without knowing where it will lead us.
But it is a journey of faith, under the guidance of God’s Holy Spirit
and undertaken on behalf of Jesus Christ himself. We are his
ambassadors, we are his apostles, we are his messengers of love to the
world. How can we refuse such a mission? |
|
Contact Father at cbonar@cfl.rr.com;
information about his book of homilies is available
at www.clydebonar.com.
3 Ordinary Time |
Expect Great Things To Happen
Introduction
Isn't that Gospel story about the craziest
thing you ever heard? There's Peter, the fisherman. Well established in
his career. With fishing boats of his own. In partnership with his
brother, Andrew. Daily taking their catch to market, regular customers
depending on Peter to bring fish to market in time for dinner.
Along comes Jesus. Christ looks at Peter and
says, "the kingdom of God is at hand, come follow me." And, right then,
Peter drops his fishing nets, puts up an "out of business" sign, and
walks away from his fishing boat. Who among us would just up and quit
our jobs if some preacher said, "come follow me?" Now, isn't that
crazy?
God Has A Career In Mind For You
Actually, not crazy at all. God puts within
each of us a strong desire to do some particular thing with our lives.
To follow some vocation. To pursue some career. If we have deep joy
with our jobs, we can be sure we are doing the job God planned for our
lives.
Certainly, God plans different careers for
different people. God wanted Peter to be his apostle. The young girl
ThérPse Martin wanted to be a nun. At age nine, she wrote, "I
must devote my life to becoming a great saint." All the signs showed
ThérPse was doing God's will. She had a loving nature. Her
favorite subject at school was Bible history. She enjoyed Catechism
classes. Her First Communion she called a kiss from God. We now call
ThérPse Martin St. ThérPse of Lisieux. The young girl who
wanted to be a nun became the Little Flower of the Child Jesus.
But, don't think God only puts into saints a
great desire to follow some vocation or career. When he was Secretary
General of the United Nations, Dag Hammarskjold wrote, "my destiny is
to be used according to God's will."1 We are to go where God leads us,
Secretary General Dag Hammarskjold said. We are to let the prompting of
our soul direct what we do in life. With faith as our guide, happiness
comes when our career matches the will of God. That's what Dag
Hammarskjold found to be true in his life.
God puts within each person a unique call. A
nurse once told me, "I've always wanted to be a nurse." She had a
caring way with people, she easily learned the sciences of medicine.
Only as a nurse could she live out the unique set of talents and
interests which God placed within her very being.
God puts deep within us a strong desire to
follow some career. Different careers for different folks. We only find
great happiness when our job echoes how God wants us to spend our
lives. God has a career in mind for us for each of us.
God Calls You To That Career Choice
Point two, God calls us to that vocation.
Jesus said to Peter and his brother Andrew, "Come, I will make you
fishers of men." God also calls us. And, God calls just as clearly.
We can list the ways God calls us to our
life's work. One way God calls is by billboards along the highway. In
Milwaukee, drivers see a giant billboard which says, "Wanted: Doctor of
Souls." It's an ad inviting young men to become priests. After the
billboards went up phone calls, e-mails, and letters inquiring about
priesthood increased. Young men hearing God's call by reading a
billboard.
Parents and teachers are agents of God's call
for young people. A school counselor might give a battery of aptitude
tests, and then encourage a young student to become a writer or a
plumber or a salesman. Teachers will take note of how a student enjoys
math or chemistry, and encourage the young person to pursue a career in
the field of science. Routinely teachers give voice to God's call to
the young person to use his or her talents, to follow the unique set of
interests God placed within the person. "To be all you can be," the
saying goes. Perhaps our talents and interests will be recognized by
awards. The football coach remembers being honored as the most valuable
player on his school team, and knowing from that moment he wanted to
coach.
God calls in all kinds of ways. One chef
started out as a lawyer. Bought a restaurant as an investment. Then,
one night the cook didn't show up, and the lawyer stepped into the
kitchen. Someone had to cook! The lawyer discovered he loved cooking,
and hasn't practiced law since. That's God calling, using circumstances
to prompt a career change.
God calls each of us to some career, no doubt
about it. Maybe we read that call on a billboard along the highway,
maybe a school counselor speaks the call by challenging us to use our
talents, maybe God calls by some strange circumstances we find
ourselves in. God does call, calls each of us to a life's work.
How Do You Know Which Career?
But, and here's the problem! How do we know
this call is for me? How do we discern God's will? A counselor
encourages a high school student to think about some career. But, how
can the student be sure? Or, we might think about some mid-life career
change. How can we decide to take the risk?
A first question to ask is: "Is this
practical?" We honor the basketball talents of Michael Jordan. But, the
teenager who never made a basket in four years of high school physical
education classes really should not dream of being a professional
basketball player. Ask yourself: "Do I have the talent for this
career?" The person always with a pencil in hand, drawing caricatures
of friend and family, that doodler might well be destined to be a
cartoonist. Like Hank Ketcham drawing the escapades of "Dennis the
Menace."
If we conclude some dream career matches our
talents, then, we must consider our circumstances in life. For example,
a married man need not ponder being a priest in our Roman Catholic
Church. It won't happen. Maybe someday, but not now, put the idea out
of your mind. So too, that same married man must consider how any
career change would affect his wife and children. Can the husband
aspiring to write the great American novel quit his job, take a year
off to devote his full time to writing? Perhaps. But, his wife must
agree. At least, they would need to talk over how to pay the bills
without his income for a year. When we think about any career change,
we must take into account how what we do affects our family. We must be
practical.
A crucial question comes next. If everything
seems right, if what we want to do matches our talents and fits into
our family obligations, we need to consider our feelings. "What does my
gut tell me?" Does the thought of this job excite me? Fill my dreams?
Capture my thoughts? Bring to mind new possibilities? If so, it could
well be God calling.
When we think we hear God calling, we need to
do some discerning. Ask ourselves some questions. Do I have the talent
for this career? How does this fit with the circumstances of my life?
Do this career capture my imagination?
Conclusion
Only one thing more need be said. Christ
called Peter and Andrew, James and John, and they became apostles.
"Fishers of men." Peter became the Rock upon which Christ built his
church. Peter, the first Pope. In other words, great things happen when
we follow God's call.
In our lives, let us not settle for less.
Listen for God's call, follow the call. Expect great things to happen.
P. S. For information about my book of homilies, go to
www.clydebonar.com. |
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These
homilies may be copied and adapted for your own use;
however, they may not be commercially published without permission of
the author.
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