Embarking on the Mission with Enthusiasm, the Third Sunday in Ordinary Time–Year B

My Sisters and Brothers:

     We all know the story of Jonah the prophet.  The longer version of the story includes much more than what we hear in our first reading today (see Jonah 3:1-5, 10).  In fact, the prophet didn’t at all want to go to preach to the people of Nineveh as God had called him to do.  After all, he thought, they were Gentiles, and they were a people unworthy of his attention.  Even when he was successful, and the people of Nineveh listened to his preaching, Jonah was still unhappy!   The people of the city turned away from their sins, reformed their lives and believed in God, but Jonah continued to flee from them.  Perhaps because of Jonah’s pride, he only very reluctantly responded to what God wanted him to do in service to those people.

     The story in today’s Gospel is much different: the disciples of Jesus were much more willing to take up the mission to which they were called.  In fact, as they “dropped their nets” and followed Jesus, he promised that he would make them “fishers of men and women” (see Mark 1:14-20).  They understood that they were being called to lives of service–lives in which the preaching of the Good News of the Kingdom to all people would be a primary responsibility.  This preaching, and the call to conversion, would be for all men and women of every nation on earth!

     Unlike Jonah, the disciples became joyfully zealous for their mission, and they were freely willing to serve all of their fellow human beings.  They even reached out to those whom they possibly would have otherwise preferred not to have served, such as the Gentiles, the Samaritans and other foreigners.  Like Jesus, the disciples enthusiastically embarked on their mission to reach out with love towards all, even to tax-collectors, to prostitutes, and to other sinners.

     Today, as we reflect on our Scripture readings, let us pray that we might be more like the disciples of Jesus who surrendered all, even the comfort of their own families, their ways of life, and their traditional ways of thinking about others–especially about those who were “different,” and about those who came from other faith perspectives.

     Following Jesus is all about giving witness to our faith, and  it is about serving a God who loves each one of us “more than we can ever possibly imagine.”   May we each faithfully share this message by the way we respond to Jesus, by the way we live our lives, and by the way we treat all of our fellow human beings.

Praise God!  Friar Timothy

 

     Find me on Facebook by clicking on the following link: http://www.facebook.com/frayteo

At the Grave Side

I've come to the cemetery for a funeral this morning; now, after having just concluded a grave-side service, I'm sitting in a wonderfully warmed car. It's freezing cold out there and a gentle snow is falling.

From the warmth of my present situation, I am reflecting on life and death. Earlier, when we were slowly driving in procession to the grave site, I was, and even now am, keenly aware of the many familiar surnames that are emblazoned on the head stones here: Dougherty, Johnson, Winterling, Rivera, Miller, Newton, Kowalski, Duffy, Benz, Lang, Santos, Schmidt, Hunt, and so many others. People I have known have held these names.

And the names on these stones, memorials to real people from so many families, remind me of so many others who have also departed from this life and who have gone on to the next. I have known some who were very young when they died, and others who had lived very long lives, but every one of them were human beings who were greatly loved and therefore were so very mournfully lost!

And yet, somehow I still have hope. Although death seems so final, I know that love never ends.

O Lord, grant that our sisters and brothers may sleep here in peace until you awaken them to glory, for you are the resurrection and the life. Amen. Praise God!  Friar Timothy

     Find me on Facebook by clicking on the following link: http://www.facebook.com/frayteo

Answering the Call, the Second Sunday in Ordinary Time–Year B

My Sisters and Brothers:

     From a faith perspective, how do we understand and know what our “calling” is in this life?  Isn’t it true that each one of us has some type of special “calling” or “vocation”?   Most of us clearly believe that we are called by God to live out our lives in a certain manner or by following a particular path.  We all want to do this to the best of our potential and according to whatever gifts and talents we have received and have cultivated.

     Some of us had a clear understanding of what we hoped to do and be in this life from an early age; others among us (probably most of us) labored a bit more with the discernment process; we might have even passed a few “bumps in the road” on the journey!   In any case, at least from a Christian perspective, our calling or vocation can be understood as our personal role and responsibility towards both God and our fellow human beings in whatever capacity we have in helping to build the Kingdom of God on earth.

     Like Samuel in the first reading today, we may not at first recognize the voice of God when he calls us to a task; our discernment process might have to be guided by those around us who are a bit more wiser and more experienced than we are (see 1 Sam 3:3b-10, 19).  Sometimes the wise people who guide us may do so in a dramatic way, like in the case of John the Baptist who clearly directed his disciples to follow the Lord Jesus.  He said: “Behold, the Lamb of God” and then “the two disciples . . . followed Jesus” (see John 1:35-42).  It was as simple as that: John proclaimed and the disciples followed.

     Most of the time, however, I think the average man or woman isn’t so fortunate to have a John the Baptist kind of person guiding them in their lives.  Most of us simply try our best to pray and discern, we make mistakes and then try again, and we change directions and occasionally doubt our choices, etc., etc.  This is normal!  And so today, as we contemplate the response to vocation presented to us in the Scripture readings, let us reflect upon our own experience in doing that.

     May we persevere like Samuel and keep trying our best to answer the call, even when we are not sure of the outcome; may we also hope to be like the disciples in the Gospel who confidently come to the conclusion and belief that they have “found the Messiah.”  In any event, let us have complete confidence that God will show us the way, and that each one of us may come to know what we are called to do (both in the small and in the great things in our lives).  May we discern well, my friends!

Praise God!  Friar Timothy

 

     Find me on Facebook by clicking on the following link: http://www.facebook.com/frayteo

The Baptism of the Lord, 2015

My Sisters and Brothers:

     Today we celebrate the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, and so we recall that moment when “Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan” (see Mark1:7-11).  Jesus the human being chose to be baptized because he was very much “one of us.”

     We may on this day reflect upon the significance of our own baptisms as we each do our best to live our Christian lives!  Of course we hope to do that with fidelity to the message and the example of Jesus himself.

     We may ask ourselves, “do our own baptisms effect the way that we live our Christian lives in this world?”  We may also ask ourselves “how do our baptisms connect us to the rest of the human community – especially to our Christian community?”   I believe that some rather crucial obligations are placed on each one of us because we are baptized followers of Jesus Christ!

     In the first reading today, the prophet Isaiah tells us that the children of God are called to “open the eyes of the blind, to bring prisoners from confinement, and from the dungeon those who live in darkness” (see Isaiah 42:1-4, 6-7). Jesus understood this calling and he constantly modeled for us how to serve others while serving God!  Unfortunately, we know that many people in our world continue to be enslaved by sin and darkness.  Today, the words of Isaiah continue to challenge us (and he composed his thoughts at least twenty-five hundred years ago).

     I believe that many people in our own time continue to be enslaved by sin and darkness because they have failed to understand and/or accept the idea that none of us can live without the constant care, love and support of others.  Most of us understand that we very much need to exist within a community of people and that “no person is an island.”  My experience tells me that if a person chooses to live an isolated and highly individualistic life, then he or she will likely lose any sense of responsibility for others, even members of their own families and/or their communities.  Our baptisms, something we each share with the Lord Jesus Christ, calls us to be people who are very much connected to the rest of the human community, and of course, this must start “at home.”

     As those who are baptized, each one of us have great and important responsibilities toward the others around us!  This means that, if we are to be faithful to our Christian calling, then we must always strive to be positive forces in our local and extended communities.  We must help those in need; we must answer the cries of the poor and the afflicted; we must help our sisters and brothers who are addicted to drugs and alcohol and we must aid those who are afflicted with disease (just to name few things!).  I don’t believe we will be able to do these things well if we fail to understand that we, as human beings, and as followers of the Lord Jesus, are profoundly connected to one another.

     If we are faithful to the challenge of our baptisms, then like Jesus in today’s Gospel, we will be told by our Father in heaven that we are his beloved children and that with us he is “well pleased.”  May we encourage one another with the baptismal faith we each strive to put into action!

Praise God!  Friar Timothy

 

     Find me on Facebook by clicking on the following link: http://www.facebook.com/frayteo