January 27: St. Angela Merici, Virgin

Third Sunday: Let's go fishing

"Come after me, I will make you fishers of men"

Matthew 4: 12-23

The Word: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/012526.cfm

While the number of people at work in a decent job and a respectable living wage lends dignity to a person, we know that fulfillment as a human being demands more than just a place to work. There is a deeper need we should answer – that for meaning and purpose - something more to follow and something greater than ourselves.

In the time of Jesus, a job or career track was not something you applied for through a job interview or searched for on the internet, prepared for through a college education, or any other way in which one may find work today. Such a way of life was non-existent.

In ancient Israel, work was passed down from one generation to another through one’s father to his son(s).  Whatever the trade was, carpentry, fishing, farming, there was no hope you would advance to a higher level.  The vast majority of people simply lived day to day and this was the prevailing atmosphere that Jesus encountered within the Galilee region. Yet this northern region of Israel was also a crossroads of world travel. It was a Gentile region populated by the very poor and also historically a region of mixture between Jew and Gentile. Here Jesus chose to begin his public ministry.

Our first reading from Isaiah speaks of: “. . . the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali . . .” which in itself really means nothing to us.  However, in the history of ancient Israel, one thousand years before the coming of Christ, this was the far northern region overrun by the Assyrians. A land where the twelve tribes of the Jews were dispersed far and wide in exile.  The darkness of Assyrian conquest had nearly destroyed this culture but now a new light has arrived.  Hope is fulfilled in the coming of Jesus as the light of the world and here our Lord begins his public ministry announcing that “the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

Jesus begins along the Sea of Galilee and calls to himself a new leadership which will reunite the twelve dispersed tribes of the Jews in the twelve apostles and his new world order according to God’s design: the kingdom of heaven.

So, he calls Andrew and Peter, James and John, away from their familiar surroundings to set out in a new direction under his direction to be his disciples: “Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men.”  It is Jesus gathering an action plan for the future and he invites these four to be among the first to help him implement a new vision for all humanity. In fact, the whole ministry of Jesus was to gather to himself those who would be his followers. God comes to unite the divided. God calls these men; he chooses them for discipleship. They hear his voice and instantly drop what they are doing.  We see their reaction described as “at once” and “immediately.” So, their response to the Gospel event today is inspiring.

Called away from one of the most stable works of the time they are now invited to discipleship by Jesus, these men illustrate an eagerness that is surprising. Jesus calls us to be his followers; he seeks us out and invites. For these men they could have responded in one of two ways. The suggestion of discipleship could be seen an intrusion into their plans for the future, or they drop what they are doing, leave those plans behind, and follow Jesus. But it is God who calls.

So our Lord essentially makes an offer: Come after me. What did he offer them?  Our Lord did not offer them a book of instructions, or a map to follow, or a promise of riches and fame.  He offered them himself and there was undoubtedly something about this teacher and wonderworker that compelled them to respond as they did.  Would you do the same?

What does Jesus call us away from and where are we called to? Does discipleship demand a complete abandonment of all attachments both familial and material?  The call may be radical, or it may be situational.  In other we are called by Christ to be a light shining in darkness. Our baptism marks us for Christ through the sign of the cross and washes away the guilt of original sin making us among the band of his followers. In essence we are called away from the world with its empty promise of fame, wealth, power and prestige and to give ourselves to the greater promise of the kingdom of God.

Yes, we must leave behind certain ways of living and attachments that distract us from the Gospel, but we must do so in the time and place we find ourselves; in the varied vocations we live and as witnesses to God’s promise of redemption and freedom from those powers that bind us: the lure of riches, fame, and ego satisfaction.

To hear the call of Jesus and to find him in a personal encounter in prayer, in the sacraments, in the suffering, and ultimately to see him present in the Eucharist and then to go out on mission to transform a world by the faith he entrusts to us.  Called away from all that is not of God and called to all that is of him.  In this way the light of Christ can shine through us in the land of darkness. In the many tasks and moments of daily life, let’s not miss the call that Jesus offer us and set out more fully in his way: “Come, follow me.” Imagine our Lord is standing before you as he looks into your eyes with those words of invitation.

Almighty ever-living God

direct our actions according to your good pleasure,

that in the name of your beloved Son

we may abound in good works.

Through our Lord Jesus Christ your Son,

who lives and reigns with you

in the unity of the Holy Spirit, 

God, for ever and ever.

(Collect of Mass)

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January 23: St. Marianne Cope, Virgin (U.S.A.)

Second Sunday in Ordinary Time: "Look, the Lamb has come"

 

"Behold, the Lamb of God"

John 1: 29-34

TheWord: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/011826.cfm

Almighty ever-living God,

who govern all things,

both in heaven and on earth,

mercifully hear the pkleading of your people

and besotow your peace on our times. 

Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, 

who lives and reigns with you 

in the unity of the Holy Spirit, 

God, for ever and ever. 

(Collect of Mass)

It seems we may often read the Gospels in a way that puts us outside the conversation and events, so we act far more as spectators rather than participants.  We stand at a distance and watch the events unfold.  We sit quietly and listen to the words of Jesus or other figures in the Gospels, at Mass for example.  It’s as if we walk upon the event, stand in the crowd, observe what happens, then go on our way. While we may hear a fine homily that connects the lesson of the scriptures to our lives, it strikes me that I sometimes wonder if we really get it.

However, the Gospel this weekend provides more than passive participation.  Imagine that John the Baptist stands before you on stage in a darkened theatre.  The light shines on John for a moment yet in the back you see a shadowy figure who stands quietly. Suddenly, the Baptist turns to the audience in front of and below him.  As he steps forward, he begins to speak directly to the audience of which you are a part so that he might engage our full attention. He raises his right arm and points to that figure behind him as the light then shifts and you see it is Jesus.

Then facing the audience John declares: “You see him?  This is your Lord and Savior; the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.  He is the one of whom I said, a man is coming after me who ranks ahead of me . . . the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit . . .  he is the Son of God. Now, follow him.”

 We may be struck by John’s direct approach, and he certainly gets our attention.  We must respond and can’t ignore the words of this charismatic figure who now fades into the background and who points to Christ the “man who ranks ahead of me.” The rank is not one of economic or earthly power that might place Jesus among the upper crust; the mighty, powerful and the movers and shakers of society.

Instead, our Lord comes in peace.  He comes to forgive and extend mercy; to include rather than to exclude and to heal the broken hearted. To so identify with us that he embraces our human experience and eventually even dies for us, only to be raised three days later – for us.  The fiery preaching of John the Baptist was done to prepare us and to wake us up that we might be ready to see this figure not in shadows and darkness but in clear and shining light with no doubt as to his mission and identity.

So, this Sunday is a kind of transition from the clarion call of Advent to “make ready the way for the Lord” to see God’s prophetic promises fulfilled in the birth of Jesus among the lowly and peaceful figures of the Christmas season to now see the adult Jesus ready for mission and anointed with the Spirit, the Son of God come among us.

To see Jesus, in the words of the Baptist, as “the Lamb of God” whose self-sacrifice on the cross, atones for the sins of all humanity. Who became the sacrificial lamb, the all perfect and holy one, whose death, like the lambs sacrificed in the Temple, make it possible to pay the price for our sins and to bring us the promise of an open door to eternal life.  

The first reading from Isaiah speaks of a figure who is called to be “a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.” In our Christian perspective we see Jesus as that light and his mission which reaches out to Jew and Gentile alike; a mission that is inclusive and invites.  Ultimately, it is a call from God through his Son which demands a response. We cannot ignore the great figures who heard the call of God, embraced it in faith, and walked with confidence in his guidance: Isaiah, Mary, Joseph, and John the Baptist rank as shining lights from our Advent and Christmas time.

Now, as John points to Jesus he speaks to us collectively.  In other worlds, the mission of Christ has become our mission as well as his followers.  We should be reminded this week that we follow Christ, the Lamb of God as John calls him, as a people of faith; as a diverse collection of humanity whose call to see Christ as that light sent from God might have come to us in all sorts of ways such as family, culture, personally, the witness of others.  That we who believe in Christ are called to be a continual light to the nations and to carry on the mission Jesus began and continues in and through his Church.

It seems primarily then that God intends us to carry out his mission through human leaders and human events.  There are many other moral leaders and founders of various world religions such as Confucius, Buddha, Moses, Mohammed, of the variety of Christian leaders who began other Protestant traditions or even the notorious King Henry VIII in his less than stellar efforts to shift authority from the Pope to himself.

 While most of these leaders were seen more as teachers and prophets, none claimed to be the light of the world, the way, the truth and the life, to work wonders to forgive sin or to predict their own resurrection from the dead.  Jesus alone made such claims, and his followers have continued to insist they are true.  History has confirmed the belief of countless Christians that Jesus Christ is indeed who he claimed to be.

The mission we carry calls us first to be a holy people. To be a people who not only show up but more to be a people who embrace conversion in Christ Jesus.  It is that act of God’s grace that will make us holy as in right relationship with God who strive to live lives of virtue, not sinfulness.  Then our light can truly shine because it is the light of Christ not ourselves that others can see.  In other words, let’s be a community which attracts rather than excludes or repels.

So, as John stands center stage and looks down to you with arm extended to the one he calls the “Lamb of God” who will “baptize with the Holy Spirit” and who therefore is the “Son of God” do I get it?  Can I let go and embrace the mission Christ has offered to me?  Can I strive to be holy and walk in the way of his light?