The theme this weekend is God’s call and our response, but there is a focus on the urgency of responding to that call…an urgency in building up the Reign of God…NOW! The Gospel tells of the disciple’s response to Jesus’ call -- they respond without hesitation, dropping what they were doing and following him immediately.
As disciples, we too are called and expected to drop everything and follow Jesus…not only proclaiming the Gospel with our words, but through our actions.
Discipleship is about following “the way”…God’s way. And God’s way is “the way of love”… of being for the other as Jesus is for us…and this truly is the Good News. It seems more than we can do, and it would be if not for the Holy Spirit being right there with us every step of the way, guiding us and gently pushing us forward! That Divine indwelling is what guides us in living out our discipleship of Jesus Christ in our daily lives, through our words and actions.
There is urgency in discipleship; we are not to tarry and be about many other things, but rather to live in such a way that our very lives proclaim God’s amazing love for all peoples in all places. It is a monumental task, but we can, each one of us, each in our own way live it out…not perfectly, but with the willingness to listen to the call of the Gospel, the call of Christ, and respond to the best of our ability at that time and in that place, and if we fall, get back up and answer the call again.
The Good News is preached by our loving of each other, especially by our loving of the poor, the marginalized, the immigrants, the “Dreamers” and the refugees. By loving the one who is “other” than “me” and loving those most in need of being loved…not just with our words but with our actions.
It means that we must speak out and act out against the unethical and anti-Gospel methods being taken by our government against immigrants, migrants and even foreign students here legally on visas. It violates our rule of law! This cruel treatment of immigrants and migrants violates their human dignity and is fundamentally anti-Christian.
We are called, as Pope Francis said, “to draw close to them”! We are called to work for racial justice. We are called to work for an end to white supremacy and “Christian” nationalism…which is truly anything but Christian. It is completely antithetical to the life, words and actions of Jesus Christ! We must recognize it and call it out for what it is!
We are called to be ambassadors of the Reign of God and must stand up against all of those previously mentioned destructive, unjust and anti-Gospel political realities, which cannot exist in and are hostile to the Reign of God.
We are called to not just preach about the Reign of God, but making it present by how we live our lives…lives of peace-making and justice-building, guided by and built up-on the principles, values, words and actions of Jesus Christ as proclaimed in his Gospels!
May we not let the political chaos and darkness overwhelm us, for Christ is our peace and our light, which no chaos or darkness can overcome!
May the peace and light of the Risen Christ be upon you all!
Fr. Tim
As disciples, we too are called and expected to drop everything and follow Jesus…not only proclaiming the Gospel with our words, but through our actions.
Discipleship is about following “the way”…God’s way. And God’s way is “the way of love”… of being for the other as Jesus is for us…and this truly is the Good News. It seems more than we can do, and it would be if not for the Holy Spirit being right there with us every step of the way, guiding us and gently pushing us forward! That Divine indwelling is what guides us in living out our discipleship of Jesus Christ in our daily lives, through our words and actions.
There is urgency in discipleship; we are not to tarry and be about many other things, but rather to live in such a way that our very lives proclaim God’s amazing love for all peoples in all places. It is a monumental task, but we can, each one of us, each in our own way live it out…not perfectly, but with the willingness to listen to the call of the Gospel, the call of Christ, and respond to the best of our ability at that time and in that place, and if we fall, get back up and answer the call again.
The Good News is preached by our loving of each other, especially by our loving of the poor, the marginalized, the immigrants, the “Dreamers” and the refugees. By loving the one who is “other” than “me” and loving those most in need of being loved…not just with our words but with our actions.
It means that we must speak out and act out against the unethical and anti-Gospel methods being taken by our government against immigrants, migrants and even foreign students here legally on visas. It violates our rule of law! This cruel treatment of immigrants and migrants violates their human dignity and is fundamentally anti-Christian.
We are called, as Pope Francis said, “to draw close to them”! We are called to work for racial justice. We are called to work for an end to white supremacy and “Christian” nationalism…which is truly anything but Christian. It is completely antithetical to the life, words and actions of Jesus Christ! We must recognize it and call it out for what it is!
We are called to be ambassadors of the Reign of God and must stand up against all of those previously mentioned destructive, unjust and anti-Gospel political realities, which cannot exist in and are hostile to the Reign of God.
We are called to not just preach about the Reign of God, but making it present by how we live our lives…lives of peace-making and justice-building, guided by and built up-on the principles, values, words and actions of Jesus Christ as proclaimed in his Gospels!
May we not let the political chaos and darkness overwhelm us, for Christ is our peace and our light, which no chaos or darkness can overcome!
May the peace and light of the Risen Christ be upon you all!
Fr. Tim
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