Scripture scholars recognize that by the end of the 5th century B.C.E. the prophets of Israel fell silent…God seemed to have stopped raising up mouthpieces to speak his words to his people. And then Jesus comes and not only speaks with authority and casts out demons but what he said touched the people deeply. His words rang true to their inner hearts, just as Jeremiah, one of the later prophets, had predicted. Jesus spoke with the power of the Lord! Something that had long disappeared from the land of Israel…the prophetic voice that had gone silent was speaking once again but more powerfully than ever before.

In today’s Gospel it is pointed out…but he was from Nazareth! The demon was trying to put down Jesus by calling out his home town….but finally recognizes him as “The Holy One of God”! And the people are astonished by Jesus’ authority with which he taught and that even unclean spirits obeyed him! But the religious leaders and the elders of the people would become fearful of Jesus and the power he exercised in word and deed. What they couldn’t see is what the “unclean spirit” was able to see: Jesus’ oneness with God! His power was from his identity as “The Holy One of God”!

Who are the prophetic voices we listen to today? Are you being called to be prophetic in word and action? Through our baptism each of us has been anointed to be a prophet, to live prophetic lives, lives that challenge the injustices of the world, lives that challenge racism and bigotry and misogyny, lives that heal and bring wholeness to the wounded and suffering of the world. We are called to be prophets who speak out and act out on behalf of the immigrant and the refugee, to be builders of peace and makers of justice! This is our prophetic call received at our baptism and sealed in the power of the Holy Spirit! Now is the time to live our discipleship, to claim our prophetic role in building up the Reign of God, to live and to love as the children of God whom we are!

God’s Blessings,
Fr. Tim

The theme this weekend, again, is God’s call and our response, but there is a focus on the urgency of responding…an urgency in building up the Reign of God…NOW! The Gospel tells of the disciples’ 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 without the Holy Spirit right there with us every step of the way, guiding us and gently pushing us along! 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 people. It is such 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 for the call and respond to the best of our ability at that time, and if we fall, getting back up and trying again.

The Good News is preached by our loving of each other, especially by our loving the poor, the marginalized, the immigrants, the “Dreamers” and the refugees and those most in need of being loved…not just with our words but with our actions. We are called, as Pope Francis has said, “to draw close to them”! We are called to be ambassadors of the Reign of God…not just preaching about it but making it present by how we live our lives…lives of peace and justice, guided by and built upon the principles and values of words and actions of Jesus Christ as proclaimed in his Gospels. What Gospel values or principles are most evident in the way I live my life? What other Gospel values or principles might I work on manifesting in my life so as to more fully proclaim the Good News? What part of the Gospel do I find most difficult to embrace and put into action in my own life?

God’s Blessings,
Fr. Tim

There is a clear theme of being called in today’s readings. In the first reading Samuel is called and called and called even a third time before it is made known to him that it is God who is calling him and finally he responds “speak Lord for your servant is listening.”  The psalm, correspondingly, proclaims “here I am Lord; I have come to do your will.” And the Gospel reading we hear today tells of Jesus’ calling of the first disciples.

As Jesus walked along the road John the Baptist saw him and cried out “behold, the Lamb of God.” Several of John’s disciples leave him and begin to follow Jesus asking him where he is staying and Jesus responds “come and you will see”…and they followed him. It is interesting to note that when one of the disciples, Andrew, brings his brother to Jesus, Jesus immediately changes his name from Simon to Peter!

In the Bible when there is a name change, such as Abram to Abraham, Sarai to Sarah or Saul to Paul, it often signals a significant change in the person and their relationship to God. It can also signal that their lives are about to change, that they are about to swerve from the road they are traveling down onto a new path…one specifically chosen for them by God. Peter’s name change is no less significant, he is about to become “the chief” of this, as of yet unformed, band of followers of Jesus. In Jesus’ act of changing Simon’s name he is calling him to come and follow him. If he accepts the name change, then he accepts the invitation to follow Jesus.

I often think that it was so much easier for the disciples to hear the call and to follow since Jesus was right there, physically present to them. They could audibly hear his preaching, they could see, and read, his facial expressions and his hand and body gestures…but for those of us who came later to this band of followers…well it’s a little harder for us to know exactly what the call is and where it is leading us. Sometimes the call is clear and well-articulated but sometimes it is not so clear or well-articulated. Sometimes  it seems muffled and downright confusing. So we have to pay close attention and listen carefully....especially as there is so much competition for our attention. There are so many other voices that seem to all speak at the same time -- we can be like Samuel, a bit confused and not sure at first...but if we stay engaged and "make time" to listen for that small, still voice of the Holy Spirit that dwells within each one of us....then, perhaps, we will hear the invitation to "come and follow" and we will find the path we are being called to travel.

In the end the invitation is clear, but the many "voices" of our lives and the world around us distract us and gain all our attention and so we can find ourselves confused and unsure of the path to follow, But by refocusing our attention and making time to listen we can, like Samuel and Simon, "come and follow." Jesus called his disciples to love as he had loved, to reach out to the poor and the marginalized and maligned...and that call is still made to us today.

​It is by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit that we are empowered to speak truth to power and to call out our political leaders who fail to respect the human dignity of all persons regardless of their race, gender or economic status. And when such persons demean and disparage entire countries, races and cultures we are indeed, by faith, called to speak out, for the people of these countries are not only our sisters and brothers but cohabitants in the Reign of God! What are the competing voices of my life that make it difficult for me to really listen for God's call to me? Do I need to "make" more time to listen to God? How can I best do that?

Blessings,
Fr. Tim

The travelers we encounter in today’s Gospel left the safety and comfort of their own lands and homes to travel to an unknown destination. It would have been a perilous journey for them for in that time robbers and bands of thieves roamed the lands preying on small groups of travelers like the magi. What kind of people must they have been to have set off on such a journey, guided only by a star and a story of a new born king?

In Matthew’s telling of the story he frames it with Isaiah’s prophecy in mind, that peoples from other lands would come with gold and frankincense singing the praises of the Lord. While the religious leaders would refuse to recognize the Christ, and Herod would seek to kill him, the foreigners, the Gentiles would worship him and bring him gifts. Herod’s jealousy and fear of loss of power blinded him from being able to accept the birth of the long awaited savior and lead him to the monstrous crime of the slaughter of the innocents.

But let us dwell for a while on the visit of the magi and the wonder of their journey… led by only a star that shown brightly in the deepest of the night sky. It is a time of wonder and awe…a time to allow ourselves to enter the story and reflect on our own journey…our spiritual journey. For the magi the signs were in the heavens…a star that led them to Bethlehem, to a shabby little stable…where our God came among us as one of us. Perhaps the Magi’s real wisdom was that they knew that they didn’t know everything… they valued learning, they looked for signs, they paid attention to dreams…they expected God to talk to them… they believed that they encountered God in their daily lives. Ultimately the story of the Magi is a story of encounter, an encounter of the greatest kind…an encounter with God.

Am I open to “following a star”…to paying attention to the signs of God’s presence in my life?  Where do I encounter God in the ordinary routine of my daily life? The Magi came bearing gifts…what gift of self might I offer to God? Merry Christmas and a Blessed New Year!

Blessings,
Fr. Tim