I find it very interesting to note that Jesus doesn’t begin his ministry in his hometown nor in Jerusalem, the seat of religious power. Rather he leaves the Jewish centered world to go to the periphery....to Galilee, Gentile territory...so that the people sitting in darkness would see a great light!
We well may feel like we are sitting in a darkness right now, but we are called to be a light for each other in the midst of the darkness.
For all those who live in fear of being singled out or feel threatened because of their race or ethnicity or religion or sexual identity or gender or immigration status, for all of them, we must stand up and be a light for them.
That is the clarion call of the Gospel. It is who we are all called to be -- “people of light” -- in and through our Baptism. It is how we live out our discipleship; how we put our discipleship into action!
We have been called by our baptism to be disciples of Jesus Christ, to be active participants in the building up of the Reign of God, in the here and now.
Just as Jesus walked along the shore of the Sea of Galilee and called his first disciples, so have you and I been called by Jesus to follow him and to do as he did.
But it is often hard to hear the call in the midst of all the noise in the world around and within our own heads. But the call is there! The call to be active participants, active disciples in how we choose to live our life. And we do that by what we place value on, by how we choose to spend our time, talent, and treasure and to whom we share it with.
What we place at the center of our lives, what we truly value most, speaks to what we believe is our call.
Many people ask, How do I hear where God is calling me? In order to hear the call from God we have to quiet all the noise around us and in our heads, and we have to listen. This is why prayer is so important. And we have to look for God’s signs in our lives, just like the Magi looked for God’s signs. We have to pay attention to our lives and to what is going on in them.
Our discipleship is not for our own sake; no, it is for building up the Reign of God. We do that by standing with and holding up and speaking out on behalf of all of those who are marginalized, made invisible, devalued, silenced, cast aside and dehumanized. It is, in fact, doing as Jesus would do!
I have spoken many times about those wildly popular rubber bracelets from a few years ago, with the letters, “WWJD”, “what would Jesus do?”. They were everywhere. Millions of people sported them on their wrists, and slowly they disappeared and faded into the past as our self-centered consumeristic society became increasingly uncomfortable with the notion of actually asking ourselves, throughout all our daily actions and interactions, “what would Jesus do” in this moment?
Seriously, think about it. Think about this past week, this past month, this past year -- would that question have impacted you and any of your thoughts or actions?
So let us all be for one another, and especially for all who live in the “darkness and fear”, let us be LIGHT!
Nourished by the Word and Body of Christ let us go forth filled with Christ, filled with the Holy Spirit and be light for our nation and for the world! Let us put our discipleship into action! And as we move through this week let us ask ourselves “what would Jesus do?” in the situations and the encounters we experience.
Fr. Tim
We well may feel like we are sitting in a darkness right now, but we are called to be a light for each other in the midst of the darkness.
For all those who live in fear of being singled out or feel threatened because of their race or ethnicity or religion or sexual identity or gender or immigration status, for all of them, we must stand up and be a light for them.
That is the clarion call of the Gospel. It is who we are all called to be -- “people of light” -- in and through our Baptism. It is how we live out our discipleship; how we put our discipleship into action!
We have been called by our baptism to be disciples of Jesus Christ, to be active participants in the building up of the Reign of God, in the here and now.
Just as Jesus walked along the shore of the Sea of Galilee and called his first disciples, so have you and I been called by Jesus to follow him and to do as he did.
But it is often hard to hear the call in the midst of all the noise in the world around and within our own heads. But the call is there! The call to be active participants, active disciples in how we choose to live our life. And we do that by what we place value on, by how we choose to spend our time, talent, and treasure and to whom we share it with.
What we place at the center of our lives, what we truly value most, speaks to what we believe is our call.
Many people ask, How do I hear where God is calling me? In order to hear the call from God we have to quiet all the noise around us and in our heads, and we have to listen. This is why prayer is so important. And we have to look for God’s signs in our lives, just like the Magi looked for God’s signs. We have to pay attention to our lives and to what is going on in them.
Our discipleship is not for our own sake; no, it is for building up the Reign of God. We do that by standing with and holding up and speaking out on behalf of all of those who are marginalized, made invisible, devalued, silenced, cast aside and dehumanized. It is, in fact, doing as Jesus would do!
I have spoken many times about those wildly popular rubber bracelets from a few years ago, with the letters, “WWJD”, “what would Jesus do?”. They were everywhere. Millions of people sported them on their wrists, and slowly they disappeared and faded into the past as our self-centered consumeristic society became increasingly uncomfortable with the notion of actually asking ourselves, throughout all our daily actions and interactions, “what would Jesus do” in this moment?
Seriously, think about it. Think about this past week, this past month, this past year -- would that question have impacted you and any of your thoughts or actions?
So let us all be for one another, and especially for all who live in the “darkness and fear”, let us be LIGHT!
Nourished by the Word and Body of Christ let us go forth filled with Christ, filled with the Holy Spirit and be light for our nation and for the world! Let us put our discipleship into action! And as we move through this week let us ask ourselves “what would Jesus do?” in the situations and the encounters we experience.
Fr. Tim
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