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

 

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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

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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

 

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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

 

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The Feast of the Holy Family–Year B

My Sisters and Brothers:

     Today’s Gospel tells us that Mary and Joseph were faithful to the “Law of Moses” as they went to Jerusalem for “their purification” and to "present” the child Jesus “to the Lord.”  The Gospel tells us that after this event in Jerusalem they “returned to their own town of Nazareth,” and that “the child grew and become strong, filled with wisdom” (see Luke 2:22, 39-40).

     From those very first days when Jesus was born in Bethlehem, the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph were models of righteousness and of faithfulness to the Father in heaven.  They desired to follow God’s laws and to live together “filled with wisdom.”

     With this in mind, we may get the idea that the Holy Family was somehow “perfect” and that it never suffered any type of difficulties.   On the contrary, the same Gospel also tells us that Simeon proclaimed to Mary that because she was his mother, “a sword” would “pierce” her (see Luke 2:35).  That doesn’t sound very “perfect” to me, and surely there were times when things were difficult for her, and for them!

     I think it is wise to believe that after the Holy Family “returned to Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth,” (Luke 2:39) they were just like any other family in that very remote, poor and humble town.  The child Jesus was completely human like any other child, and as such sometimes he probably scraped his knees, and on occasion he most likely disagreed with his playmates, and in all likelihood he worried Mary and Joseph as he got a bit older and went through those teenage years!

     Many years later and most poignantly, the “sword” that pierced the heart of Mary was of course on Calvary when she witnessed his suffering and death, but I believe that until then they were very much like any other family, with both ups and downs, and with happy and sad moments.  What is most important to us today is that we know that Jesus was completely human like the rest of us.  The God-made-flesh took on our human nature so that we might share in his.

     Mary was a poor young woman, and Joseph was a simple carpenter, and both raised their child Jesus in the humble town of Nazareth, and it was there that they lived together like any other “normal” family.

     Today, as we celebrate the Holy Family, let us be grateful that we may follow their example.  Like them, may we too, even in our own very real struggles, be completely faithful to God, and as such “grow and become strong, and be filled with wisdom!”  Through God’s grace, may we also rejoice that as holy members of his family, we may also share in his divinity!  

Praise God!  Friar Timothy

 

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Joyful and Hopeful Expectation, the Third Sunday of Advent–Year B

My Sisters and Brothers, let us “rejoice!”:

     For Christians, the focus during most of the month of December, and during the Season of Advent, is our “joyful and hopeful expectation of the coming of the Lord.”  On this Third Sunday of Advent, we read in the Gospel that Saint John the Baptist came before Jesus, and that he came to “testify to the light” (see John 1:6-8, 19-28).

     Today, it seems that many people around us have forgotten the true meaning of the “light”, and that in this season they are just preoccupied with more material things.  We might conclude that the message of John the Baptist has become simply and completely irrelevant in this world of ours.  On the other hand, we might consider the possibility that the “holiday lights” at Macy’s, and those in the malls and along public streets, still in some way continue to give testimony to a more important reality–the one in which we find ourselves contemplating during this Advent season.

     Even with all of the commercialism out there, I believe we can find reason to keep the focus on our faith.  I love to see all of the Christmas decorations all over the place, especially those covered with lots of bright lights!  Often when I see them, they cause me to get a bit sentimental and nostalgic about the months of December from the time of my childhood.  I have very fond memories of those days because of all the colorful and bright decorating that happened everywhere, including in and around our home, and throughout our neighborhood.

     When I was a child, there was a large blue spruce tree standing tall in front of our family home; each year in December, my father would string hundreds of those very large, old-fashioned multi-colored lights all around that tree, and it would make our front yard look so cheerful and bright.  My mother always put candles in all of the windows of our house, and I loved the way the light from those candles would glow out from, and into our house, all the night long!  Many of our neighbors would display elaborate Christmas decorations and lights on their houses and so our whole neighborhood would take on a kind of magical, even mystical hue.

     As in those days, and in the present day as well, may the lights of our decorations, and those all over the place, always remind us of the One who is the “true light,” our Lord and Savior, the Messiah, Jesus Christ.  This is the same “light” for whom John the Baptist gave testimony, and for whom we testify as well.

     Today, as we bask in this light, let us rejoice as we wait in joyful and hopeful expectation for the coming of the Lord!  Let us continue to keep our focus!  May those beautiful “holiday lights” out there, even the ones in the shopping malls, testify to the presence of Jesus for all the world, and may they always inspire us to faith as well!  My Sisters and Brothers, let us “rejoice!”

Praise God!  Friar Timothy

 

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Prepare the Way of the Lord, the Second Sunday of Advent–Year B

My Sisters and Brothers:

     These days, many of us are doing a lot of preparing; we are cleaning our living rooms and rearranging the furniture in order to find the perfect spot for our Christmas trees, we are taking boxes of decorations out of storage and we are putting up colorful holiday displays around the house and yard, we are making trips to the mall and shopping for gifts, we are making lists of friends and relatives and we are writing greetings and mailing Christmas cards to them, we are planning menus and making arrangements for family get-togethers and holiday parties, etc., etc.  There are so many things to do in order to get ready for all of the holiday activities and festivities in which we are engaged.

     Most of the time, it seems to me, these “preparatory activities” before the actual celebration of Christmas are filled with a lot of fun and great pleasure and joy!  Sometimes, unfortunately, it also seems to me that the things we need to do in preparation for the holidays can also cause us a lot of stress!

     These days, in the midst of all of these activities in which we are involved, we also have the opportunity to hear the story of Saint John the Baptist, and about his special role in preparing people for the coming of the Lord.  Today and next Sunday, our Gospel readings tell us about his prophetic role as the precursor to the Messiah.  Echoing words from the Old Testament prophets, Saint John the Baptist proclaims in today’s Gospel: “Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths!” (see Mark 1:3b)

     As we go about our business of preparing and doing everything that we must in order to get ready for the celebration of Christmas, may we also use these activities as a kind of reminder of a greater reality pressed upon us who are people of faith:  We are called to “prepare the way of the Lord” in our own lives.  As Christians, may the things we do at this time of the year, all things, great and small, always remind us of the true preparatory meaning of this season.

     Let us make ready our hearts and minds, indeed our very lives, for the coming of the Lord!  May we heed the cry of John the Baptist, and prepare well.  Of course, as we do this, let’s not forget to turn away from sin, to change our hearts, and to be completely open to receiving the presence of God in our lives, both today and forever.  Stay focused my friends! 

Praise God!  Friar Timothy

 

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