God at Work in Ordinary Circumstances of Life

In the Entrance Antiphon of today's liturgy, the Lord God says to us: "I will look after my sheep,..., and I will appoint a shepherd to pasture them."  In the first reading, 1 Sam 9:1-4, 17-19; 10: 1a, God does just that for the Israelite people. The Lord had asked Samuel to anoint a king for the Israelites, as they had requested. That king was  to be Saul hand-picked by the Lord. We meet Saul at the beginning of the first reading. Saul's father Kish had asked his son Saul to take a servant and go out to hunt for some asses that had wandered off.  So he does so "though the hill country of Ephraim, and through the land of Shalishah. Not finding them there, they continued through the land of Shaalim without success. They also went through the land of Benjamin, but they failed to find the animals!"  Samuel catches sight of Saul, however, and when he does God says to him:  "This is the man of whom I told you; he is to govern my people." Truly, God was behind Kish's request that Saul go on a hunt for the asses.  And God was the one directing Samuel in his search for the person God had called to govern the Israelites.

Same in our day. We might think God is a distant God. No way!  He is closely involved in our day, week, month, year as it unfolds, making sure that His plans are accomplished and the the person--you and I--whom He wants to carry out a specific mission are prepared for  that role! God is always looking "after [his] sheep....and [appointing] a shepherd to pasture them."  What we set out to do on any given day is being used by God to bring about His Kingdom or to prepare us to bed His faithful servant, though we may be totally oblivious of what  God is doing. I am sure Saul had no idea how his search for the asses would conclude.  God is a God  of surprises!  What He is about in any circumstance--perhaps the most bizarre of circumstances--can and will be used by God to accomplish His will that His Kingdom of peace and justice be realized, as with the Israelites on their way to the Promised Land!

Are you aware that you are an instrument that God will and is using to bring about the Kingdom of God here "on earth as in heaven"?G

Called to follow Jesus and Accept His Invitations

In today's Gospel, Mt 4: 18-22, we join Jesus as He walks by the Sea of Galilee. He sees two brothers, Simon and his brother Andrew.  They are casting a net into the sea, as they were professional fishermen. It was through this profession that they provided for their families. Jesus calls to them: "Come after me, and I will make you fishers of [people]." Peter and Andrew leave their nets and follow Jesus. As we walk along with Jesus, Simon and Andrew, Jesus spots two other brothers, James and John, fishing with their father. He calls to them as well.   "[I]mmediately they,[too,] left their boat and their father and followed" Jesus.

When Jesus calls us to follow Him, do we, also, leave everything behind to follow the Lord? Do we recognize that Jesus is not just an ordinary man but that there is something about this person that we cannot resist accepting His invitation to attach ourselves to Him, to follow His instructions and grow in intimacy with Him and in building up the Kingdom with Him?  Is our faith strong enough to trust the Lord's calls throughout the day? Or are we like those persons who, later, Jesus invites to a banquet and who conjure excuses for not accepting the invitation, as we read in Luke's Gospel (Lk 14: 18-20): "I have bought a piece of land and must go see it. Please accept my apologies."   "I have bought five yoke of oxen and am on my way to try them out. Please accept my apologies." "I have just got married and so am unable to come."  If we refuse  Jesus' call, what excuses do we make? 

God's Possession and What It Means

In today’s first reading, Ephesians 1: 11-14, Paul again reminds us that we are God’s possession, “chosen, destined in accord with the purpose of the One who accomplishes all things according to the intention of his will, so that we might exist for the praise of his glory….[I]n  Christ],…[we] were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit,…the first installment of our inheritance toward redemption [and sanctification] as God’s possession.”

Wow!  The impact of Paul’s message is even more powerful when we insert our names in this passage: Dorothy Ann (your name), you are chosen! Why me? Why you?  Because you and  I are sinners  in need of redemption and sanctification.  And chosen for what? To realize our destiny as designed by God, who “accomplishes all things according to the intention of his will.”  We may question whether or not we are truly accomplishing “all things according to the intention of God’s will. However, that is God’s promise to us and God does not break His promises.  When we fail to follow the Spirit’s lead, God uses those circumstances to reconcile us to God, to make right our wrongs, so to speak.  God’s intention is that, “sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, …the first installment” of our “inheritance toward redemption as God’s possession,  that we lead lives that give “ praise of [God’s glory]!”—that we are glorifying our God by how we live the Gospel.

God’s gift of being chosen comes with a price: the death of His only begotten Son. God  sent His only begotten Son to pay the ransom for our sins. For our sake, Jesus bore the curse of sin, dying  a horrible death on the cross to reconcile us to the Father. Jesus gave His life that you and I, all of us,  might fully realize the gift of redemption and sanctification here on earth by the way we follow the Lord as  faithful disciples.

Am I, are you, on a daily basis, making choices that glorify our God: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit? God Almighty? God, who, in the words of St. Francis of Assisi, is all good, totally good? Do I, do you,  reflect God’s goodness in our attitudes, in our actions each day?  If not, why not? If not, how am I, are you,  betraying God's trust?

The Birthday of Mary, the Mother of the Son of God

Today we celebrate the birth of Mary, the Mother of the Son of God, who assumed human nature through Mary in order to bring about our redemption, that is to save us from the power of Satan, who alluringly tricked Adam and Eve into disobedience and to this very day prowls throughout the world deceiving people into choosing their will above God’s will.  Just as Adam and Eve did not pass the test of free will neither do you and I. Without grace, we fall into sin over and over and over again! Our salvation? Jesus Christ born of Mary.

Mary was born free of original sin.  She, alone of all human beings other than the Incarnate Son of God, never fell into the pit Satan sets for each one of us: the pit of choosing our own wills over the will of our Creator. Mary, perfectly, followed the will of God in every circumstance of her life, saying “yes” to God over and over again. Her obedience to the will of God is exemplified so clearly for us in the Annunciation when the angel Gabriel was sent to Mary to communicate God’s will to her. Gabriel greets her as one who has found favor with God and tells her that she has been chosen “’to conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you must name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High.  The Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David; he will rule over the House of Jacob forever and his reign will have no end.’ Mary said to the angel: ‘But how can this come about, since I have no knowledge of man?’ The angel answered, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will cover you with its shadow.’ And so the child will be holy and will be called Son of God…[Y]our cousin Elizabeth also, in her old age, has conceived a son, and she whom people called barren is now in her sixth month, for nothing is impossible to God.’ Mary said, ‘You see before you the Lord’s servant, let it happen to me as you have said’”  (Luke 1: 312-38). 

Mary was 14 or 15 when the angel announced that she would be impregnated through the power of the Holy Spirit and conceive a son. Mary was betrothed to Joseph and not yet married. Conceiving out of wedlock, in her culture, meant that she faced the possibility of being stoned to death. She still said “yes” to God’s will for her.

When we are confronted with the possibility of very unpleasant consequences to following the path God asks us to traverse, what is our response?  Is our faith and trust in God as strong as Mary’s?  If not, let us call upon Mary to secure for us the graces we need to say “yes” to God in any circumstance, willing to pay whatever price is demanded of us!  God is there for us as truly as God was there for Mary and worked everything out for her even to the resurrection of her Son on Easter morn, rising  seeing her Son  triumphantly over death in accord with the Father’s will.

God has chosen you to be on His Team

It was not you who chose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain…” (John 15: 16). 

 Whenever I read this passage, I think of the delight a child experiences when chosen to play on a team and is sent out to help her/his team win games.  It’s like saying to the child: “I know that you will make us proud and will help put our name in the record books.”  Or think of a time when you received an acceptance letter to the college of your choice or to the job of your dreams and were welcomed as one who would do great things as part of that organization. 

In the case above, Jesus, the second person of the Blessed Trinity,  God, the all-knowing One, Almighty Goodness, has chosen you and me to be on God’s team.  God expects great things of us, that we will bear fruit that will last eternally.  We read in  1 Cor 13:13 that three things last forever—faith, hope and love—and the greatest of these is love.  Love extends into eternity. We need faith and hope here but not in heaven.  We need faith now, believing that God is with us. We need hope now, hoping as well as believing, that the graces we need to bear fruit that will last is at our doorstep for the asking!

Savor knowing that Jesus has chosen you to be on His team!