Jesus' Mission Statement

In today's Gospel, Luke 4: 14-221, Jesus goes to the synagogue in his home town. He opens the scroll and reads the following passage from Isaiah:

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor. 
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives
and recovery of sight to the blind,
to let the oppressed go free,
and to proclaim a year 
acceptable to the Lord.

This is Jesus' mission statement! What is yours?

       For what has God anointed you at your baptism?
       For what have you been sent here on earth to do?

If, today, Jesus' mission is your mission, and mine:

• To whom did you, did I, bring glad tidings?
• To whom did you, did I,  proclaim liberty?  In other words, who is freer today because of their interaction with us?
• Who, today, sees more clearly who Jesus is, what their mission is, or how much they are loved because of us?
• Who has been set free of oppression today because of our intervention or engagement with them? Or have we, instead, been an oppressor?

May Jesus truly live through us more and more each day and may His mission be accomplished through us!

Called to Know Jesus and Live as He Lived

In today's Gospel,  Mark 3: 13-19, Jesus goes up to a mountain to pray and, while there, summons those he wanted to join him as His first apostles.  He appoints twelve men to this position, affectionately nicknaming some of them. Among the twelve is impetuous Peter and the doubting Thomas as well as a traitor, a tax collector who cheated people of their money and, each of them, men thinking that Jesus will become an earthly king saving them from the ruling Romans. They are also men who clamour for position, arguing, at one point,  who among them is the greatest and who will sit at Jesus' right or left in His kingdom!  These are very ordinary men with strengths and weaknesses yet chosen to carry on the work of Jesus once He returns to His Father. They are men who, in the company of Jesus, learn who Jesus is--the Son of God--and learn what He is asking of them. Their faith is so strengthened at Pentecost that they are no longer afraid to speak openly and boldly about Jesus' death and resurrection and spread the Gospel that Jesus taught and lived.  They risk their very lives in carrying on Jesus' mission of building the Kindom of God (right relationships with all) here on earth to the point of dying for what they believe!

Jesus prayed you and I into this kingdom/kindom as well.  At our baptisms we died and rose with Jesus and were given a special mission here on earth in spreading the Gospel by how we live, the words we say or leave unsaid, the behaviors we choose to bring justice to all peoples, to lift others up to their greatest  potential as a human being, and to show God's love, mercy,  generosity, and forgiveness.

How am I doing as a disciple of Christ? Howe are you doing?

The Baptism and Mission of Jesus and Ours

Today we celebrate the baptism of our Lord. Jesus arrives at the place where John is baptizing, as told to us in today’s Gospel, Matthew 3: 13-17.  He approaches John and asks for baptism.  John resists, saying to Jesus: I need to be baptized by you, and yet you are coming to me?”  Jesus says to him: “Allow it now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.”  So John allows the baptism. As Jesus exits the Jordan, “the heavens were opened for him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending, like a dove and coming upon him. And a voice came from the heavens, saying, ‘This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”
 

The first reading of today’s liturgy, Isaiah 42: 1-4, 6-7,  presents the prophesy concerning Jesus’ mission. God says to us through the prophet Isaiah that Jesus is God’s “servant whom I uphold, my chosen one with whom I am pleased, upon whom I have put my spirit; he shall bring forth justice to the nations, …A bruised reed he shall not break, and a smoldering wick he shall not quench, until he establishes justice on the earth; the coastlands will wait for his teaching….”  Jesus, Isaiah tells us,  is “a covenant of the people, a light for the nations.” He is “to open the eyes of the blind, to bring out prisoners from confinement, and from the dungeon, those who live in darkness.”

That prophesy holds  true in 2017 as it did 2,017 years ago.  To this very day, Jesus continues the work for which He was sent until “justice” has been brought forth to the nations,” until “the blind” see, until “prisoners” of Satan’s snares are set free, and until “those who live in darkness” are brought into, and live by, the Light!

As disciples of Jesus, you and I are either among those who, with Jesus set prisoners free, radiate the light of justice, truth, humility, love, reconciliation, and forgiveness, thus being a light in the darkness of our world; or we are among those needing to be set free and brought into the light of living justly, humbly, lovingly, mercifully, and compassionately. As human beings, we can easily vacillate between being true to our baptismal vows or violating them to a lesser or greater degree, repenting and coming back into good graces!

What will I choose today?

Moving Over for Christ to Reign

In today’s Gospel, John proclaims Jesus’ identity.  When John saw Jesus coming toward him, he said to the people gathered around:  “Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. He is the one of whom I said, ‘A man is coming after me who ranks ahead of me because he existed before me….I saw the Spirit come down like a dove from the sky and remain upon him. I did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘On whomever you see the Spirit come down and remain, he is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’ Now I have seen and testified that he is the Son of God.”

In John 3:30, St. John says:   “He must increase but I must decrease.”  Many of those who were following John left him and became disciples of Jesus.  How do I react when another person’s ministry is growing and mine is shrinking? When other people bring forth ideas that grab others’ attention, am I eager to support  those ideas or do I become jealous? What do I do when another person is chosen over me, when another is recognized for his/her work and I am left standing in the background?  Am I willing to let go when younger entrepreneurs, younger disciples of Christ;  a son/daughter, if I am a parent, takes over my role in the company; a  newer member of my religious community takes my place in ministry and I am left to  take a back seat, so to speak?  Letting go and relinquishing my place, welcoming other’s into a position I once held, seeing others succeed and being in the spotlight that I once “possessed” can be very difficult.  Like St. John, you and I are called to point people toward Jesus, the Son of God made flesh, the Savior of the world.  We are called to build up the Kingdom of God by getting out of God’s way, so to speak.  How well do I do that in order that the work I do, in Jesus’ name, bears fruit that will last?