God's Call: "Whom Shall I Send"?

In today's first reading, Isaiah 6: 1-2a, 3-9, Isaiah shares a vision he was given of "the Lord seated on a high and lofty throne, with the train of his garment filling the  temple. Seraphim were stationed above. they cried out one to the other, 'Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hours! All the earth is filled with his glory!'"  Isaiah tells us that at the sound of the angels praising the Lord, the  "frame of the door shook and rage  house was filled with smoke."  Isaiah is fearful that he is doomed, for, he says: I am a man of unclean lips, living among a people of unclean lips; yearly eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!" An  angel flew to him and touched his lips with an ember, saying: "See, now that this has touched your lips,  your wickedness is removed, your sin purged."  A voice then says ask Isaiah: "'Whom shall I send? Who will go for us?' 'Here I am,' Isaiah said, 'send me!'"

That Scripture passage is about us. We may not, with out naked eyes, see the Lord of hosts, but we do with eyes of faith.  We know by faith that God is a holy God and we are men and women inclined to sin. Our lips are unclean when we engage in acts of selfishness, greed and, yes, sometimes wickedness against one another!  Yes, too, to the fact that we have been purged of our wickedness, our sins, by the Blood of Jesus poured out for us on the cross and given to us in Holy Communion and in our repentance of our sins on a daily basis when we acknowledge our sinfulness in prayer, in regular  confession and at every liturgy!  Like with Isaiah, we, too, hear God's voice, asking "Whom shall I send? wobble will for us [the Blessed Trinity]? In word and deed, how do we answer?

"Made Glorious in God's Sight" (Is 49:3, 5-6)

In today’s first reading, Isaiah 49: 3, 5-6, God says to us through  the prophet : [You are] made glorious in the sight of the Lord,…God is now [your] strength.” That gift is confirmed in the second reading of today’s liturgy, 1 Cor 1: 1-3, where St. Paul reminds us that we “have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be holy, with all those everywhere who call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ…”In today’s Gospel, John 1: 29-34, John the Baptist points out Jesus to us, saying: “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world….[H]e is the Son of God.”

May you and I ponder the fact that we “are made glorious in the sight of the Lord.  If I truly believe that,  then nothing else really matters!  And if I remember that God is my strength, then, too, nothing else matters.  When I do not remember these realities, I can easily become flustered, even in the face of minor realities affecting my life.

I have  a greater possibility of remaining calm in today’s troubled world when I take time to ponder God’s Word and sit in God’s Presence every day!  When I do not take time to seek the Lord in personal prayer on a daily basis, it is easy to get swept away in frantic activity. Calling upon the Lord’s name is an essential element of growing in holiness—that is my responsibility. God has done His part: He has sanctified me in Christ Jesus. I have to seek God in quiet, personal prayer and devote time to serving the needs of others  for that holiness to grow in me!

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?

Christian Calling: Contrast to Secular Invitations

In today’s first reading, 1 Cor 6:1-11, Paul is challenging us concerning the choices we make when in serious conflict with our “brothers and sisters”?  He is asking why we have recourse to a secular legal system without seeking out judges among ourselves who adhere to the values of the Gospels, to the commandments and church law, to persons endowed with the wisdom of the Spirit, faithful to the Lord, living God-centered lives?  Do we go to the Lord and seek His counsel concerning “everyday matters” before seeking secular advice? When having recourse to others, do we first look at the background of such a person.   “Can it be that there is not one among you [servants of the Lord] wise enough to be able to settle a case between brothers [and sisters]?”

Why is it that we are following the secular legal system that promotes gay marriages, abortion on demand, wife swapping, co-habiting, cheating on one’s neighbor, engaging in slander against our opponents, judging and condemning others, and so on, according to the standards of the world?  “Do not be deceived,” Paul says to us; “neither fornicators nor idolaters nor adulterers nor boy prostitutes nor sodomites nor thieves nor greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor robbers will inherit the Kingdom of God. That is what some of you used to be,” Paul reminds the Corinthians; “but now you have had yourselves washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and the Spirit of our God.”

Let us, too, remember our background. We too have been washed in the blood of Christ. We are sanctified by the Holy Spirit and we are justified in the name of Jesus, our Savior.  We are not unbelievers. We are not outside the fold. We are members of the one sheepfold shepherded by Jesus Himself. “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them and they follow me” (John 10:27), not the voice of a secular society. Or do we?

Enriched in every way

In today’s first reading, 1 Cor 1: 1-9, St. Paul recalls the graces God gave him as an apostle of Christ Jesus, as willed by God, to serve the Church of Corinth, as well as the graces given to the members of the church, to us disciples of Christ.  All of us have been “sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be holy.”  He reminds us that we have been “enriched in every way,” that we “are not lacking in any spiritual gift as we wait for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ.” 

The challenge is the waiting for and the making visible, by our actions, this revelation of the Lord in our personal lives.  This challenge to be one with the will of God is made difficult by the fact that we are vulnerable to Satan’s deceptive ways. We may think we are in sync with God and not be.  Our efforts  to be faithful to God’s way of being in this world are also challenged by the fact that we live in a nation that strives to be a god unto its own making. All around us, people seem to be carving “golden calves”  out of power, prestige, pleasure, popularity,  money, domination,  weapons of war, and the pursuit of ambitions that oppress the poor of this world. These ambitions can even lead to killing others (physically or  psychologically/spiritually crushing one inner spirit of hope, love and faith in oneself, in others, in God).    Our faithfulness to the graces Jesus wants to pour out upon us is tested in this crucible of “evil.” Will I allow the forces of evil or the grace of God to win out in my life? When the Son of Man comes, will I be distributing the food that supports life, that nurtures live, that sanctifies life? Will I be among the blessed that Jesus speaks about in today’s  Gospel, Mt 24: 42-51?