Being Sent and Empowered; Empowering Others

Today we celebrate the feast of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist. Each one of us also has a nativity.
To each one of us, as to John the Baptist, God says to us through the prophet Jeremiah, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I dedicated you, a prophet to the nations I appointed you ” ( Jeremiah 1: 4-10, the first reading of the Vigil Mass for John the Baptist). Jeremiah responds to God: “Ah, Lord God, I know not how to speak; I am too young.” God comes back with: “Say not, ‘I am too young.’ To whomever I send you, you shall go; whatever I command you, you shall speak. Have no fear…I am with you to deliver you…Then the Lord extended his hand and touched my mouth, saying, ‘See, I place my words in your mouth! This is the day I set you over nations and over kingdoms to root up and to tear down, to destroy and to demolish, to build and to plant.” 

I just returned from a meeting at St. John’s University  in Collegeville, MN, where I was introduced  to YTM (Youth in Theology and Ministry), a two- year program for teenagers that includes two fourteen-day summer institutes at John’s University.   The summer program involves 1) theology courses, 2) a prayer component, 3) service projects and 4) a vocational discernment, leadership development and Catholic Social Teaching. Between summers the students return to their parish to complete their service-justice project in their own parishes.  

Three teens presented their project, one of whom was an Hispanic, 17-year-old woman who, on returning to her parish, presented a faith-development program for teens at risk: they had either been suspended from high school, were drop outs, had gotten in trouble with the law and, for all set purposes, were headed down a path that could have destroyed them. At the end of their faith formation, led by this YTM participant, were conducting classes for first communicants and doing a session for confirmants!

“Say not,’ I am too young.’ To whomever I send you, you shall go; whatever I command you, you shall speak. Have no fear…I am with you to deliver you” (Jeremiah 1: 4-10).

What is God saying to you? To whom is God sending you to "root up and to tear down, to destroy and to demolish, to build and to plant" (Jeremiah 1: 4-10). What in you and me needs to be rooted up, torn down, destroyed, demolished so our faith radiates God's presence in our lives? What do we need "to build and to plant" in our lives so that our discipleship inspires and helps others find Christ?

Grafted onto the Vine, Who Is Jesus

“I am the vine, you are the branches [each of us is a branch].   Whoever remains in me and I in him [her] will bear much fruit, because without me you can do nothing.”  When and how did I become a branch on Jesus, the Vine? At my baptism I was grafted onto the Tree of Life, Jesus.   I remain on that vine when I do what Jesus did here on earth:  work to do God’s will, as Jesus did the will of His Father even to the point of death on the cross to save us from sin. I remain on that Vine when, in sufferings and disaster, I cling to Him, uniting my suffering to the sufferings of Christ on the cross, when I do not lose hope in hopeless situations because I take my burdens to the Lord, seek help from those who are capable of helping me and do what I am able to do  to move beyond my pain to healing and new life.   I remain grafted onto Jesus, the Vine, when I am open to the Spirit, when I seek the Spirit, when I seek God above all else. I remain grafted on the vine when I love as Jesus loved—unconditionally. I remain grafted on the vine when I feed the “hungry,” those hungry for love, for forgiveness, for understanding, for comfort, for support and, yes, the things they need to survive physically, psychologically, emotionally, spiritually, socially and I do the same for myself.  I remain grafted on the vine when I release those imprisoned by injustice, by exclusion for that which is rightly theirs: shelter, clothing, education, food. I remain grafted onto Jesus when I seek forgiveness of God and of others and of self, when I acknowledge my sinfulness. I remain grafted onto Jesus when I act humbly, justly and love tenderly. The only way I can do this is through Jesus Christ—with Jesus, grafted onto Jesus I can do all these things, glorifying God here on earth, bearing much fruit and becoming His disciple day in and day out!