Fulfilling our Ministry Here on Earth

In today's first reading, 1 Timothy 4: 1-8, Paul says to Timothy, and to us:  Beloved: I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingly power: proclaim the word; be persistent whether it is convenient or inconvenient; convince, reprimand, encourage through all patience and teaching...[B]e self-possessed in all circumstances; fulfill your ministry."

We proclaim the word by word, by deed, by our very lives, that is, lives of integrity. We live a life of integrity when we consistently follow Christ and His messages in the Gospel, when we live by faith, when we love God with our whole heart, our whole soul, and our whole mind and our neighbor as ourselves and do all of this when "convenient and inconvenient."  Paul asks us to be "self-possessed", that is in control of our emotions, our thoughts, our actions and not act out in anger or jealousy or revenge or greediness, covetousness, or avarice, in sexual excess or lust. We are asked to be patient, kind and loving, caring and forgiving, understanding and compassionate!

Am I, are you, aware of when another person need for encouragement or need to be reprimanded for making choices contrary to their baptism into the life and death of Christ?  On the other hand, am I, are you, open to needing to be encouraged to make right choices or our need to be reprimanded for going astray?

Later in this passage, Paul says that he is "being poured out like a libation, and [that] the time of [his] departure is at hand."  Confidently, he says: "I have competed well; I have finished the race; I have kept the faith. From  now on the crown of righteousness awaits me, which the Lord, the just judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me but to all who have longed for his appearance."

What to you, what do I, want to be able to say when our departure from this earth is at hand?  If we stay on the course that we are now o,  will we be able to say: "I have competed well; ...I have kept the faith...[A] crown of righteousness awaits me, which the Lord...will award to me on that day" when I enter eternal life?

Authored to do God's Will

Today’s Scripture readings, Proverbs 30: 5-9 and Luke 9:1-6, both speak of trusting the Lord. The author of Proverbs asks the Lord to “give me neither poverty nor riches; provide me only with the food I need; lest, being full, I deny you, saying, ‘Who is the Lord?’ Or, being in want, I steal, and profane the name of my God.” In the Gospel Jesus sends His apostles out to preach the Good News, giving “them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases, …to proclaim the Kingdom of God and to heal the sick.” He then says to them: “Take nothing”  [with you]…neither walking stick, nor sack, nor food, nor money, and let no one take a second tunic.”

Wow! Trust, trust, trust that God will provide.  I have a tendency to over prepare for everything, leaving nothing to chance, nothing to God’s power, really. I want no surprises, yet God is full of surprises and full of power. His grace is abundant and He always goes ahead of us to prepare the way. Where is my faith when I over prepare, when I hold back because “I’m not ready,” “I have not done enough research,” “I do not have this degree or that degree; I’m too limited.”

Jesus sent the 12 apostles forth to proclaim the Kingdom, to heal diseases, to cast out demons. Jesus gave them power and authority. Jesus also gives you and me power and authority whenever we are invited to go forth out of our comfort zones. Do I believe this? Do I act on faith when the Spirit beckons? Or, when the pastor of my parish or a parishioner asks me to get involved, do I say, “No, I’m not ready for that.”  When someone out the blue calls me up and says: Will you do such and such, do I say, “No, I don’t think I can do that,” when the disbelief is a hidden fear that God will not provide me with “the food I need”  to do that task?

Does Jesus walk away saddened by my refusal to trust, to believe?