Delivered from the Power of Darkness

In today's first reading, Colossians 1: 9-14, St.Paul prays for his disciples, asking God that they be "filled with the knowledge of God's will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, so as to be fully pleasing, in every good work bearing fruit and growing in the knowledge of God, strengthened with every power, in accord with his glorious might, for all endurance and patience, with joy giving thanks to the Father, who has made you fit to share in the inheritance of the holy ones in light." That is why Jesus has come to this earth and why, to this very day, lives among us and within us.  The prayer of St. Paul is fulfilled in each one of us because God has "delivered us from the power of darkness and transferred us to the Kingdom of his beloved 
Son in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins."  When did and does God do this? at our baptisms, our confirmations, when we receive the sacraments of Reconciliation and Holy Communion,  and every time we carry out the good God inspires us to do. God also does this for us every time, like Peter in today's Gospel, Luke 5: 1-11, we listen to God's instructions when everything within us says: "That is not going to work, Lord," and we do it anyway for a "large, miraculous catch!"

God's Kindness is Forever and Ever and Ever, Amen!

“My kindness is established forever; ….I have found David, my servant; with my holy oil I have anointed him, that my hand may be always with him, and that my arm may make him strong,” we pray in today’s responsorial psalm, Psalm 89.   At our baptism and at confirmation, God found us, His servants. You and I were anointed with holy oil when we received both of those sacraments.  God’s hand is always with us. God’s arm is always strengthening us, the arms stretched out upon the cross for us, the arms stretched out to us at every Holy Mass, inviting us to eat His body and drink His blood, the bread and wine consecrated by the hands of the priest. 

Truly, God will never leave us; His “kindness is established forever.”  “My faithfulness and my mercy,” says the Lord in this psalm, “shall be with [you], and through my name shall [your]  horn shall be exalted,” that is you will be victorious over your enemy, Satan who prowls this world seeking someone to devour! So, with King David, we say of God: “You are my father, my God, the Rock, my savior.”

Proclaimers of the Kingdom

Today’s first reading, Proverbs 30: 5-9, begins with the statement: “Every word of God is tested…”  You and I are not THE Word of God but a word of God.    Every day, our faith, our trust, our love, our humility, our truthfulness, our altruism, our strength, our obedience to the will of God is tested.  We are assured in many places in the Scriptures, including today’s first reading, that God shields us, protects us.

We are a word of God spoken by God when we were conceived in our mother’s womb.  As Jesus tells us in today’s Gospel (Lk 9: 1-6), we were sent into the world “to proclaim the Kingdom of God.”  We do that by our lives, that is, by loving God by loving ourselves and others, who God also sent into the world to be His servants.  As a word of God, as God’s servant, God equips us with what we need to carry out His will (cf. Luke 9: 1-6). Just as Jesus summoned “the Twelve and gave them power and authority,” so, too, he summons you and I, giving us the power and authority to be His disciples, doing even greater things than Jesus did (cf.Jn 14: 12) if we believe in Christ.  Jesus also warns us, however, that we are sent into this world  as sheep among wolves(Mt. 10: 16). Just as He was persecuted in proclaiming the Kingdom, so, too, will we be persecuted as His servants. No servant is greater than his or her master (cf. Jn. 15:20).

Why, then, do we cringe when difficulties cross our paths? Have we forgotten Jesus’ caution and that we are His followers, doing the work He did and for which He sent us? Have we lost sight of the fact that God will shield us as we pass through “the fire,” and give us the strength He gave the apostles and all of the saints before us?

Equipped for every good work

"All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful for...training in righteousness, so that one who belongs to God may be competent, equipped for every good work" (2 Tim 3: 10-17).  What an incredible God! You and I are equipped and competent to do whatever God calls us to do.  How differently would we approach a  task I wonder, if we remembered the truth that to whatever God calls us He first gives us the tools and the strength and the courage and the wisdom to accomplish it.