There was a young
man who had decided that he wanted to become a priest, but he wasn’t sure which
seminary he wanted to attend. One was
run by the Dominicans, and the other by the Jesuits. He visited the one run by the Jesuits and was
very impressed, and had all but made up his mind to go there, but he thought he
should at least check out the other one to be sure. He did, and while speaking with the Dominican
friar, he asked what the differences were between the two orders. “Well,” said the stately priest, “they are
very similar actually. Both were founded by Spaniards--St Dominic the
Dominicans, and St. Ignatius of Loyola the Jesuits. And, they both were started to combat
heresy—the Dominicans to fight the Albigensians, and the Jesuits to fight the
Protestants.” “So then what’s the
difference?” asked the young man? The
old Dominican just smiled and said: “You
met any Albigensians lately??”
Our readings today
offer us a timely message, because they invite us to reflect on our Christian
vocation--of our calling to follow Jesus Christ, when society calls us to do
just the opposite. Ours are times that
call us to live out the truths of our religion with greater love, with greater
joy and with new enthusiasm. The
readings today remind us that every one of us has a vocation. Jesus is urging
each one of us, just as he did to the people in the Gospel today, to follow
him. Jesus is constantly passing by;
he’s always inviting us to join him, to follow him. He is active and alive in our lives. He’s a
true, divine Person. He is not just some teacher who lived a long time ago. (remember
the Gospel last week when Jesus asked his apostles: who do the people say that I am, and some
said Elijah or one of the ancient prophets?)
He’s present in our lives and close to us in his love... Today! Right now.
He wants to have a personal relationship
with each one of us. He’s calling us to love him just as he loves each one of
us. We are called to leave our old life behind. We are called to have new priorities.
But just as Jesus told the man in today’s Gospel, following him doesn’t mean we
are going to have an easy life.
We heard that in
the first reading. The prophet Elijah
calls Elisha to follow him. And we heard that striking image of Elisha killing
all his farm animals and setting his farming equipment on fire. For us that looks too extreme an action to
take, doesn’t it? But it’s there to show
us what it means to be a disciple. It was a radical decision to follow Jesus
back in those days, and, unfortunately, it seems to be becoming more and more
radical with each passing day in our own lives. And understand; it’s not that God is calling
us to destroy our past. But he is calling us to move in a new
direction. We cannot let our past hold us back. We need to let go of things. We
cannot hold onto things. We cannot try to follow Jesus only half-way. He’s calling us to seriously follow
him, with our whole heart, soul, mind and body.
And God comes into our lives — right where we are. He comes to us in the middle of everything
else we are doing. The prophet Elijah
goes out and finds Elisha in the fields, where he is working. Jesus
encounters people as he is walking through their towns and villages. He finds
them in their homes, with their families, fishing on the shore. And that’s the way he is with each one of us.
Jesus comes to us where we are — in our homes, at work, at the grocery store.
He comes to us in the people we meet, in the circumstances of our days. These
are the places where he calls us and says to each one of us: Follow me!
And remember, Jesus
is not calling us to leave our work or to turn our back on our families. Just
the opposite. He is calling us to follow him where we are — in our families, through our families, in our work, through our work. In the
daily realities of our lives. So
whatever it is that we do every day, that’s what we have to transform into a
place where we find and where we share Jesus with the people around us. When we’re at home, when we’re with our
children or our spouses, or at work or with our neighbors. Every moment, we have a
chance to follow Jesus... or not. Every
moment we have a chance to serve God…or not. Jesus says to the man in the Gospel: You,
go and proclaim the Kingdom of God. And, my brothers and sisters, he’s
saying that to each one of us today. But
realize this: we don’t have to “go” anywhere. We can proclaim, and we are called
to proclaim, the Kingdom of God wherever we are. Because we can follow Jesus right where we’re
at. How do we do that? By saying “yes”
to what Jesus is asking of us. By serving others. By trying to make people’s
lives a little easier, a little happier. Because, my brothers and sisters, people
should notice as they meet us, as they relate to us, that we are followers of
Jesus Christ; that we are Christians! “They’ll know we are Christians… (by our
love.)
Our homes, our work, our ball-fields—these are the places
where we meet Jesus; where we take up our cross and follow him. What a
beautiful message that happens in our daily lives; in the ordinary things that
we do.
As St. Paul tells us in the second reading, our vocation is
true freedom! You were called for freedom, brothers and sisters. But we also know that our Christian
vocation is a challenge. It’s a struggle every day. So let’s keep pressing forward in our
Christian lives. Let us tell Jesus today, as the people in today’s readings,
that we want to follow him wherever he goes, wherever he wants to lead us.
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