I realize this post is a bit tardy, almost a month has passed since I preached it. However, I think it reads well even with the lag...
3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time
January 26th, 2014
The liturgy today deals with themes of light and darkness:
of gloom and anguish… joy and rejoicing.
“The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who
lived in land of deep darkness – on them light has shone.” These words are spoken of the lands of
Zebulun and Naphtali – Saint Matthew remembers these words in the gospel as
being fulfilled by the person of Jesus Christ.
Jesus is that light referred to by Isaiah, the great light – the light
that overcomes darkness. And the light
that is Jesus is not dimmed by the passing of time; instead he longs to be the
light in our lives – a light that extinguishes the darkness in us. Nor is his call for some yesteryear, as we
see him calling his first apostles today, “Come,
follow me.” No, his call is meant
to be heard in our own hearts, as we go about our day-to-day lives – much like
the apostles Simon Peter and Andrew. And
not only are we to hear, but the invitation is to respond, ‘Yes, Lord, I hear
you calling me…I will go where you send me.
To wait on tables, to my place of work, to tend to my sick child, to
answer the telephone, to my daily duties…I will go, and I ask that you come
with me, do not let me go alone.’ We can
also invite the all-holy one into our own darkness, especially that darkness
which seems insurmountable, that area of our lives where we seem to always fail
or fall short, this extends even to our place of despair, discouragement, and
bitterness. Perhaps it is possible to
ask the Lord, in these situations, “Lord,
come, follow me. I want you to see
this predicament; I need your presence in this storm, in this pain and sense of
alienation. Lord, come, follow me so that I may then follow you out into the
light.” It is to the light the Lord
always wishes to guide us. “The Lord is
my light and my salvation.” But this is
no easy task…instead it is often very messy.
But God does not withdraw from us because of our messes, instead with
great loving patience He draws closer to us – sending us helps along with way
and enlightens our conscience by lights that come from within or outside
ourselves. Of course, these we are free
to ignore or respond to, just as the fishermen that day were presented with the
choice to follow him or not. I wish I
listened to these guideposts as regularly as I should, but I often struggle to
do so because of fear. However,
sometimes I do listen. There was an
instance of this during the past week, it was getting on later in the evening
and I was sitting up watching TV with Fr. McGowan. He got up and left the room for something and
it was like a little voice spoke in my heart – urging me to go to
confession. It had been a particularly
rough week and I was in need. A little
struggle followed…“It’s late at night, Fr. McGowan needs his rest, maybe I
shouldn’t ask”, but on this small point I was resolute, and when the padre
returned to the room I made my request.
Although I had to fight to overcome my pride I was glad afterwards both
for this small voice in my heart and the courage to listen to it. I share this not to focus on myself but by
way of example to share this concrete example.
No doubt there are many other worthy examples I might point to – but
this one was ‘at my fingertips’ as it were.
I was grateful to the Holy Spirit for the nudge and grateful to have a
priest in whom I could seek the Lord’s mercy and forgiveness. In this way the ‘good news’ visited me this
past week and I was encouraged to follow the Light in the midst of my darkness,
strengthening me for the path ahead.
On a slightly different note, this past week marked the week
of prayer for Christian unity. On
Wednesday Pope Francis addressed this event in his weekly catechesis
acknowledging that for one hundred years this noteworthy event has taken
place. He went on to reflect from
today’s second reading where saint Paul asks, “Has Christ been divided?” With characteristic candor he said the
following strong words:
Christ was certainly not divided.
However, we must admit sincerely, with sorrow, that our communities continue to
live divisions that are a scandal. The divisions among us Christians are a
scandal. There is no other word: a scandal. “Each one of you – the Apostle
wrote – says: ‘I belong to Paul,’ ‘I instead belong to Apollo,’ ‘And I belong
to Cephas,’ ‘And I belong to Christ’” (1:12). Even those who professed Christ
as their head were not applauded by Paul, because they used the name of Christ
to separate themselves from the others within the Christian community. But
Christ’s name creates communion and unity, not division! He has come to make
communion among us, not to divide us. Baptism and the Cross are central
elements of Christian discipleship which we have in common. Divisions, instead,
weaken credibility and the effectiveness of our commitment to evangelization
and risk emptying the Cross of its power (cf. 1:17).
We pray for unity among Christians and unity within the
Church. May God bless us and still give
us his blessing, for which we long, we desire and we most certainly need. Dear brothers and sisters, a blessed Sunday
to you! Do not forget, He is our light
and our salvation. His words open up new
vistas. He sends us help. It is up to us to respond with a willing
heart. Let us pray for this willingness
at this holy communion and offer up to God a small prayer of thanks and praise
even in the brief silences we find at this Mass.