Month: March 2017

As many of my readers will know, I am a big believer that our Christian faith provides us with both a clear sense of purpose and the meaning of our lives.  We might be inclined to laugh this off as absurd until we give ourselves to Christ.  We might believe that this is a recruiting tool Christian use to get more to believe.  Although it’s the Christian’s mission to evangelize; to “get to heaven and bring as many people with us as we can” it is also very much a part of Jesus’ instruction that Disciples not focus too much time and attention in places where Jesus’ Word is being rejected.  We have to accept that God is the primary agent, and we are secondary in His mission.  If we don’t reach someone, we need to get past it and entrust it back to God.  That said, it is an important part of the Christian witness to share with others the joy, peace and understanding of his or her meaning and purpose found in being a Christian and living it out through our chosen and freely responded to vocation.

Our Gospel today illustrates one such vocational call: that of St. Matthew, aka Levi.  He was living his life for what he could gain in the world and although he had much of what the world could offer him; money, worldly power over others, material things – none of this brought him any closer to discovering meaning in his life and his true purpose.  But Jesus did, and we know He did.  Matthew followed the Lord and found a new purpose and the meaning for his life as an Apostle.  He brought others to the Lord and the Church and faith we are a part of is thanks to Matthew and the other Apostles and Disciples.  Today’s Gospel is his story; what will yours be?

Fasting and dieting for personal health are without a doubt, a staple of our society.  We seek to look and feel good and we know what brought about our lethargic feelings and perhaps that pot belly or excess fat in areas of our body was the poor or excess eating habits that so many of us have been guilty of.  And so we fast and we diet.  But we also know that this requires a balanced approach.  We know that this requires of us a certain discipline which doesn’t mean that we stop eating altogether and that we have a plan for the future otherwise we know that what we do by controlling our eating now will not last us any longer than for the time or moment we do it.

Our Gospel today reinforces that fasting, penance and prayer contribute to our souls looking good and our feeling good too.  Fasting, penance and prayer release and remove the “cobwebs” or “dirt” that gets in the way of being the very best Christians that we can be.  But just as when we fast or diet, we don’t stop eating altogether but stop the excess or bad, we replace it or supplement good things: our souls need the good food of the Good News.  Jesus’ Disciples need to be nourished in the right way so that they can go the extra mile and do what they need to do.  Fasting is and will always be a part of the Christian’s life and most especially in Lent we’re reminded of this.  But we are nourished first and foremost so our souls are healthy and ready for what is to come.

Deny yourself, take up your cross and follow me.  Jesus calls us to do three things for Him in today’s Gospel, but three things which we probably all can agree are not easy things for us to do.  They are, however, essential and essential to any and all vocations we are being called to.

Denying ourselves.  Although self-preservation is a strong human instinct and perhaps in many ways important to everything we do; when we allow self-preservation to be what guides us always in life we quickly become selfish, self-absorbed, self-interested and before we know it, totally consumed with ourselves.  Self-denial is not a burden but a freedom; freedom from focusing on ourselves and “emptying” of ourselves from sin (through confession among other ways) and through an increase in the acts of charity.  Doing for others helps us to think about ourselves less.  If we focus on God and what God wants for us, we will find that others come first.  We will also find that who and what we are becomes clearer to us as we become more and more “vessels” or “instruments” of God and see the work we do for Him is what we find brings us happiness and peace in our lives even if things aren’t peaceful and always joyful around us.

Pick up your Cross.  Often times we think that this refers to the obvious “crosses” of sickness, weakness or inadequacies.  Of course, these are crosses we bear but we also bar crosses when we serve others too and these are important to the vocation we choose or God chooses us for.  When we deny ourselves we prepare ourselves to discover what it is the Lord calls us to.  When we pick up our crosses to follow, we take on the burden of service which is a yoke the Lord carries the heavy part of but some of it is ours.  There is a burden of service but there is a great joy to be found in knowing that we are more configured to our Lord’s work and mission when we do.

And “follow Me”.  These words are certainly words used by every Vocation Director because it is the call.  These are the words our Lord uses when He invites ordinary people to Discipleship and to follow in His footsteps.  They are the words that mark the call forward and we must allow these three invitations to be circular for us “deny yourself, pick up your Cross and follow Me”.  We need to continue to find ways to empty ourselves of selfishness and self-interest or self-focus, joyfully and securely take up all the Crosses we bear with our Lord and continue day by day to follow Him.