Mk 1:14-20 They Followed Him
While I was visiting a patient in the Emergency room, I befriended the nurse who was raised a Catholic but for unknown reasons left the Church and began attending a non-denominational denominational community. I asked him to return to the faith of his parents and grandparents (I assumed that because he was Italian). He took down my number and promised to give me a call.
I had a delightful conversation with two sisters who are very successful (career wise) and yet were not ready for life’s great surprises and tragedies. Both were raised Catholic but one left the Church when she got married. It has been a thorn in her mother’s side ever since but prayers are worth more than gold! She has been praying for both and hoping that both will come back to the faith. The child that left the faith told me that she felt joy in her heart every time she worshipped and praised the Lord in her new found faith. I asked her if she was certain that that is how the Lord wanted to be praised and worshipped. After all, isn’t why we go to Church: to give praise and honor to God and not to ourselves? So it would be important that the one who feels adored is the Lord and not I. I just threw that out there as food for thought.
In today’s Gospel, the Lord gets to work. The moment has arrived. The greatest story ever told is to begin. Now, the crew needs to be found. The actors are not your typical or expected ones for such an amazing production. They have not been trained for such a role. This is the first “real-life” actors.
As you can see, the Lord calls them and they follow him. There is no time for explanations. No time for ground rules. No time for contracts and for conditions to be set. No beautiful and heartwarming conversion stories! The Lord spoke, and it happened. How? Only God knows. Here I am, born on a certain day and year, and yet, I was never asked, never gave permission, never signed a consent form. But, Here I am Lord; I come to do your will.
Where are we going? What will we do? Everything is fair game. Everything is possible with God. Nothing, absolutely nothing, is impossible for the Lord of history, of men, of all. These men are truly fortunate. To have lived life to the full with the Lord of Life! What amazing possibilities await them? And yet, the same holds true for me!
Lord, let me live my life according to your plan, your wishes, your desires - your holy will. May I never walk ahead of you or behind you. May I have the grace and strength to proclaim your word to all who are near to me; who will hear and listen.
May I cast your net and find a catch worthy of you!
"The Lord spoke, and it happened. How? Only God knows."
ReplyDeleteI was racking my brain last night while doing this meditation. Trying to figure out the answer to that question. That is what I was focused on.
After reading your meditation, I realized that I don’t have to know all the answers and that the right answers aren’t always important.
I was asking, "Lord, what made them follow You with nothing more than a simple invitation? How did they know You were not some fly by night ‘prophet’ suckering them in, like so many we hear about after their ‘flock’ has been brainwashed, used, abused and even ‘killed’ for mindlessly following?"
I was thinking, if I had the answer to that question, I would know how to KNOW for SURE with NO DOUBTS what He is asking me to do... but where would the need for faith come in?
Maybe the Apostles had some special grace, some infused knowledge or something that we don’t have because we have THEM. They had no evidence, no book to follow, no church to listen to, and God did not lead them astray. So why do I think I need solid proof before I will risk taking a step toward what I believe is His will for me?
This reminds me of something I told my daughter when she was in college and could not decide, “What she wanted to be when she grew up”. I remember telling her, "Just make a decision, and do something. If it’s wrong, do something else, you can only learn from your mistakes, (in this area) and become wiser for the next thing you try."
That’s it! If I do what I truly believe He is asking me to do and I am wrong, is it the end of the world, or was I wrong? Did He take me down that path to learn something that I needed for the next task He has for me? I know in my ‘career’ that has been true. I thought I was a failure because I was not doing what I started out doing decades before and I was not where I thought I would be either. Then upon carefully assessing it, I could see that EVERY single ‘job’ I had, prepared me for the next one. Every single ‘mistake’ I made gave me the wisdom to be able to accomplish the next ‘job’. I was not a failure. I was in training.
It is precisely faith that keeps me going. All I can do is the best I can do and He knows it, after all that’s how He made me.
So from now on, I am not going to look for risk free ways to get where I think He’s sending me. I’m going to risk being wrong (that’s been a bad word for a long time), and realize that with God there are no wrong turns because He can bring GOOD out of EVERYTHING! I’ve seen it over and over and over. Maybe this time I will trust Him and myself more.
Dear Father Alfonse thank you for such a beautiful meditation. That is why we need to teach the youth the faith the true faith and not some watered down version, and we need to make sure that the religious ed teachers are uoholding the magisterium of the church, not sneaking in some of the doctrine that these nondenominational churches have. I have seen too many people leave the church because they were not taught what the church really teaches, so as a result when they come in contact with people who tell them that the Catholic Church is wrong in her beliefs, and what she teaches they do not have the knowledge or the stamina to defend the faith. And it wouldn't hurt us adults to continue in learning about our faith by reading The Catechism Of The Catholic Church along with Sacred Scripture and continually praying that those who have left will come back to the faith of their Fathers I am a convert but That is something that I strongly believe.
ReplyDeleteAmen Brenda!
ReplyDeleteI vote for that. Let's do it!
First we have to get the USCCB to comply with the Magisterium, then the Priests, then the Lay Catechists...
This is not meant as discouragement but lining up what must be done.
I say we start at the top to save us some time!
It's the lay people who have to do it. There's too much politics for it to come from within. That's you and me and the rest of the people in the pews.
It could be a Catholic Tea Party, What could we call it? I'm serious and I'm ready!!!