As we
celebrate the Word of God that has been proclaimed to us, God is calling the
prophet Samuel, the first apostles Andrew and Peter, and you and I. Yes, the call of God is given to us as surely
as it was given to Samuel and Andrew and Peter.
The call of God, our vocation, is given to each and every one of us.
I invite you
to listen again to the dialogue of Jesus with the first disciples. Jesus, sensing that two people were following
him, asked: “What are you looking
for?” They responded: “Rabbi, where do you live.” Jesus simply responds: “Come and See.”
This call of
the first disciples invites us to reflect on the call of God in our own lives. Indeed, Jesus asks us what are we looking for? May we too respond: Master, where do you live? What are you all about? Then we receive the invitation to COME AND
SEE.
I would like
to ask you rhetorically this question for your prayerful reflection: “Do you have a personal relationship with
Jesus? Do you know the Lord Jesus as
your personal Savior?” If this is a
puzzling question for you, I don’t blame you.
This is an unusual Catholic question.
This typically is a question evangelicals ask of each other. Catholics, on the other hand, are called to
live a life of morality, of responsibility, of a Gospel way of living. To do the right thing.
But the
invitation given to the first disciples is to COME AND SEE. Come and See what life will be like when
lived in relationship with Jesus and in relationship with the all the disciples
of Jesus. Come and See if the Gospel
stories connect with your spirit and your way of looking at life. Come and See if your relationships in the
Church – the disciples of Jesus – allow you to love and be loved in life-giving
ways. Our relationship with Jesus to
which we are called demands an adult commitment to discipleship. We are to embark on our journey of
faith. All of our actions are to flow
out of our relationship with God.
As we ready
ourselves to celebrate Stewardship Commitment Sunday next weekend ,
Jesus is inviting to Come and See if we can embrace a spirituality of
stewardship as part of our discipleship of Christ Jesus.
What is the
spirituality of stewardship all about?
Very simply, the Lord calls us to share what we have been given in the
service of others. This is how Jesus lived
his life. Jesus invites to Come and See
if we too can die to self-centeredness and live an other-centered life to help
others. Stewardship is central to a
Gospel way of living.
The way we
live a God-centered life is when we live our lives as Jesus did. The call to discipleship is the call to Come
and See what it means to share in the mission and the ministry of Jesus. The compassion of Jesus, the unconditional
love for Jesus for all, His willingness to forgive – even those who have
betrayed him, His willing to lay his life in the service of others --- all of
this is what Jesus invited his first disciples to COME AND SEE.
So we ask
ourselves, does our spirituality have to invade the way we spend our
hear-earned money? Isn’t it enough to
pray and keep the rules with a life of morality? We need to hear this part of our relationship
with Jesus. How we use the money in our
wallet or in our purse is an essential part of our spirituality. In fact, there is no area of your life that
is excluded from our spirituality.
Our
stewardship of treasure is our opportunity to share what we have been given
with others. May we always be mindful of
the words of Jesus: “As often as you
have done this to the least of my brothers and sisters, you have done to me.”
Personally,
I intend as I have done in other years to increase my financial offering to the
parish in handing in my stewardship commitment pledge card. While you do not see me dropping my envelope
in the collection basket, I assure you I give electronically each and every
month in the support of our parish ministries.
I don’t say this to impress you. I am just aware I need to walk my talk and
seek to live my life in gratitude for God’s many, many blessings.
Further on a
personal note, I have no intention to retire as the pastor of St.
Joseph’s. There is nothing I would
rather do than serve as your pastor.
What I have
said before is a strong conviction of mine.
You will never regret being generous.
You have received in the mail a pledge card in which we ask that you
place it in the second collection next weekend on Stewardship Commitment
Sunday.
I suggest
that today’s Scripture readings alert us to the ways we can recognize the call
of God in our lives. The first Scripture
reading describes the call of God in the life of Samuel. “Samuel was sleeping in the temple of the
Lord where the ark of God was. The Lord
called to Samuel, who answered, “Here I am.”
Samuel ran to Eli and said: “Here I am. You called me.” “I did not call you,” Eli said. “Go back to sleep.” This happened three times. Then Eli
understood the Lord was calling the young Samuel. He then told Samuel to go to sleep and the
next time he was to reply: “Speak, Lord,
your servant is listening.”
We too need
people to recognize the call of God in our lives. Who for you is the prophet Eli who helps you
to recognize the call of God in your life?
I would love for us to have a dialogue on identifying the soul friends
in our lives who have raised our awareness of the presence in our lives.
I firmly
believe in the connection in how we respond to the call of God in our life, in
the way we are invited to COME AND SEE what discipleship of the Lord Jesus is
all about and the spirituality of stewardship.
We are called to be good stewards of the giftedness we have been
given. What we have is only on loan to
us. Our life in Christ calls us to let
go of our comfort zones and to enter into the mission and ministry of Jesus –
giving our time, talent, and treasure for the building of the Body of Christ.
Have a
blessed day.
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