Humility is not thinking less of yourself; humility is thinking of yourself less.

In the first Scripture reading from the Book of Sirach, we read:  ‘My child, conduct your affairs with humility, and you will be loved more than a giver of gifts.  Humble yourself the more, the greater you are, and you will find favor with God.

This Old Testament teaching on humility is a lead-in to today’s Gospel.  From the evangelist Luke,  Jesus’ table fellowship is the context for teaching.  Much of Jesus’ teaching takes place in or around meals.  Jesus also will share table fellowship with anyone from Pharisee to leper.

Jesus is dining at the home of a leading Pharisee.  Jesus has obviously been invited for more than pleasant conversation.  The people at the meal are observing him carefully.  He is known for not following protocol during his table fellowship.  As the story proceeds, the dynamic shifts from the people observing Jesus to Jesus observing them. He is a wisdom teacher offering lessons in humility.

As Jesus observes the how the guests migrate immediately to places of honor, Jesus turns the notions of honor upside down.  Jesus says it is humility that brings honor in the eyes of God.

As we well know in the political arena, in the sports world, and all too often in corporate life, climbing the ladder of success leads us to a self-centeredness that places ourselves at the center of the universe.

The disciples of Jesus are to have a healthy sense of the value and the virtue of humility.  C. S. Lewis says that “humility is not thinking less of yourself, it is thinking of yourself less.”  Humility leads to compassion and leads to be involved in the lives of others.  Humility is not poor self-esteem; it is not a refusal to take any credit; a humble person is not disturbed by praise.  Rather, if we desire to be humble, we need to look into the eyes of people in need and identify with their pain and hurts and to respond with humble love to lift up people in need.

Humility is not just modesty about my talents.  It is about looking into the eyes of another and identifying with their hurts.  Moreover, not just their hurts, we are look in the eyes of another and see God’s beauty deep within their spirit.

And as Jesus indicates in the gospel, without humility we cannot have a relationship with God.  To enter the wedding banquet – and heaven will be a glorious banquet with Jesus as the Bridegroom and the Church as the Bride – to enter the wedding banquet, says Jesus, “take the lowest seat.”

Knowing God makes us humble; knowing ourselves keeps us humble.  All is a gift of God and we are the gracious recipients of God’s merciful love.  The talents we have are God’s gifts to us.  Knowing ourselves and our own limitations keeps us humble.

Pope Francis gives three steps to humility:  First, self-forgiveness.  This is a tricky concept.  It might sound like giving oneself a free pass.  But Pope Francis explains it this way.  We need to learn to pray over our past history, to accept ourselves, to learn how to live with our limitations, and even to forgive ourselves,  Pope   Francis clarifies we need to forgive ourselves in  order to have this same attitude toward others.  Self-forgiveness leads us to forgive others.   That’s the second step in humility.

There’s a third step to humility – courtesy.  Courtesy is a school of sensitivity and disinterestedness, it means to put aside one’s own interests aside and to focus on the other person.  Courtesy means to learn how to listen, to speak and at times to keep quiet.

Can we identify with the host in today’s Gospel parable – the Pharisee who was pre-occupied with the seats of honor at his dinner table.  Jesus was challenging his way of acting and inviting us to take the lowest seat.  Who are the people in your life who have shown you your weaknesses and made you take the lowest seat where you belonged?  At the time, you were angry with them, but today, as you meditate on the passage, you thank God that he sent them to you to help you grow spiritually.  Indeed, this is living out the virtue of humility when we can honor those folks who have challenged when we get carried with our own self-importance. Thank God also for the one who invited to see our greatness and to experience ourselves honored by all those who sit at table with us, our family, and our Church family.  Yes we want to value and treasure our giftedness, but we also want in humility to accept our limitations and to root our giftedness in ways we give thanks to God.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus has a strange way of looking on whom to invite and who are the most important.  The point is everyone is invited to the banquet of Jesus.

As we gather for this Eucharistic meal today, we reflect on how we have gathered for this meal.  Do we see each other as brothers and sisters?   Do we see ourselves as servants of each other?  Do we see ourselves as the servants of all who are poor?

There must be a welcome in our Eucharistic community for the needy signified by the gospel phrase ‘the poor, crippled, lame, and blind.’  What efforts do we make to ensure that no individual or group is excluded from the Lord’s meal?

As C. S.  Lewis has rightly said,  humility is not thinking less of yourself; it is thinking of yourself less.  It is focusing our lives in the service of one other.  When we gather at the table of the Lord, we are to take the lower seat and to be sure that all are welcome at this table of the Lord,

Jesus has come to afflict the comfortable and to comfort the afflicted.

Jesus said to his disciples:  “I have come to set the earth on fire, and how I wish it were already blazing.”...  Do you think that I have come to establish peace on the earth?  No, I tell you, but rather division.”

This Gospel imperative runs in the face of a more compassionate pastoral approach to ministry.  To become a member of the Church of the Holy Spirit, you simply need to be breathing and fill out a census card.  It is very, very easy.  I try to short circuit the hoops that people sometimes need to go through in the Catholic Church.  My mother taught me always to be kind and trust that God’s love will be revealed.

However, today’s Gospel invites to reflect on both disturbing love and the warmth of love.  Jesus has come to set the earth on fire.  Fire is frightening; it can burn up a city.  But controlled fire can warm the human heart.  Jesus offers the warmth of love and companionship.  The warmth of Jesus brings comfort and hope to the world when we live in isolation from each other.  The warmth of God’s love can inflame and heal our coldness.

There is also the fire that disturbs; love challenges as well as comforts.  The flame of God can be frightening in that it demands a world of justice, peace, and reconciliation.  The fire of this love is the fire that also warms and comforts.  The truth is:  Jesus has come to afflict the comfortable and comfort the afflicted.

If your body is in the Church today, you get a gold star from me as being a very active member of Holy Spirit.  After all, there are many parishioners who are not here today.  Its still summer.  So, congratulations.

However, however, I am not the final word on discipleship of the Lord Jesus.   Jesus is!  Jesus, of course, is the Savior and Lord of our lives.  For Jesus, being here on Sunday is just the beginning of our discipleship.  There is much more expected of me and much more to be expected of you.   Jesus expected the same prophetic fire that burned in him to burn also in the hearts of his followers.

In answering the call to follow Jesus, we are in for rude awakening as to the cost of discipleship.  We need to look no further than the crucifix to witness the extent of the giving love of Jesus.  He gave us His life.  The cost of discipleship for us is the kind of giving love that Jesus has given us.

It can be hard to tell the truth about what it means to be Catholic, to be a follower of Jesus, to be a disciple.  After all, we want people to feel good about being spiritual.

Sometimes we deny what is demanded of us because it embarrasses us or challenges us to change our way of thinking?  If we are serious about wanting to experience conversion in our lives, conversion can disrupt what we are used to.

The truth is we are all sinners.  Imagine yourself in conversation with Jesus, what truths do you need to share with Jesus about your need for God’s forgiveness – what about our failure to share more fully with those who are in need; how much of our income do we tithe; do we have time for God in our prayer life or are too busy; what kind of judgments or gossip are hurtful to others; how selfish are we in using our God-given gift of sexuality?

In truth, we are all great sinners.   Divisions in sin break apart the fundamental structure of human relationship.  As long as there is sin in human hearts, there will be attempts to turn aside from the truth, to deny the truth and even to deny that there is truth.

Thanks be to God, the truth of our life is also that God forgives any and all of our sinfulness and invites to rejoice and trust in God’s healing love for us.

 

What does discipleship of the Lord Jesus look like?  The center of our life is no longer our self; rather, Jesus is at the center of our life.  We acknowledge our sinfulness and, with God’s grace, we wish to do something about it.  Finally, we recognize and embrace that we are missioned to witness to the love of Jesus in all we say and do.

The truth is to belong to the faith community of Holy Spirit demands much more that filling out a registration card.  It is the commitment to make Jesus the center of our life and to be sent forth to proclaim the love of Jesus in all we say and do.

May we pray:  Holy Spirit, flame of God, hover over each of us as you did for the followers of Jesus at the first Pentecost.  Amen.

Faith is the willingness to risk, to jump when we are not in control and to trust that we are in the hands of God.

One night a house caught fire and a young little boy was forced to flee to the roof. The father stood on the ground below with outstretched arms, calling to his son, "Jump! I'll catch you." He knew the boy had to jump to save his life. All the boy could see, however, was flame, smoke, and blackness. As can be imagined, he was afraid to leave the roof. His father kept yelling: "Jump! I will catch you." But the boy protested, "Daddy, I can't see you." The father replied, "But I can see you and that's all that matters." Hearing this, the boy jumped. He jumped, because he trusted his father.

Can we place ourselves in the mind and heart of this young boy as his dad is telling him to jump?  What about when we face life situations of sickness, death, brokenness in relationships, and we are gripped by fear, are we able to trust in God as a loving Father?  Faith is the willingness to risk, to jump when we are not in control and to trust that we are in the hands of God and thus we are not to be afraid.

For myself, my desire to control and figure things out blind me from trusting in God’s plan for my life.   Letting go of my plans and trusting in God’s plan for me is a challenge to my prayer life each and every day.

Our Catholic faith enables us to face life or meet death, not because we can see, but with the certainty that we are seen; not that we know all the answers, but that we are known. Faith is not merely us holding on to God - it is God holding on to us. And He will never let us go!

In the Second Reading of today, the author of the Letter to the Hebrews speaks about two faith-filled people, Abraham and Sarah. He recalls how our early faith ancestors placed their trust in God. Abraham and Sarah left their comfortable home and set out for an unknown land because God called them. When God promised them that their 'descendants would be as numerous as the stars of the sky and the sands of the sea,' they were old enough to be great-grandparents and Sarah too was sterile. Even though for so long they saw no fulfillment of the promise, they believed. They had the virtue of faith, a lasting confidence that God's word would be fulfilled someday.

And when God finally granted them a son, He asked Abraham to sacrifice him and still continue to believe, to trust, and to hope that the promise would still somehow be accomplished. Abraham, faithfully listening to the word of God, 'hoped against hope' that his son would be restored to him, even as he was willing to sacrifice him. It is shocking to think that somebody was willing to sacrifice his own son to God. Essentially, Abraham's readiness to sacrifice his son is an act of trust, of faith, in which he was proved right. We consider Abraham our father in faith, and he is a model for our own times – he took great risks; he had no agenda other than his faithful obedience to the God in whom he trusted completely. We might ask whether we are models of faith in light of this passage.

Hopefully we can follow the example of Abraham, leaving behind our fears and allow God to act through us to become a more recognizable presence in our world.  Abraham and Sarah were like the young boy on the roof and left everything they had known and journeyed in trust in following God’s plan for them.

In the Gospel Jesus says:  “Do not be afraid any longer, little flock, for your Father is pleased to give you the kingdom.  Sell your belongings and give alms.  Provide money bags for yourself that do not wear out…For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be.”

This passage is concluding the teaching of the birds of the air and the lilies of the field.  They neither sow nor reap and yet they are cared by our heavenly Father.  How much more so are we valued by our loving God.  God desires to share his kingdom with us.  All is a gift of God.  All is given to us so that we may share what we have with others.

It is worth reflecting on the truth that ultimately that eventually all of our possessions will be given away or taken from us. When we go home to the Lord, we can’t take our possessions with us. Jesus challenges us to give and share what we have.  It is in giving that we receive; it is in sharing that we get in touch with our better angels.

Jesus warns us that material possessions can capture our heart, not allowing us to be free to follow him.  Jesus challenges us to reveal what it is we truly value, following Him or being caught in a cycle of material wealth.

Our true wealth is to be found in our human and spiritual possessions rather than our material possessions.  Our human possessions are the people of our life – the people we love and the people who love us.  With our human possessions, we are challenged to welcome the stranger and the foreigner and the person in need.  Our deepest treasure is in knowing that our spiritual possessions and our human possessions are one and the same.  We show our love for God in the ways we love one another.  Jesus says:  “By this all shall know that you are my disciples, by the love you love for one another.”

All three readings today call for a faith-filled vigilance, a holy patience, a focused waiting.  Jesus is calling for an attitude of vigilance.  This is a challenge for us.  Whatever our differences as Republicans or Democrats, as men or women, we all dread delay.  We hate to wait.  This week gong to NYC, there were flight delays going and coming to Rochester.  These delays caused considerable agita for those traveling, including myself.  We hate to wait.

Mothers know a little bit about waiting -- waiting nine months for the birth of their child.

In the spiritual life, we need to develop a holy patience.  Growth in the spiritual usually takes place in bite-size pieces.  The way we discern God’s plan for our lives requires a holy patience.  St. Paul in describing the mystery of love begins with the words”  “Love is patient.”  Thanks be to God that God is patient with us.  God is a God of second chances.  We too are to be patient in the ways we love on another.

In summarizing the power of today’s Scripture readings, life is a gift of God, and that gift is to be given away.  Life is for the giving and the sharing. When we recognize God’s desire to give His life for us, we then are motivated to give our lives to others.

Lord, teach us to pray.

In the gospel, Jesus was praying by himself.  The disciples observing Jesus at prayer then asked Jesus to teach them to pray.  Jesus responds by giving us a brief catechism on prayer.

Jesus lives in a rhythm of prayer and action, swimming in both the waters of God and the waters of the world.  He knows when he must turn toward God and when he must turn toward the incessant demands of the world.  In the rhythm of our spiritual life, we seek this balance.  We too seek to swim in the waters of God and in the waters of the world; we seek greater awareness when to turn toward God in prayer and when to turn in service to the many needs that surround us in the world.        

Without any doubt, all of us seek to connect with God in our lives.  This is the purpose of our prayer.  Indeed any time we gather liturgically, we pray the Lord’s Prayer.  In prayer, we recognize the awesome holiness of God who wants to share his life with us.  It’s not about us, it’s about God.  Jesus came to proclaim the reign of God, and he calls his disciples to realize it.  Jesus invites us to the Eucharistic table where he is the bread of life.  As we ask God to nourish us, we must be ready to nourish our hungry brothers and sisters.  We come to the Eucharistic table confessing that we have sinned and asking God and our brothers and sisters to forgive us.

I suggest our greatest temptation to our faith life is indifference.  It’s not that people are atheists or agnostics.  It’s not that people have actively rejected God and defied God by sinning.  They simply are indifferent.  They are too busy about other things.

The Mass we celebrate is in itself a prayer.  Not to pray is to show God our indifference.  To turn

Sunday Mass into something that is only optional is to tell God that for us He is only optional.  For sure, we would not say that God is optional in the way we profess our faith in words, but we need to challenge ourselves and ask if the way we live our life matches the words we say.

As you reflect on your prayer life, too often are we too indifferent to deepening our relationship with God?   Do our deeds reflect that prayer works only when we can fit it into our busy schedule, or do we say that prayer is the first requirement of a disciple of Jesus?  The rest of the day then is structured around our times of prayer.

The disciples have been taught the words of prayer in the Lord’s Prayer but more is needed.  We need to have the proper inner disposition.  We must open our hearts to our giving and forgiving God.  We need to trust that we are in the hands of God, and that all will be well for those who trust in the immensity of God’s love for us.

  

In the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus teaches us how to pray.  Most important, he teaches to whom we pray – a loving and caring Father into whom we entrust our concerns and our lives.  Father, into your hands, I commend my spirit. 

We begin the Lord’s Prayer by addressing God as Father.  All who offer this prayer are children of one Father, thus brothers and sisters to one another.  We the faith community of the Church of the Holy Spirit are brothers and sisters to one another.  There are to be no strangers among us -- only friends who perhaps have not yet met.

Before we petition God with our human needs, we say “hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done.”  We first unite ourselves with the being and the activity of God.  God invites us into an intimate relationship in which we see ourselves, and then we can feel free to boldly ask for what we need.

Jesus teaches to pray.   He also teaches us for what we pray:  not just for immediate needs, but, more important, for ultimate needs:  the furthering of God’s kingdom, the gift of forgiveness, and protection from anything that would take us from God.

Jesus teaches us not only the words to pray, but what deeds must match authentic prayer.  So, we are given three important truths about prayer.  The first comes from the parable of the persistent friend.  A pesky neighbor disturbs a sleeping friend and disrupts the household. In this parable, Jesus teaches us the need for persistence in our prayer life.

    

Then Jesus invites to be bold in asking for what we need – no need to be timid about our prayers of petition.  “Ask and you will receive; seek and you will find.”  The Lord invites us to present our needs before Him confident that our prayers will be heard.

Finally Jesus says:  “What father among you would hand his son a snake when he asks for a fish?...How much more will the Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?”

Prayer then, for the disciple, is not imposing our will on God, but opening ourselves to God’s will for us.  For this to happen, within us and within the community, the Holy Spirit is indeed the gift that is needed.

In this Gospel, Jesus not only teaches us the words to say in the Lord’s prayer, but Jesus gives us also a window into the heart of God who can give be trusted to give us His beloved children always not what we want but always what we need.

There is a Martha and Mary within each one of us.

Today’s readings tell us two very different meal stories.

Father Abraham stars in the first Scripture reading as the host who spares absolutely nothing in welcoming strangers to his home.

Abraham looking up saw three men standing nearby.  When he saw them, he ran from the entrance to greet them, to welcome them, to provide extravagant hospitality and a warm meal for them.

Abraham’s story reminds us that we never know in what guise God will show up.  Luckily he did not live in a gated community.  Abraham’s servants were tasked with hospitality rather than security.

The first reading is about strangers being entertained and the people didn’t know that the Lord was visiting them.  When we open our heart and home to the stranger and the neighbor we are receiving God into our lives.

The Indian poet Tagore writes – “and when you left I saw God’s footprints on the floor.

As with Abraham in the first reading, God may be coming to us as the one in need.  If our hearts are not generous and welcoming, how often have we turned God away and in turn failed to experience the generosity He wants to bestow on us.

Abraham shows us that the welcome we offer to the stranger is the welcome we offer to God.  Christ is received in every guest.

Abraham and Sarah’s hospitality to the three mysterious visitors leads to the revelation that they will have a son.

In the Gospel account, Jesus, going along a road, came to a village and was welcomed into a house.  There one sister, having to get the meal, complained that the other sister just sat and listened to Jesus; and Jesus says that this second sister, named Mary, had chosen the better part, and it is not to be taken from her.

The traditional interpretation of this passage points to the distinction between an active, service spirituality and the more prayerful, listening spirituality.  In our discipleship of the Lord Jesus, there is a place for service, and there is a place for prayerfulness.  We spend a lifetime seeking the balance between the two ways of discipleship.

I invite your prayer for that balance in the spiritual life.

Lord, we pray for parents today.  Let them not fall into the trap of worrying and fretting about doing many things for their children, then complaining no one is helping them.  Remind them that the only essential thing is to sit down at the feet of their children and listen to them.

Another prayer:

Lord, so often we keep busy, complaining about all we have to do, and that others are leaving us to do all the work by ourselves.  We even ask you to tell them to help us.  We thank you for that day when you sent someone to speak to us

-          A homily in Church.

-          One of our children told us we were insincere.

-          A sin we committed.

We were hurt and angry but now we realize that it was Jesus speaking to us as he spoke to Martha, showing us that we were really running away from the one thing we needed more than any other, to spend more time in prayer, to sit at your feet and listen as you show us the truth about ourselves.

Lord, there is a Martha and Mary within each of us.

                -a part of ourselves which is busy and active,

                -another part which sits at your feet and listens trustingly to your word.

We need our active side to accomplish your will, but the listening is the best part, and we must not allow it to be taken from us.

Martha’s major error was to let the menu overshadow the encounter with Jesus.     Martha let agitation about the kitchen cancel out the nourishment that comes from being in Jesus’ presence.  We need the nourishment that comes from the kitchen table; we also need the spiritual nourishment that comes from the Lord Himself.  Isn’t it true, that hospitality’s most important dimension is listening attentively to your guests.

As we reflect on our spiritual side, remember the truth that we can do many holy things without ever becoming holy.  There may be much action in our lives, very worthwhile action, but we need first to listen to the Lord in prayer before we can be people of action.  Is our active life leading us to deepen our encounter, our relationship with the Lord Jesus?

Jesus is not telling Martha that her work is not important, nor is he commending Mary for doing nothing.  He is simply reminding his followers that if we want to serve Him, we must first listen to Him.  We need to be people of prayer before we are people of action.

Martha and Mary serve together as patronesses and partners in a living Church. Thanks be to God there is both a Martha and a Mary to the spiritual dynamic of St. Joseph’s Church.  Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity devote an hour to the adoration of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament before going to serve Jesus in the suffering people they find in the streets.   Going and doing and sitting and listening are complimentary aspects of authentic discipleship.  But please God, may we never lose sight of the ways we encounter the Lord in our prayer.

The equality envisioned by our founders of this great nation is a Gospel truth. We are all God's beloved, and we are to share with one another in ways that reflect that equality.

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are equated equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights,  that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”

In reflecting on these words taken from the second paragraph of our nation’s Declaration of Independence, we must say there are many ways in which we are not all equal.  Some people enjoy the blessings of material prosperity much more than others.  Some people are more academically gifted than others.  Some folks enjoy the blessings of health much more than others.

And so we ask the question how is  equality shared among us.  The Declaration of Independence says we are all created equal and that we are endowed by our Creator.  The fundamental  equality that we all share is that each one of us without exception are God’s beloved sons and daughters.  The Declaration of Independence has it right when it says we are created equal, and that we are endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these rights are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Indeed the equality envisioned by the founders of this great nation is a Gospel truth that is to be celebrated.  We are God’s beloved, and that we are to relate to one another in ways that reflect that equality.

As we celebrate the Fourth of July weekend and as we give thanks to God for the many blessings we enjoy as citizens of this country that we deeply love, it is good to pause and reflect on being American and being Catholic.

For example, what is the freedom we aspire to as Americans and what is the freedom we aspire as the disciples of Jesus.  As Americans, it is easy for us to lose track of the meaning of freedom that was given to us by our founding fathers and mothers.

Sometimes as Americans we think of freedom as the right to self-expression, to express my individuality in any way I wish and at any time I wish.  This is my right as an American, thank you very much.

This overly individualistic view of freedom needs to be balanced and corrected by a Gospel sense of freedom and discipleship.  As St Paul says, Christ has set us free – free to serve, free to love, free to celebrate that the Kingdom of God is at hand.  Freedom for a disciple isn’t just about individualism.  It is the freedom to be about building up the Kingdom of God in the here and now; it is the freedom to serve; it is the freedom to wash the feet of God’s poor.

From today’s Gospel, twenty centuries ago, Jesus summoned 72 committed people and sent them, two by two, to communicate God’s love, to bind up wounds, and to be peacemakers in a troubled world.  These ordinary people took with them no great plan, no set speech, no “how-to” manual.  They brought only their faith, their trust, and their experience of Jesus.  Jesus knew they would make mistakes; nevertheless, he involved them in his mission and gave them his authority.

Jesus may have sent them out without purse, bag, and sandals, but he did not send them out without advice.  Yes, they were to live simply.  The disciples of Jesus are to experience freedom in that simplicity.  They are to be missionaries for the reign of God.

Flash forward now twenty centuries to July 4, 2016.  We are sent to share in the mission and ministry of Jesus.  This is what it means to be a disciple of Jesus. We are the Body of Christ.  We need to leave the baggage behind that keeps from focusing on our mission of witnessing to the love of Jesus in our community.  We need to leave behind the baggage of old hurts, of grudges that we have been holding onto too long, of prejudices that keep us from recognizing in our neighbor one of God’s beloved.

The Gospel invites us to reflect on the truth that Jesus sends all of us out to be missionaries.  As American Christians, we have a dual citizenship.  We certainly are citizens of America; but as baptized disciples of Jesus Christ, we are also citizens of and belong to the Reign of God.

As we celebrate our nation’s anniversary of our independence, may we remember and celebrate that indeed we are a nation of immigrants; we celebrate the equality we share with one another; we are a nation of welcome and hospitality; we are a nation that fosters peace and provides opportunities for growth for one and all.

As disciples, Jesus challenges us in our life’s work, in our relationships, in our personal spirituality to try to instill elements of the Reign of God into American culture.

As we celebrate the great nation that we have been blessed with, let us also be aware of the great gift of faith we have been blessed with. 

In today’s gospel passage, Jesus appointed 72 others to go ahead of him with news of God’s love and peace.  Those 72, in Luke’s view, represented the diverse nations of the world.  Jesus’ mission and message were intended for all.  That work of evangelization continues throughout history.

In sending out the 72,    Luke wants to tell us the mission of Jesus is not only carried forward by the so called experts like priests and religious but it is the responsibility of every believer in Jesus.  Each one of us, as the community of the baptized, are missioned to communicate God’s love, bind up the wounds of our brothers and sisters, and are to be peace-makers in a troubled world.

What is the lens in which you view your discipleship of the Lord Jesus?

The great journey begins.  ‘Jesus resolutely determined to journey to Jerusalem.  Jesus has already set Jerusalem as the heart of the Gospel story.  In going to Jerusalem, Jesus was walking the road to his death and resurrection.  Jesus knew full well that in going to Jerusalem, he was opening himself up to the plan of His heavenly Father.

Those who journey with Jesus in every generation must make Jerusalem their goal.  For Jesus journey to Jerusalem is no simple travelogue but a vocation to discipleship and mission that will indeed take the rest of our lives.  For you and I to set our faces toward Jerusalem is the surrender we must make when we choose to follow God’s call in our lives – wherever that may lead us.  In other words, the Gospel invites us to reflect on the cost of discipleship.

But well before we examine our own whole or half-hearted response to Jesus’ invitation to discipleship, he sets us straight on how we are to judge others’ response to God’s call.  Jesus frankly says:  “It is none of our business.”  Jesus demands we not judge how others respond.  From the Gospel account, Jesus sent his messengers ahead of him.  On the way they entered a Samaritan village to prepare for his reception there, but they would not welcome him because the destination of his journey was Jerusalem.  When the disciples James and John saws this, they asked, “Lord, do you want us to call down fire from heaven to consume them?”  Jesus turned and rebuked them and they journeyed to another village.  Jesus is saying to James and John:  “It’s none of your business how others respond.”

Jesus’ decisive command to James and John that they express commitment to him through compassion for others.   St.Paul writes that we must abandon the violence of biting and devouring one another, choosing instead to serve one another through love.

Our focus is how do we respond to our call to discipleship of the Lord Jesus.  I suggested in the bulletin articles three possible ways for us to respond to God’s call:

-           No thanks.

-          Maybe later.

-          Be it done to me according to your Word.  That of course is Mary’s response to the angel Gabriel as she accepted the call of God in her life.

In the Gospel, Jesus responses to would-be disciples concretize the uncompromising primacy of discipleship.  A would-be disciple of Jesus said, “”Lord, let me go first and bury my father.”  The message here is that the call to discipleship is not to be treated as a retirement plan:  “Thanks Lord.  As soon as I get my inheritance and all my affairs settled I’m catch up with you.” 

The original twelve for all their imperfections and their idiocracies were willing to leave everything in following Jesus.  Their response to the Lord was immediate and complete.

What are willing to leave behind in order to respond to God’s call and what are unwilling to leave behind?

As we journey with Jesus to Jerusalem, what really comes first for me:  Kingdom of God or values of our culture?  People the Lord calls us to serve or my pet projects?  The friends who value our time or our portfolio investments?  What is our attitude toward our Muslim neighbors during this month of Ramadan?   Are they to be loved or hated? 

What are we to think of a sign on our Church property that reflects a desire to connect with and pray with our Muslim neighbors?  Recall again the words of the Gospel when James and John asked Jesus:  “Lord, do you want us to call down fire from heaven to consume them?”  Jesus rebuked them.

Jesus’ decisive command to James and John was that they are to express commitment to him through compassion for others.  We must abandon the violence of biting and devouring one another, choosing instead to serve one another through love.

We need to ask ourselves if we bargain with Jesus over the terms of discipleship sometimes saying:  “No thanks.”  Sometimes “Maybe later,” and at other times, “Be it done to me according to your word.”

What happens when you experience the pain of a miscarriage?  How is it for you who face unemployment?  How do you come to terms with brokenness in your family life?  When am I too tired, too pre-occupied, to “into myself,” in these real life situations, how do I bargain with the Lord?

What is holding you back right now from following the Lord more fully in your life?

The Scriptures invite us to consider or reconsider our vocation to discipleship of the Lord Jesus.  If we are on the brink of making a life decision, we are invited with a Gospel freedom to follow Jesus beyond reasonable expectations  -- the call to priesthood, the diaconate, the religious life, the lay ecclesial ministry?   You will never regret generosity in responding to God’s call in your life.

If we have traveled further down the road of discipleship, we are prodded to ask if we’ve settled for moderation over the freedom and the commitment of the Gospel.   Does our discipleship consist of one hour a week on Sunday morning or is the celebration of the Sunday Eucharist the beginning of a fuller response to God’s call?  How much of your God-given giftedness are you willing to share with others? For Pope Francis, our discipleship of the Lord Jesus is to seen through the lens of mercy.  We are all the recipients of the merciful of Jesus, and we are to witness to the merciful love of Jesus in the ways we serve one another.  What one word is the lens by which you view your call to discipleship of the Lord Jesus?