3^rd Sunday in Ordinary Time (B); 1-21-18

Jon 3:1-5,10; Ps 25; 1 Cor 7:29-31; Mk 1:14-21

Deacon Jim McFadden

Fifteen years ago, I was preparing an inmate at Folsom Minimum Security Facility for his confirmation on Christmas Day, which was presided by Auxiliary Bishop Garcia. He was so excited but wanted to stay focused on his pending Confirmation. “Deacon, what should I meditate on?” he blurted. I encouraged him to trust the movement of his heart and perhaps reflect on how the Lord is calling him to a deeper level of adult faith and commitment. I encouraged him to reflect on when he first heard that call, how he discerned what the Lord wanted, and how he has been changed in the process. We talked about each one.   So, here we are gathered at St. John the Baptist and I’d like to ask the same of you.

Discipleship is not something we take upon ourselves. It is an invitation from God. In the first reading the Ninevites heard the call from the preaching of Jonah. They believed God and responded by proclaiming “a fast and all of them, great and small, put on sackcloth” (Jon 3:5). In light of this reading, we can put ourselves into the account and ask ourselves, “How is God calling me?”

The next stage is discovering what the Lord is saying to us. Every Sunday the first half of the Mass focuses on the word of God revealed in the Scriptures, so we hear God speaking to us directly. The Church has three distinct yearly cycles, so we do not hear the same readings every year. Even so, the readings may become so familiar to us that we might not pay close attention to them. Hopefully the homily will not only remind us of the significance of the readings but give us a new insight in how we can infuse them into our lives.

The call to discipleship is a profound moment of religious experience because the Holy Spirit is bursting into our lives, and today’s gospel from Mark shows how it happens. Jesus approaches two sets of brothers who are fishermen. Jesus is encountering them in their ordinary lives. He simply says, “Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men” (1:17). And, they do it because “they left their nets and followed him” (1:18). That’s it: simple, to the point.

Again put yourself into the account: Jesus is asking us to do the same.   Are we willing to become “fishers of men”? Are we willing to make the courageous moral choices to witness what it means to be a follower of Jesus?

Our response might be that we will, while at the same time continue to function according to our secular cultural values. But

are we trying to have it both ways?  Pope Francis put the issue quite bluntly when he said, “Jesus himself told us: “You cannot serve two masters: either you serve God or you serve mammon (cf. Mt 6:24).   In mammon itself there is this worldly spirit: money, vanity, pride, that path…we cannot take it….The Gospel is the Gospel! God is One! And Jesus made himself a servant for our sake, and the spirit of the world has nothing to do with this” (Address to the Poor; 10-14-15).

Which side of the divide are we on? We know where Jesus stands. But, to the world of mammon Pope Francis states, “it doesn’t matter that children are dying of hunger; it doesn’t matter if many families have nothing to eat; …it doesn’t matter that many people are force to flee slavery and hunger and flee in search of freedom.” The False Kingdom of the world causes these things and Pope Francis emphasizes that “it is unthinkable that a Christian would want to go down this path of worldliness.

These are challenging words to hear. They make me squirm.   But, it gets down to whether we are willing to say “yes” to Jesus Christ, who is Immanuel. Are we willing to let go of mammon, those external things which give us a temporary sense of identity? Are we willing to leave everything to follow Jesus?

Brothers and sisters, by virtue of our baptism, we are called to participate in Christ’s mission to bring about the Kingdom of God. That means we give witness not only in our family and parish, but in the political, economic, and social realms as well. Let us go into the quiet and abide in Jesus’s presence. Let us pray and ponder how we will serve the Lord. Let us ask the Holy Spirit to show each of us how we can be that creative energy of God’s love here and now to others,

God needs us to make our country –so torn by tribal division, rancor, and the toxicity of racism– a better place to be or, to put it biblically, to restore creation—to raise the consciousness of our brothers and sisters to realize that everyone has intrinsic value because we are all made in the image of God and we all are unique and precious children of God.

As we fully, actively, and consciously participate in this call to discipleship, we will be changed into a new person. As we proclaim through our life example that the Risen Christ is Lord, we will be conformed into his peace and joy. What a challenge and what a glorious honor this is! Praise God!!