B - Third Sunday in Ordinary Time

As we go about our ordinary and everyday tasks and activities, as we commute to work or school, shop for groceries, or go on vacation, visit the doctor and so on, there is one thing we can be assured of, that we will not meet ourselves. We will not encounter ourselves in the other.  Certainly, there are doppelgängers, those who may look very much like us, and there are identical twins, but there is no such thing as a true double, another you.   We are not mass produced, churned out by some machine, to be similar, interchangeable, disposable.   Rather we are each fearfully and wonderfully made as Psalm 139 tells us.  Each of us is hand crafted as by an artisan who knew exactly what he wanted, and so lovingly made us in the wombs of our mothers.  

This uniqueness extends to our natural and spiritual gifts, and so by way of our very being we declare, each in our own way, the glory of God.  You and those sitting around you are profoundly beautiful; whether man, woman, short, tall, rich, poor, sick, or healthy, each is unique, each is beautiful, each deeply loved by their maker.  

Unlike the beautiful hand-crafted objects created by man, we, however, are not to be hang up on the wall as if in an art gallery, and we are not to be placed on a piano, as if a treasured family heirloom.  Rather we are to take what is special and unique about us and we are to set it running, set it going, set it in motion.   God invites us, by means of our gifts, to fully participate in life, and in the plan of salvation, as much needed agents for that which is true, good, and the beautiful.  And it is in our vocation that our special and unique gifts and talents find their ultimate and aggregate expression.  As one we are the body of Christ, the church made up of many parts.  As individuals no one else can do what we are each called to do, at home, at work, at school and in the kingdom.  Are you being called to the married and family life, the religious life, to the clerical life, to the life of service to those less fortunate? Are you called to provide material succor or to assail heaven with prayers and petitions on behalf of others?    Are you called to be a healer, or a teacher, or a builder, a fireman, or a fisherman?  For those struggling to find that vocational call Saint Ignatius of Loyola lays out a practical path to hear the voice of God.  For those who resist the vocational call we have the story of Jonah who fled God’s call to go and preach repentance to one of Israel’s fiercest enemies – the Assyrians.

Once we have a sense of our vocation, the next step is to act, to move, to go forward since the Spirit guides a soul that is moving and cannot for the one that is stubbornly reticent to do so.  In our gospel reading Simon, Andrew, James, and John each quickly responded to Jesus’s invite.  When asked to join him they did so immediately.  They like us did not know exactly the full nature of their calling, of their vocation, but trusting God they responded.  

The economy of salvation finds a vital and unique place for each of us both in the world and for the world.  Truly what we do well is done for the purposes and glory of God, and what we leave undone remains undone, since our Lord has given the unique task of your life, and my life, to no one else.  Saint Paul in his letter to the Corinthians warns us that time is short and we are to make the best use of it while we are able.  To spend it only on the affairs of the world is vanity, meaning it is passing and has no eternal value.  So, Paul encourages us to invest our time on things eternal; to preach God’s word by way of speech and example, to point out sin for the good of the other, and to share the gospel news of forgiveness, healing, and eternal life.  This we do in every vocation.

Jesus called his first disciples to a new life of possibilities, entrusting them with his Word and the work of salvation.  His call to us today is no different – let us not tarry in responding, or fear where the road may go.  Recall God’s words to the prophet Jeremiah, “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future”.      

Deacon Peter Bujwid
Saint Agnes, Arlington, MA.
January 21st, 2024

Jonah 3:1-5, 10, Psalm 25:4-9, 1 Corinthians 7:29-31, Mark 1:14-20

Holy Hour for Life 2024

Holy Hours for Life, Forgiveness, and Healing.

Some of you may have heard of the name of Richard Dawkins. He is an 82-year-old British biologist and author best known for his atheism and his criticism of creationism and intelligent design. He is probably best known for his 2006 book, 'The God Delusion'. Though perhaps now falling a little out of favor with some due to his extreme antagonistic positions and sometimes offensive manner, he has been and remains a firm favorite of the young atheists being named one of the four horsemen of the atheist apocalypse, along with Christopher Hitchens, Sam Harris, and Daniel Dennett. A simple YouTube search will provide plenty of material to listen to if you are so inclined.

I am not here today to directly respond to any one or other points or arguments that Richard Dawkins or the other three horsemen promote. I am here though as a simple deacon living the simple life who knows that thoughts, ideas, and words are powerful and can move individuals, families, communities, and entire countries in one direction or another. This is after all the profound reality of the freedom that we have in that we can purposely change our world, for better, and of course for worse. From the personal micro scale to the global scale, we are profoundly powerful creatures – able to give up candy for Lent in one moment and capable in a blink of an eye to wipe out a vast expanse of our world if we were so inclined.

For sure some would absolutely want to and do attempt to depose God. And for sure many very smart people argue against the very existence of God, calling him the Sky Daddy and arguing that a world without the God delusion would be better for all.

And yet you and I know, in the very deepest part of the fabric that we are made from, that God is, and that God loves. To depose God is to fly in the face of all that is true, good, and beautiful. It is to rudely interrupt the song of the universe and of all creation that sings of the transcendent truth that God is Love and that we, his creation, are the object of his love.

To depose God also results in something else. Into the vacuum comes crashing the power of the individual. With God removed we have only ourselves to enthrone – to establish as the all-powerful and ultimate judge of what is good and what is bad. And that has been, and continues to be, the scary reality of a society voiding itself of the truth of the God who creates, loves, heals, and saves. Left to our own devices we are left to judge as we will: old people become an unwanted burden, sick people become a financial burden, women can become men, and men can become women, and the unwanted baby becomes a cluster of cells with no more value than a bunion, or as we hear now, an unwanted virus. In removing God, we have lost our humanity, we lose our individual identity, and we lose the chance at a prosperous and healthy future for our families and for our country. Barring God leaves only Nietzsche’s Will to Power, a barren and cold place where the devil walks freely twisting minds and hearts and signing up recruits whether they know it or not.

The Supreme Court decision of Dobbs vs. Jackson has certainly had an impact on the abortion front but without the change of hearts and minds there is only so far, this can go. Now it must be personal discussions to be had around the family table or in small offices and other places, where we can speak to each other face to face. We are to be ready in sharing why we think life is precious from conception to a full and complete natural death.

In so many places God has been dethroned. But my friends not here and not now. Our Lord Jesus Christ the King of the Universe, the one who humbled himself to come and be with us – to heal us, teach us, love us, is with us here and now. He is the one who sought out the lost and the hurting and continues to do so. He is the one who healed by word and touch. The one who sweated blood, was crowned with thorns, whose hands and feet were pierced through, He is with us now. He is here and He loves you as He loves all his brothers and sisters for, so we are, related as closely as blood kin. Look upon him. Our infinite God humbled so we would not be alone especially in our moments of difficulty, tragedy, fear, or isolation. Our infinite God presenting an infinite ocean of mercy.

We are all in need of a savior since it is impossible for us to cure ourselves. Jesus is the divine physician who comes to visit with those who need him – to heal them, reconcile them to the Father, so once again we may have the fullness of life and the joy that comes with it. We read in Sr. Faustina’s diary Jesus’s words, “The greater the sinner, the greater the right he (the sinner) has to my mercy.” (Divine Mercy in My Soul, 723). Those words are worth taking to prayer and pondering.

Though perhaps already forgiven if there is a healing needed to reenter the fullness of life, then now is the time to speak to our Lord who is and who will always be enthroned, the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, and our loving brother. Irrespective of the reasons why we are here tonight, the Lord has drawn you to himself today here and now, so that you and he may have time – quietly, intimately.

We present to Him all that burdens us and then we leave it behind as we dive into the ocean of His mercy.

May Jesus Christ bless us and keep us.
Amen

Deacon Peter, Arlington, Massachusetts
January 19, 2024