Episodes
Sunday Mar 22, 2020
3rd Sunday of Ordinary Time Year A
Sunday Mar 22, 2020
Sunday Mar 22, 2020
My notes for the homily as given:
Last year around this time, I was coming back from the March for Life in D.C. – we had to leave early due to do weather….this allowed me to be home earlier than expected and receive a phone call asking if I was able to come to a gathering to talk about doing a program called Exodus 90 some of the guys at St. Mary’s were thinking about doing. I went, we discussed the program and how it does ask to have a priest chaplain in the program with you. I said, why not – it would be good for me….then I said when are you planning on starting – they said – tomorrow. Alright, let’s do this was my response….
In the Gospel today, we see similar reactions to Jesus’ invitations. He’s walking along the sea of Galilee – a body of water that is 13 miles long by 7 miles wide at the widest portions of the sea. Jesus spots two fisherman and invites them to follow Him.
This is important for at least two reasons:
- Jewish Rabbi’s didn’t usually call their own disciples. Rather, a man aspiring to be a rabbi would request to study under one, then that rabbi would have the option to accept him as a student or not – but the rabbi’s did not go out and seek their own disciples.
- The men Jesus called could be presumed to have a successful career – Jesus gets into one of the boats belonging to Simon – suggesting that he has multiple boats – James and John left their father and his hired workers – again suggesting moderate success – they left that behind.
So the question we could be asking ourselves – what was it about Jesus that at just seeing him, people were willing to leave all they knew to follow him. They didn’t give much consideration in that. I have often reflected have often reflected on this question in my own prayer. Especially as I started to intentionally follow Jesus – started to “build up trust in Him” so to speak. Or in reading lives the saints, they often did the same as the Apostles – left wealth, fame, popularity because they knew Jesus was asking that of them – and they lived joyful, contented lives in following Him.
I think often times, we overthink things or we are hesitant to say Yes to something – we have talk over with someone, have to make sure it fits into my schedule, I am really busy…this is true for many things, and I understand it – I have 8 siblings, I have been a priest long enough to realize the business of all our lives.
But do we take this same attitude and hesitancy with our spiritual life? When Jesus comes to us – through a friend, through a book that we are reading, through a longing in our heart – do we express hesitance to follow Him?
This hesitance is exactly what Satan wants – he wants us to second guess if we can make this reality work, we wants us to think over if we can spend an extra 10 minutes a day in prayer with our Lord, he wants us to reconsider this opportunity our Lord is giving us because that means he has time to spin all the negatives and all the considerations into measures on our time – we are so busy, there is no way I can possibly do that – whatever it is – and so we tell ourselves after this event, or after kids get more independent, or after something else – then I will answer this call from our Lord.
We can’t do that – something else will always come up. This time in prayer, this opportunity to follow Jesus must take priority – we must make the time for that reality. Much like I did when Exodus 90 came up – I made the decision to do, and started it less than 7 hours after I decided – it was a great opportunity – it was a journey with friends and with our Lord I was glad to have done – and if I had thought more about it, I could have listed numerous reasons why I shouldn’t have done it or why I wouldn’t want to do it.
So, how do we make time for prayer? I want to offer one way: Lectio Divina – a method of praying with the Scriptures that takes 15 minutes – allows us to encounter our Lord speaking to us through his Word written for us.
Steps: Prepare, Lectio, Meditatio, Oratio, Contemplatio, and Operatio.
May we truly encounter our Lord in prayer, accept his invitation to follow Him, as the Apostles did, and may that be the truly best experience of our lives and allow us to be with Him forever in Heaven, where we shall see Him as He is.
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