<\/p>\n\n\n
Third Sunday in\nOrdinary Time<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Is 8:23 \u2013 9:3; 1 Cor\n1:10-13, 17; Mt 4: 12-23<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Deacon Larry\nBrockman<\/p>\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n
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Do you hear Jesus calling you? And are you willing to drop everything and\njust follow after Him like the two sets of Apostles in the Gospel? And just what does it mean to hear the call\nand follow after Him? <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the reading from\nPaul to the Corinthians, Paul is preaching against divisions among the people\nof God. These are people who have heard\nthe call and have converted to Christianity in the budding Church of the first\ncentury. However, these people are\nchoosing between one person\u2019s message and another\u2019s- in fact, three different\npeople are mentioned, presumably with three different emphases. But this doesn\u2019t mean their messages are mutually\nexclusive. Nevertheless, this has\ncaused discord among the people- divisions; because people just naturally want\nto keep it simple. They want to believe\nthat they have got it right and others have got it wrong. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Certainly, our times are like that. We are a generation with serious divisions\namongst us. And there are so many\ndifferent divisions amongst Christians. There\nare literally hundreds of denominations and many non-denominational Christian\nChurches; and each of them will tell you that they are the ones who have the\nmessage right. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Even within the Catholic Church there are divisions- for\nexample, there are those who agree with this pope and those who disagree with\nhim. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
But one thing is very clear from both Jesus and Paul\u2019s\nmessage today: It is really all about\nfollowing Jesus Christ. Now, it matters\nwhat Jesus said; but it matters more what He did. Because when you follow someone, then you are\nreally following after what they do. No\nmatter how eloquent someone is in their message; if they don\u2019t practice what\nthey preach; well, you\u2019ve got to be wary of their message. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
You know, as I look back over the history of the Church, I am struck by people who have had a\ntremendous impact on the Church: Consider\nSt. Francis of Assisi; Saint Thomas Aquinas, St. Augustine, St. Ignatius of\nLoyola; and modern Sts. Padre Pio, Mother Teresa, and John Paul II for example. All of these people practiced what they\npreached. And all of them left a twofold\nlegacy. First, they all had something to\nsay; but secondly, the primary way they validated what they said was the way\nthey lived their lives. And the way all\nof them lived their lives was by mirroring the love of God in what they did. Other\npeople could see that they were special people- real saints; and so many of\nthem developed followers. So, today we\nhave Franciscans, Jesuits, Sisters of Mercy, and other groups that try to\nemulate the special charisms f these people had. But these are not divisions; rather they are\npeople who are mirroring the love of God in certain specific ways. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The fact is, each one of us is unique, and so we are each\ncalled in a different way to follow Jesus Christ. We can choose to drop everything and follow\nafter the special charisms of one of these special people. Those who choose this path become priests or\nnuns or join a religious order. Yes\nthese people have heard the call and responded to it. They are particularly blessed for committing\ntheir lives in this way. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
But there is another\nway. We can look at the way these\nspecial saints embraced the Gospel as a way of life, and do something similar\nin our lives- the ones that God has given us. \nWe are doctors, teachers, housewives, factory workers, and yes, even\nfisherman, and whatever else. And we are\nall called to live our lives in accordance with the way of life Jesus showed\nthose first disciples who followed him- by doing the will of God and loving\nothers as self. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
We do it in the kindnesses we show other people; how we take\ncare of our sick and elderly; How we\nshow our children what is right and wrong; how we reject the secular values\nthat are contrary to Jesus\u2019 teaching; How\nwe respect the dignity of all human life. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The world badly needs Christians who publicly do as Jesus\ndid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And that is what it means to hear Jesus and follow after\nHim.. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Third Sunday in Ordinary Time Is 8:23 \u2013 9:3; 1 Cor 1:10-13, 17; Mt 4: 12-23 Deacon Larry Brockman Do you hear Jesus calling you? And are you willing to drop everything and just follow after Him like the two sets of Apostles in the Gospel? And just what does it mean to hear the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1174"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1174"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1174\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1175,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1174\/revisions\/1175"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1174"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1174"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1174"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}