Category: vocation

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Building Up The Body Of Christ

Corpus Christi (A)

 

Though the Easter season officially ended two weeks ago at Pentecost, the Church has added a kind of epilogue to it by celebrating feasts on the two Sundays that follow Pentecost.  Last week, we celebrated Trinity Sunday, which gave us the opportunity to focus even more directly on the triune God.  This Sunday, we celebrate Corpus Christi, the feast of the Body and Blood of Christ, which shifts the focus to how the Lord builds up the Church.

Usually, when we reflect on the feast of Corpus Christi, we focus on the Sacrament of the Eucharist itself.  We call to mind how it is the Real Presence of the Lord among us.  We have Eucharistic processions and Adoration.  We do very well to do these things, and more. Continue reading “Building Up The Body Of Christ”

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Choosing The Better Part

16th Sunday of Ordinary Time (C): Luke 10:38-42

 

Mary has chosen the better part, and it will not be taken from her. – Luke 10:42

This Sunday’s Gospel is very brief. It tells its story in just a few lines.  Yet, this short story has made many people uncomfortable through the centuries, as it makes us uncomfortable now.  We naturally relate to Martha, who is busy with all the practical details of hospitality. We feel for her plight, and we are puzzled and irritated by Jesus’ response to her – a response that seems to favor her sister Mary, who – to our eyes – appears to be doing nothing of any practical worth. Continue reading “Choosing The Better Part”

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The Fullness Of Our Calling

Fifth Sunday of Ordinary Time (C)

The Lord will complete what He has done for me.  –  Psalm 138:7

Great things happen when God mixes with us.  – Carey Landry

 

Today, we are invited to consider the stories of three people – Isaiah, in our first reading (Isaiah 6:1-8); Paul, in our second reading (I Corinthians 15:1-11); and Simon Peter, in our Gospel reading (Luke 5:1-11). All three had their lives profoundly changed by their encounter with God. All three received a new calling, a new mission, as a result of these encounters. Or, rather, it is better to say that, as a result of these encounters, all three discovered their true calling, and that their lives up until now had been a preparation for this very thing.   Continue reading “The Fullness Of Our Calling”

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Communion

Nineteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time (B)

One of the names we have given to the Sacrament of the Eucharist is Communion. Communion is the opposite of isolation. The word reminds us that, by our sharing in this sacrament, we also share in the Lord’s very Body and Blood. Moreover, we share this as a community of faith. We are also the Body of Christ. No matter what the vocation of each one of us may be, none of us ever walks this path alone. We walk with the Lord and we walk with our sisters and brothers in Christ.  Continue reading “Communion”

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The Calling

My Journey to the Hermit Life

“You and I ought not to die before we have explained ourselves to each other.” – John Adams, to Thomas Jefferson, 1813

“I never explain anything!” – Mary Poppins

I don’t remember a voice
On a dark, lonesome road
When I started this journey so long ago
I was only just trying to outrun the noise
There was never a question of having a choice

– Mary-Chapin Carpenter, The Calling

Those first two quotes, even though they seem to be saying opposing things about explanation, both express something true about our experience of faith in general, and about being called by God in particular. On the one hand, we feel a desire to express our experience of faith whenever God blesses us in some way. Recall how the two disciples at Emmaus immediately return to Jerusalem after recognizing the Risen Lord in their midst, so that they can tell the others what they just encountered, and hear from the others their experiences of the Risen Lord as well. Faith seeks to be shared, and yes, explained in some fashion.

Mary Poppins has a point, however. There is something about faith that eludes explanation. Whatever we may say about it – as true as it may be – seems so inadequate compared to what we have been given in Christ. Moreover, not everyone will understand our explanation, no matter how carefully we word it. God always goes beyond our words. To those who understand, no explanation is necessary. To those who do not, no explanation is adequate. Continue reading “The Calling”