Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta will
be named a Saint during this Jubilee Year of Mercy. Certainly she
was a great saint, evident in the fact that she did with courageous
love what so many of us would barely be able to do with fear and
trembling. She walked right up to people with decaying limbs and
picked them up, put them in a wagon, took them to her home, and cared
for them while a doctor would save those he could and comforted those
he could not.
She used to describe herself as a
little pencil being held by God. She was his instrument to work
with, to draw a masterpiece with. By being little in the hands of
God, Blessed Mother Teresa, soon-to-be Saint Teresa of Calcutta, was
indeed something very great for hundreds and thousands of suffering
poor throughout our world.
Isaiah, Saint Paul, and the two sets of
fishermen brothers in the Gospel (Simon & Andrew, James &
John) also were able to allow themselves to be instruments for God's
work, as were so many others within the Old Testament and of the
Church's 2000 year history. All truth be told, the most influential
people in our world were those who allowed their work to be God's
work, even if they weren't Catholic or even Christian. God is the
source of all truth, of all justice, of all beauty, of all good, of
all love, and so anyone that devotes their lives to these ideals,
find themselves leaving the most powerful imprint on the good we see
in our world's history.
Let us look at today's Gospel for an
example of how that process of becoming an instrument for God starts.
Much to our surprise perhaps, it doesn't start with us and it isn't
about us. Jesus simply jumps into the lives of these four fishermen
by getting into their boat. Imagine if someone jumped into your car
at a stoplight, or set up shop in your workplace, or barged into your
home, and you will get a sense of how these guys felt. So we see
that God is the protagonist, God is the instigator, God is the author
of our past and of our future. Our past is that we are loved in
spite of our imperfections, and our future is we will do great things
in spite of our imperfections.
Secondly, we see Jesus stuns the
fishermen with a miracle: their work is shockingly abundant, but only
when done according to His plan. At the sight of this, Simon Peter
admits his unworthiness in a humble way. But is God (Jesus)
surprised or frightened by this news? No, His love is increased.
Now Simon is able (with his co-workers) to now begin the mission of
“catching men,” even while for almost every day for the next
three years they will be at His side. And thanks to their courageous
“yes,” we are all here today.
This is a summary of our vocations,
mine and yours and of every single Christian. God jumps in. He
showers us with grace. We are humbled, and forgiven. We are
disciples. We are missionaries.
As we enter into the season of Lent,
these parts of the Christian experience are meant to be re-lived anew
at a deeper level. Who knows which one will strike us the most?
That is up to God. It it His story, we are his little instruments.
May this journey of the next 7 weeks help us to grow as true
disciples of the Lord.
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