Sunday, January 21, 2018

Now is the Time - a Defining Moment!

 

The underlying message of today’s first reading as well as the Gospel is: “NOW IS THE TIME” for us to be ever vigilant and attentive. God has a perfect plan for each of us which is quite simple. God has created us with the intent of everyone spending eternity with him, so in His perfect time, at His perfect moment, each of us will receive THE MOST important call of our lives: to respond in faith to God, and turn over our lives to Him. The question this weekend is: Will we be prepared for when that moment comes; will we be too distracted to hear the call; and will we respond appropriately? 

Today’s Gospel from Mark presents the model of how we should ready ourselves. Lest we not be too naïve as we read of His encounter with Simon and Andrew, Jesus was not some stranger, entrancing them with a hypnotic message.Implicit within the text, and an example for us, Simon and Andrew certainly had spent some time with Jesus, observing and conversing with Him. They knew him, developed a comfort level and trusted him. 

They must have prayed for discernment, so when the Messiah called, they would be ready to respond, and ready they were! St. Mark doesn’t say they “left” their nets and father, he says they “abandoned” them, i.e. they completely walked away from their former lives and priorities, fully embracing the Gospel call of Jesus to be “fishers of men,” (evangelists), truly an extraordinary and risky thing to do!

Moments matter. We see throughout the Scriptures that God leverages moments to reveal Himself and His will to His people. God speaks to the heroes of Scripture - or comes through at just the right moment - to impart valuable lessons, offer guidance or strengthen their hearts.

Think of Moses and the burning bush, Peter walking on water and the call of Samuel (from last weekend) - think of the Gospel of today - just to name a few. These are defining moments in their lives that God orchestrated to draw them closer to Him.
 
In the Gospel of today, The Lord’s call to the disciples as they were at work on their fishing boat offers an intriguing invitation to us too. The Lord tells the fishermen Simon and Andrew that He would make them “fishers OF people.” I find a great blessing in Jesus’ offer to enter into our lives and to bless and transform what we have and what we do. A sure sign of a Defining Moment. 


Over the last three weekends we have been look at “Defining Moments” – these occasions which bring definition and clarity to our life - which before we did not have. These defining moments are moments brimming with meaning..... Moments of Decision - saying Yes. Moments of Definition - knowing the way. Moments of Determination - deciding to keep at it.

These Defining Moments can be as bright as a Star in the East, or an Angel in the Sky, but most often they are as subtle as an encounter while we are busy in our day, as in the Gospel of today. But Defining moments also have a certain nature to them - We are never called for our own sake, but for the sake of others. Defining Moments come into our life - not solely to affect us! God does not invite us closer to Him simply for ourselves - but as part of His plan that all of us would be united to Him.  Defining Moments also have the danger of containing a certain nonsense to them. To be called does not require perfection on our behalf, only fidelity and holy listening.

In his Book “Perfectly Yourself”, Matthew Kelly, in the first two chapters has been inviting us to look at the “Wins and Woes” daily, to keep track of asking Jesus daily “Where Do you Live?” (where are you?) and together we have even written our own little prayer:

Jesus I am looking for you
Jesus I want to see where you live
Jesus I want to come and see every day

Now in his 3rd Chapter: Looking Into The Future, Kelly asks us an interesting question – “Can You See Into the Future? Now while the question may raise interesting connotations of “Horoscopes” and “Crystal Balls”, the actual reason for his reason has more to do with character than anything else. See Character Defines our future, and what we permit to contribute to our character determines often our next steps. If our character is rooted in things “of the Lord”, then they steer us away from temptation, turmoil and lead us from living life in trepidation.  In the Gospel, Jesus summons Peter and Andrew, James and John away from their walk of life into something deeper. Their willingness to leave what they knew, for what Jesus knew, speaks of their character.   


Putting Character First, is the focus of the Defining Moment of 3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time (Mark 1:14-20) and it must also be something we ask ourselves about - now is the time - if we are going to be people who experience a Defining Moment: