Reflection for the 5th Ordinary Sunday 2025

But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace to me has not been ineffective. Indeed, I have toiled harder than all of them; not I, however, but the grace of God that is with me.

Throughout the Christmas and Epiphany seasons we focused our attention on God’s self-revelation. He came among us, born as a man in a stable in Bethlehem. He was revealed that night to the shepherds. He was proclaimed by Simeon and Anna in the Temple and subsequently to the world through the Magi. At His baptism He, along with the fullness of the Holy Trinity was revealed. At the wedding in Cana His might was shown.

As we complete this short stint in Ordinary Time, and head into Pre-Lent next week, we hear Jesus calling us to the job of revelation.

Jesus, speaking to Simon Peter and thus to us says: “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.”

It seems like a daunting task because we interpret it through the experience of the Apostles who left everything and followed Him.

Yet this task, this call to ministry is not difficult nor is it just intended for a few among the faithful.

Having read the accounts of the Prophets and Kings, having read or listened to the stories of Jesus’ Apostles and disciples, and knowing the stories of the saints through the ages gives us a rather global view of all that happened. We try to absorb a whole life story and then attempt to compare it to ourselves, where we are in this brief moment.

That is why it is essential that we study the moment of calling and then walk as the called did, following Jesus and trusting in Him.

Jesus never laid out for His called an exact roadmap of all their moments and experiences. Rather He just issued the call because He, as God, knows us intimately. He knows the skills and abilities we possess – even if we do not know them.

Paul left who he was and trusted in God’s redeeming grace. Paul let God’s grace move him and look at all he accomplished. Simon, James, and John took a leap-of-faith and followed Jesus. All the saints did likewise. Those called to sacred ministry the same.

So, it must be for each of us, for every faithful person. While we cannot exactly know what lies on the road ahead, we can trust Jesus. While we may not know the skill within us that God will use, we can let Him use it through our hands, minds, feet, and voices. What we must do is trust like St. Paul in saying: His grace to me has not been ineffective.

Reflection for the 2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time 2021

Any good?

He first found his own brother Simon and told him, “We have found the Messiah” — which is translated Christ —. Then he brought him to Jesus.

This scripture, taken from the first chapter of John’s gospel, concerns the gathering of the first disciples. The next verses following today’s gospel concern the calling of Phillip and his friend Nathanael. We all recall their exchange: Philip found Nathanael and told him, “We have found the one, Jesus, son of Joseph, from Nazareth.” But Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come from Nazareth?”

Nathanael isn’t buying it. After all, can anything worthwhile come out of that place? Nathanial saw Nazareth as a downer, no good. We encounter people like that. We say something, and they naysay it. It may seem to us that they are glass half-empty people, yet there is something more there. Perhaps they are projecting their own sense of personal worthlessness in their reaction.

In our sinful and broken world, we ask the same question about ourselves. Can anything good come from my life, my family situation, my personality, from someone who looks like me, is as old or young as me, or who has made mistakes like I have?

How about you? How are you feeling this morning? What motivated you to come here this morning or to join us virtually? Are we all feeling good and inspired, or has the past week taken its toll on us and put us at the end of our ropes?

Perhaps this is how Nathanael was feeling as he listened to Phillip’s words. Perhaps, rather than Nazareth, he was thinking, “Nathanael! Can anything good come from me?”

There are times when we look at ourselves like that, perhaps because of a secret, an illness, trial, hurt, grief, or loneliness. Perhaps it is the state of our country, and we say it will never get any better. Nazareth, everything else, and me – Nothing is good!

When Jesus met the disciples, He met men who all felt small and were caught up in their own pasts. As with Nathanial, Jesus saw through that and said, “I see you and I know what you are like. I’ve got you all figured out. I know you better than you know yourself. Come follow Me.”

When someone sees you, welcomes you and believes in you, it is powerful, freeing, life-giving, and transformative.

Jesus knows us completely and all that troubles us. He understands our faults, failures and insecurities. He knows the things we’ve kept secret. Jesus isn’t shocked by anything about us and loves us no matter what. He died to set us free from all that and He has great plans for us. He says, Come, follow Me.

When we get up and go like those disciples we come to not only understanding and acceptance, but to love God and to a whole new way of seeing ourselves, everybody, and everything. We set aside the traps of anger, fear, prejudice, and self-centeredness.

Jesus saw something in the disciples that surprised them.  Instead of seeing rotten, no good sinners, people out of whom nothing good can come, Jesus saw people He loved and with a great future. Can anything good come from me? Yes! God has seen it and has said so. He has asked us in. Come, follow Me.