Don't be afraid

Homily for Monday of the 22nd Week in Ordinary Time I
31 August 2009
St. Lawrence Catholic Center
Year for Priests

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Today’s Gospel highlights a fear that must be overcome if religious vocations in our Church are to be answered. Upon speaking with authority, and proclaiming that the Spirit of the Lord has anointed him, Jesus is immediately met with doubt by those who think they know him well. Isn’t this the ordinary dude from Nazareth? Mary and Joseph don’t talk like this, so why does he? Instead of believing with faith that Jesus may indeed be called and gifted for a special mission, the people who knew Jesus growing up instead focus on the his human limitations. Jesus predicts rightly, that lacking faith, they will demand from him more and more signs to prove the identity he claims from his hometown synagogue as the anointed one from God.

Jesus was not afraid to confront those who doubted him. But oftentimes, we are. We worry that those who know us, will notice first our deficiencies, and will notice first the many ways that we are hypocrites. This can really discourage a religious vocation. Even if we feel called personally by God and desire to be anointed with the Spirit so as to go out and to take a special place within the mission of Jesus Christ to redeem the world, we know that many people will second guess us. Who does he think he is? Who is he to tell me about God, especially given his past and his many limitations? We think that there is a good chance that we might not be a very good priest or religious, beset as we are by weakness and by the doubt of others that might discourage us. We worry about what impact we could really have, and our fear can easily take over.

Today’s Gospel is encouraging in the sense that if we are called, God will give us a mission, and send us to an audience, where our vocation and witness will bear fruit. It may not be in our own backyards, but the Lord will give us a vineyard. Yes, many people may doubt us. Yes, many people may reject our ministry. Yes, we might fail as often as we succeed. What is more, we will not get to choose the people on whom we will make the biggest impact. Some of the people we most want to change will ignore us. Some of the people we barely know will change their entire lives based on a few words we said or some small action that we did. We will not be able to predict where our service and our witness will be met with faith, and where it will be met with doubt. But we are to be courageous in following our call, and generous in doing what the Lord is asking us to do. +m