what am I made for?

Homily

5th Sunday of Ordinary Time BI

St. Lawrence Catholic Campus Center at the University of Kansas

7 February 2021

AMDG +JMJ +m

What am I made for?

If you look at everyone's schedules today, it looks like we are all made to watch the Super Bowl!  I hope I get special graces for not canceling Mass.

What am I made for?  I'm still not sure.  My life's motto is to compete in what matters to God.  I like it, but I'm not done discerning yet.  It's not my final final.  I want a unique why as good as John Paul II's.  I am made to be totus tuus Maria.

Do you know what you are made for?  It's a great question for the whole of life.  

Today's Scriptures give us options.  Job at this point of his journey asks whether he was made simply to suffer and to die.  Paul says he was made to preach the Gospel.  He wants to become a slave to all to save at least some.  Paul senses a duty, a responsibility that comes with his freedom.  He aims to play his part in Jesus' mission of redemption.

Jesus on his first day of public ministry shows what He is made for.  He preaches, He casts out evil, and He prays.  It's a pretty good plan!  Can you think of a better way to live?

What if I got up everyday and tried to announce the Gospel?  The good news is that the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.  The way things are now are not how they will always be.  Evil, suffering, death, doubt, despair and division do not have the final say.  They have been defeated by Jesus, who now invites me to apply his victory in the context of my life.  Every day I am invited to do what I can to defeat evil, moral and natural, and in so doing I lay hold of the gift of salvation for others and myself.  

Then Jesus prays.  He receives over and over again His mission in conversation with His Father.

That's it, disciples of Jesus!  It's a great recipe.  What am I made for?  What if I am made to proclaim the Gospel, to defeat evil and to pray?  What if I kept it that simple?

What am I made for?