Homily:
All the readings of today are centred on God calling us and being focussed on our calling.
In the first reading, God calls Elisha through the prophet Elijah. Elisha was a farmer and he was ploughing his field with twelve oxen. He would have been a wealthy farmer since he had twelve oxen. He had enough wealth to keep him occupied in his work. But when Elijah called Elisha, he knew that Elijah was a prophet and so his call would be for a prophetic mission. So once he surrendered himself to follow the prophet Elijah, he let go all his attachments to his regular work. He slaughtered all the oxen and using his farming equipment he cooked meals for everyone and gave to them. Now there was nothing for Elisha to return back to in his earlier way of living. All his mind, body and soul were devoted only to the work of the Lord.
In the Gospel reading, we find our Lord Jesus calling us to work for the kingdom of God. In the responses of our Lord Jesus, we can see the urgency of the requirement for the servants of God.
In the second reading, we read “Live by the Spirit, do not gratify the desires of the flesh.” This is the time we are in. We are guided by the small sweet silent voice of the Holy Spirit. God calls us for His ministry. It may be a ministry of taking care of our family or school or hospital or church. God has ordained each one of us in our own ministry and He continuously guides us by His own silent words. His words can be heard only by the person to whom He speaks. Our Lord Jesus said, “Let everyone who has ears, listen”. It is not the physical ears our Lord is referring to here. Almost all have ears. But our Lord is referring to our spiritual ears. Do we question ourselves as to whether our spiritual ears are deaf so we are not hearing anything from the Almighty God? Or how do we develop spiritually strong ears? Let’s keep talking to our God as our best friend. We can talk to our Lord Jesus simply like “Jesus, I am going to make my child sit and study. You too come with me”. Like that, realise He is a person, forever with you. When we chat with Him then we will also be able to listen to Him. Has not our Lord Jesus promised, “I AM ALWAYS WITH YOU”?
Now coming back to our topic of our Lord’s intensive calling. This calling has been through all the ages. Earlier, God our Father called either directly or indirectly through the prophets. Our Lord Jesus called most of the time directly. Now the Holy Spirit, our Lord, reveals our futuristic calling.
Generally, we follow the guidance of the Holy Spirit when we are comfortable doing it. But when we are uncomfortable or it is beyond our logical reasoning, we tend to disobey Him. Our Father does not immediately choose another person as a substitute for us. It is because we will regret it later. So He keeps coming back to us with the same task. When Jonah did not like going to the city of Nineveh, he took the ship that went in the opposite direction. But our God did not immediately choose another prophet and send him to Nineveh. He made a fish swallow Jonah and had him shipped back in the belly of the fish. After this round trip in the ship and in the fish, our Father again asked the prophet Jonah to go to the city of Nineveh. There was no change in the task of Jonah when he neglected the task. Let us be careful to do the task as soon as it is initiated else the task will be repeated after some round trips.
When assigning a task, God will also tell us the task. He may not reveal the full details of the task initially. That will happen slowly as we proceed. But the Holy Spirit will let us know what the task is. All the callings are precious in the eyes of our God. We may be called to be a priest, a mother, a homemaker, or a choir leader. Every calling is according to the will of our God. The Apostle Paul said, “I have run my race well”. He did not say I have run all your races well. Each one has a specific purpose for their life. Fulfilling the purpose of life is one’s own race to be run.
Let us also analyse how our Lord Jesus fulfils His call in the incidents of today’s Gospel. Our Lord Jesus had set His face towards Jerusalem since He knew it was the time for Him to be taken up. He sent messengers ahead of Him to make things ready for Him. On the way, the disciples tried to make a place ready for Him in Samaria. But what does the Gospel say here? The Samaritans refused to make a place for Him since our Lord had set His mind towards Jerusalem.
Similarly, even when we have the right intentions, some doors may not open for us. But it is God’s will for us since He has destined a place somewhere else for us. Earlier in the week, we read that a Samaritan village pleaded with our Lord to stay with them and He stayed there for two days. Because that was fulfilling the purpose of our Lord Jesus to preach the good news in the villages of Samaria also. Now was not a time to preach the good news in Samaria but to go to Jerusalem straight away. So the doors of Samaria were not welcoming our Lord Jesus now.
So closed doors are redirecting our ways to the world of newer opportunities.
One more lesson our Lord Jesus gives us is, that “He ignored” and kept going forward. Our Lord Jesus would have been tired and wanted to rest. His body would have required some rest at that point of time since in the same Gospel we see our Lord saying “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.”
So our Lord Jesus needed a place to rest, but He was refused. Our Lord Jesus ignored it, rebuked His disciples for getting angry, and proceeded forward to fulfilling His purpose. He ignored whatever came in His way and kept walking towards fulfilling His call. He did not carry the stress in His mind or anger in His heart. He did not meditate on how much good He had done for them, but still they had not opened their doors for Him. Jesus did not even question why God our Father did not give Him food to eat and a place to stay here.
Like our Lord, we should have faith in God our Father. The devil may tempt our minds to lose our faith in our Lord Jesus and distance from Him. He may bring to our mind the unjust things that happened to us and may make us not forgive those who hurt us. Or he may try to fill our minds with constant worries and self-pity so that we do not reach our goals. So every day we must be careful not to entertain any negative thoughts in our minds and always look forward just like our Lord Jesus.
Just like our Lord Jesus, we should not be mindful of any negative things that happen around us and be always fully energetic about the specific call in our life.
Readings: 26 June 2022 – 13th Sunday (C)
Key Message:
Do whatever He calls you to do
Homily:
All the readings of today are centred on God calling us and being focussed on our calling.
In the first reading, God calls Elisha through the prophet Elijah. Elisha was a farmer and he was ploughing his field with twelve oxen. He would have been a wealthy farmer since he had twelve oxen. He had enough wealth to keep him occupied in his work. But when Elijah called Elisha, he knew that Elijah was a prophet and so his call would be for a prophetic mission. So once he surrendered himself to follow the prophet Elijah, he let go all his attachments to his regular work. He slaughtered all the oxen and using his farming equipment he cooked meals for everyone and gave to them. Now there was nothing for Elisha to return back to in his earlier way of living. All his mind, body and soul were devoted only to the work of the Lord.
In the Gospel reading, we find our Lord Jesus calling us to work for the kingdom of God. In the responses of our Lord Jesus, we can see the urgency of the requirement for the servants of God.
In the second reading, we read “Live by the Spirit, do not gratify the desires of the flesh.” This is the time we are in. We are guided by the small sweet silent voice of the Holy Spirit. God calls us for His ministry. It may be a ministry of taking care of our family or school or hospital or church. God has ordained each one of us in our own ministry and He continuously guides us by His own silent words. His words can be heard only by the person to whom He speaks. Our Lord Jesus said, “Let everyone who has ears, listen”. It is not the physical ears our Lord is referring to here. Almost all have ears. But our Lord is referring to our spiritual ears. Do we question ourselves as to whether our spiritual ears are deaf so we are not hearing anything from the Almighty God? Or how do we develop spiritually strong ears? Let’s keep talking to our God as our best friend. We can talk to our Lord Jesus simply like “Jesus, I am going to make my child sit and study. You too come with me”. Like that, realise He is a person, forever with you. When we chat with Him then we will also be able to listen to Him. Has not our Lord Jesus promised, “I AM ALWAYS WITH YOU”?
Now coming back to our topic of our Lord’s intensive calling. This calling has been through all the ages. Earlier, God our Father called either directly or indirectly through the prophets. Our Lord Jesus called most of the time directly. Now the Holy Spirit, our Lord, reveals our futuristic calling.
Generally, we follow the guidance of the Holy Spirit when we are comfortable doing it. But when we are uncomfortable or it is beyond our logical reasoning, we tend to disobey Him. Our Father does not immediately choose another person as a substitute for us. It is because we will regret it later. So He keeps coming back to us with the same task. When Jonah did not like going to the city of Nineveh, he took the ship that went in the opposite direction. But our God did not immediately choose another prophet and send him to Nineveh. He made a fish swallow Jonah and had him shipped back in the belly of the fish. After this round trip in the ship and in the fish, our Father again asked the prophet Jonah to go to the city of Nineveh. There was no change in the task of Jonah when he neglected the task. Let us be careful to do the task as soon as it is initiated else the task will be repeated after some round trips.
When assigning a task, God will also tell us the task. He may not reveal the full details of the task initially. That will happen slowly as we proceed. But the Holy Spirit will let us know what the task is. All the callings are precious in the eyes of our God. We may be called to be a priest, a mother, a homemaker, or a choir leader. Every calling is according to the will of our God. The Apostle Paul said, “I have run my race well”. He did not say I have run all your races well. Each one has a specific purpose for their life. Fulfilling the purpose of life is one’s own race to be run.
Let us also analyse how our Lord Jesus fulfils His call in the incidents of today’s Gospel. Our Lord Jesus had set His face towards Jerusalem since He knew it was the time for Him to be taken up. He sent messengers ahead of Him to make things ready for Him. On the way, the disciples tried to make a place ready for Him in Samaria. But what does the Gospel say here? The Samaritans refused to make a place for Him since our Lord had set His mind towards Jerusalem.
Similarly, even when we have the right intentions, some doors may not open for us. But it is God’s will for us since He has destined a place somewhere else for us. Earlier in the week, we read that a Samaritan village pleaded with our Lord to stay with them and He stayed there for two days. Because that was fulfilling the purpose of our Lord Jesus to preach the good news in the villages of Samaria also. Now was not a time to preach the good news in Samaria but to go to Jerusalem straight away. So the doors of Samaria were not welcoming our Lord Jesus now.
So closed doors are redirecting our ways to the world of newer opportunities.
One more lesson our Lord Jesus gives us is, that “He ignored” and kept going forward. Our Lord Jesus would have been tired and wanted to rest. His body would have required some rest at that point of time since in the same Gospel we see our Lord saying “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.”
So our Lord Jesus needed a place to rest, but He was refused. Our Lord Jesus ignored it, rebuked His disciples for getting angry, and proceeded forward to fulfilling His purpose. He ignored whatever came in His way and kept walking towards fulfilling His call. He did not carry the stress in His mind or anger in His heart. He did not meditate on how much good He had done for them, but still they had not opened their doors for Him. Jesus did not even question why God our Father did not give Him food to eat and a place to stay here.
Like our Lord, we should have faith in God our Father. The devil may tempt our minds to lose our faith in our Lord Jesus and distance from Him. He may bring to our mind the unjust things that happened to us and may make us not forgive those who hurt us. Or he may try to fill our minds with constant worries and self-pity so that we do not reach our goals. So every day we must be careful not to entertain any negative thoughts in our minds and always look forward just like our Lord Jesus.
Just like our Lord Jesus, we should not be mindful of any negative things that happen around us and be always fully energetic about the specific call in our life.