Sacred Heart Catholic Church

Sewing for the Kingdom

For Sunday, January 21, 2018
Third Sunday of Ordinary Time

Jonah 3:1-5, 10
1 Corinthians 7:29-31
Mark 1:14-20

My favorite childhood movie is The Three Amigos. In this comedy, three American cowboy-actors come to the realization that their movie career is dwindling and there’s not much waiting for them in America. They receive a curious telegraph from a small town in Mexico inviting them to put on a show. Soon after their arrival, they realize that this is not a movie they are in, but a real-life scenario of a villain who is harassing a tiny villa. Instead of leaving the town to its fate, they help the village in their plight against the menace, El Guapo. In a poignant scene before the final showdown, the villagers are asked, “What is it that this town really does well?” An elderly grandmother responds, “We can sew!” This is met initially by a quizzical look from our would-be heroes, but then the actors begin to brainstorm.

Maybe our four soon-to-be followers of Jesus in today’s Gospel are like the general population of Santo Poco. Faced with the prospect of helping Jesus build the Kingdom, all they have to offer is their trade. They are fishermen, which seems to be an unlikely asset to the project at hand. These men are not highly educated nor do they have notable social or political status. They are average businessmen working their nets to earn a living. So what can four fishermen from Galilee do to build the Kingdom of God in a tense Jewish culture that had endured Roman conquest?

This is where God’s ways are not man’s ways (c.f. Is 55:8; Ps 25:4). He often uses the unthinkable or unimaginable to do the impossible (c.f. 1 Cor 1:27). When Jesus showed up on the shores of Galilee that day, he did not offer a proposition to negotiate, nor did he look for an impressive curriculum vitae from his would-be followers. He simply calls whom He would and empowers them just as they are to extend the boundaries of his Kingdom wherever they are sent. This calling did not cease that day either. When I had the chance to go to the Holy Land on pilgrimage last March, I found myself on those same shores of Galilee. While I did not meet Jesus in person, I did feel a renewed sense of calling and purpose to the monastic vocation I entered! At each holy site, I renewed my “yes” each time I sensed Jesus renewing his call for my life. In a myriad of ways, Jesus does indeed call all His baptized to share in His mission because the Kingdom has yet to be extended fully.

What about us who benefit from this legacy? What skills do we have that can help build the Kingdom right where we are? Some of us are religious and clerics, some of us are professionals (doctors, lawyers, professors, engineers, businessmen), others are service-minded (counselors, firemen, paramedics, social workers, policemen and women), and still others of us are baristas, cooks, gardeners, students, clerks, attendants, or secretaries.

Just as Jesus used the skills of these four fishermen to eventually change the course of human history, so too can Jesus use whatever human skills or endeavors we have developed in order to extend his Kingdom. These abilities can serve ourselves and our selfish gain or pleasurable comfort. The very same skills and endeavors can impart grace to others. When our skills and endeavors serve the needs of others – and when we serve with humility and generosity – we help extend the boundaries of His Kingdom to those places and to those people who have not encountered it before. When the boundaries extend, the legacy of Jesus continues. If sewing can defeat a villain, then [enter your skillset here] can extend the boundaries of God’s Kingdom. Let’s start today!

Br. John Marmion Villa, M. Div.

PRAYER

Heavenly Father, pour forth your Holy Spirit to inspire me
with these words from Holy Scripture.
Stir in my soul the desire to renew faith
and deepen my relationship with Your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ,
so that I might truly believe in and live the Good News.
Open my heart to hear the Gospel
and grant me the confidence to proclaim the Good News to others.
Pour out your Spirit so that I might be strengthened
to go forth and witness to the Gospel
in my everyday life through my words and actions.
In moments of hesitation, remind me:
if not me, then who will proclaim the Gospel?
If not now, then when will the Gospel be proclaimed?
If not the truth of the Gospel, then what shall I proclaim?
God, our Father, I pray that through the Holy Spirit
I might hear the call of the New Evangelization
to deepen my faith, grow in confidence to proclaim the Gospel,
and boldly witness to the saving grace of your Son, Jesus Christ,
who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.
Amen.