HOMILY WEEK 01 01 – Year II
Vocations as Call and Response
(1 Sam 1:1-8; Ps 116; Mk 1:14-20)
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After his Baptism and the temptation in the desert, Jesus begins to preach in Galilee, so what we read today might have been his first sermon. That sermon serves as a summary statement of his life and ministry: “This is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the Gospel.”
Something that human beings have been longing for has appeared, and the time is now here for a decision. Jesus’ very first words are a wake-up call. This is not the time to be asleep, not the time for delaying tactics, procrastinating, and second-guessing. The initial words of Jesus’ first sermon are an invitation to psychological and spiritual awareness: there is something to be seen, so open your eyes!
But what is it that he wants us to notice? What is this astonishing state of affairs that must not be missed? “The kingdom of God is at hand.” To my mind, the metaphor of the kingdom has a primary referent in the person of Jesus himself. Jesus wants us to open our eyes to see what God is doing in and through him. He himself is the kingdom of God coming into the world with transformative power.
Jesus’ first words are a call to us to do metanoia, to put on our highest mind and be the very best person we can be. We are also invited to pray for the faith of the early apostles, who were able to leave everything to follow Jesus.
It is interesting that Simon and Andrew were casting their nets, while James and John were in their boats mending their nets. This could signify the two basic dynamics of following Jesus as his body, the Church – Kerygma, and Didache. Kergyma refers to the first proclamation of the gospel to a group of people, while Didache refers to on-going learning and renewal. So, the Church has to be about evangelizing the world, but cannot ignore the need for prayer, introspection, re-evaluation of methods, and renewal.
Morningstar Mercredi presenting at our first TWH session.
Certainly today, there is a need for some profound introspection, evaluation and renewal in the light of financial fiascos even in the Vatican, sexual abuse scandals around the world it seems, and here in North America, the sad chapter of complicity in a flawed colonial policy highlighted by the legacy of the Indian Residential Schools and the recent discovery of thousands of unmarked graves at the site of these former schools.
Perhaps the call of Jesus to these first apostles can be a call to us today not just to evangelize, but especially to do metanoia, to open ourselves to change and renewal, to as it is often put, “enter into a process of decolonizing our minds and hearts.” That is what we are trying to do at the Star of the North with our current Together We Heal series of dialogue circles, bringing together both Indigenous and non-Indigenous participants to learn from each other and move forward on the path to healing and a renewed relationship.
The Eucharist is an act of deep faith as well as a call to do metanoia. May our celebration help us to leave behind everything that does not belong in our lives, and follow Jesus like the apostles.
