God’s invitations                                    Read: Luke 14 : 25 - 33

“If anyone comes to me without hating his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.”

This directive from Jesus in this gospel used to mess me up as a kid.  I’d scratch my head wondering what was all this talk about loving your neighbor?  I’m still scratching it…why does Jesus use this language?!  And for the very reason that it catches my attention, it makes us do a double take.  How much is required of us to follow Jesus?  It is an understatement to say that it was a huge sacrifice for the disciples to leave everything behind to start a new profession.  What a strange job application it must have seemed to their families.  Such a deep cost for so little return, not even a retirement plan!

When I was a teenager, I was enamored with an aunt who went to South America as a Franciscan to run a school for girls, meaning to integrate the poor with the wealthy.  Inspired by her, I’d always had a desire to become a missionary.  Life’s path diverts us from these dreams, and they no longer seem applicable.  Unless of course, doors start opening and you get an invitation out of nowhere.  Do you remember a time when you had an opportunity to do something outside your box?  And did you think that maybe you didn’t have what it took to say yes?  Or perhaps you said yes to small things at first and watched it balloon into an animal out of control, a full-fledged raging opportunity that wouldn’t leave you alone…

I don’t think God’s invitations are as clear-cut as we’d like to imagine.  If you have a longing to become a disciple, it doesn’t have to take the form of selling your house to move to Africa.  It can take the shape of a few hours a week getting to know local refugees.  It can be an invitation to take to dinner, the brother-in-law you can’t stand,  although you’d rather move to Africa….On the other hand, there are some things we are not called to.  If I dream of moving to Africa, and I’m unsure of my commitment once I am there, how am I getting myself in trouble?  Am I missing the invitation to do more here in my own backyard?

 

Reflection: 

 

“God has planted His dream for you in your heart.

 

Show me the way, Lord. I want to do all things that please You and please others, too. Teach me not to think of myself alone but to think of those who need me.

 

 

 

 

 

Today’s Bible Reading : 

 

 

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     DAILY HIGHLIGHTS                                  

“For God is the one who, for his good purpose, work in you both to desire and to work.”

Philippians 2:13

 

Prayer Before Mass

 

Prayer After Mass

I am going to Congo in the near future for two weeks to take a look at an invitation that began forty-four years ago.  God’s commitment to us doesn’t require any of us to take up a cross, but to make our plans wisely, not on the spur of the moment. Still, like things past their shelf life, we don’t want to end up at the bottom of the refrigerator, like rancid milk and slimy unrecognizable vegetables.  They’ll never be edible again.  Discern broadly.  Act on your plans.  Jesus coming to life, now THAT will see me through every obstacle.  Even dinner with my brother-in-law.

 

 

"Don't copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new
person by changing the way you think. Then you will know what God wants you to do,
and you will know how good and pleasing and perfect His will really is."
Romans 12:2

St. Martin de Porres was born at Lima, Peru, in 1579. His father was a Spanish gentleman and his mother a coloured freed-woman from Panama. At fifteen, he became a lay brother at the Dominican Friary at Lima and spent his whole life there-as a barber, farm laborer, almoner, and infirmarian among other things.

 

Martin had a great desire to go off to some foreign mission and thus earn the palm of martyrdom. However, since this was not possible, he made a martyr out of his body, devoting himself to ceaseless and severe penances. In turn, God endowed him with many graces and wondrous gifts, such as, aerial flights and bilocation.

 

St. Martin's love was all-embracing, shown equally to humans and to animals, including vermin, and he maintained a cats and dogs hospital at his sister's house. He also possessed spiritual wisdom, demonstrated in his solving his sister's marriage problems, raising a dowry for his niece inside of three day's time, and resolving theological problems for the learned of his Order and for bishops. A close friend of St. Rose of Lima, this saintly man died on November 3, 1639 and was canonized on May 6, 1962. His feast day is November 3.

TODAYS SAINT: St. Martin de Porres