Today’s responsorial psalm “Here I am Lord; I come to do your will” is quite familiar to us. Many songs have been written using this text. But this begs the question: Do we really mean what we say? Am I truly ready to do the will of God? Am I open to being vulnerable before God and allowing him to use me as his instrument? There is a saying from Jeremiah the prophet, “you duped me Lord and I allowed myself to be duped.” We often place ourselves at the service of the Lord, but we get more than we bargained for. Serving God means being open to a lot of surprises.
This week’s Connecting Point question helps us to put things into perspective: “How am I called to make the light of Christ known? If I allow the light that is within me to shine, I am exposed, vulnerable, and open. In effect, I put a target on my back because I am now saying that I want to be like Christ and that puts me in danger of scrutiny and criticism. Every fault will be magnified and every mistake will be judged by those who want to make a mockery of the faith or of my relationship with Christ. The prophets, John the Baptizer, and even Jesus were derided and criticized because of their ministry; why wouldn’t it be the same for me?
Paul tells the Corinthians to be holy and that is also our calling: To be holy like Christ. And it takes a lifetime to accomplish. If we truly want to be Christ for others and seek to do the will of God, it will involve effort on our part. It won’t be easy, but the process will yield great rewards, perhaps not in this life, but certainly in the life to come.
There are many events planned for the winter. Please look at the bulletin and website for further details.
Have a great week,
Msgr. John