Good News Reflection
Monday of the First Week of Advent
November 30, 2009
Today's Feast: Saint Andrew, Apostle
Pray for family relationships:
http://wordbytes.org/saints/DailyPrayers/Andrew.htm
Today's Readings:
Romans 10:9-18
Ps 19:8-11
Matt 4:18-22
http://www.usccb.org/nab/113009.shtml
USCCB Podcast of the Readings:
http://ccc.usccb.org/cccradio/NABPodcasts/09_11_30.mp3
Our vocation of joy starts at home
As Christians, we all have the vocation of continuing the ministry of Christ. Through baptism, we have been joined to his purposes. We are called and empowered by his Spirit to serve as his hands reaching out to others, his feet going to the places where we can do the work of God's Kingdom, and his voice speaking the good news that will lead people to salvation, and to his healing love, and to the deep and lasting peace that only he can provide.
In other words, we all have a vocation that brings joy to others. The world becomes a better place because we are apostles of joy.
In today's Gospel reading, we see Jesus calling people into apostleship. Saint Andrew was the first Apostle (see John 1:40-42), and although he would later lead many others to Christ, the first person he evangelized was his brother, Simon (who became Peter our first pope). Can you see the joy he shared with his brother?
The most difficult people to evangelize are usually our own family members. We're too close. We care so much about them that we're too hard on them. And since they knew us before our conversion, we don't have much credibility.
Apostleship means being sent forth to do whatever God calls us and gifts us to do. Today's first reading describes the need: The message must go out! And it describes our importance: How beautiful are the feet of those who carry the good news to others!
It starts in the home. We could be the best evangelizers in the world or the best at what we're gifted to do, but if we can't bring Jesus to our families, something's wrong. Our priorities are out of order or we're a bad example of what it means to be Christian.
In other words, when the people who are closest to us don't see our beautiful feet, it's because they're distracted by our voices that sound like nagging or condemnation.
Being good apostles and terrific evangelizers does not mean that we're going to be successful at changing the hearts and minds of family members. "Not everyone has heeded the good news." But it's at home where we learn to love others unconditionally. It's at home where we become good at forgiving. And it's at home where we're tested and strengthened in serving others with joy.
Fulfilling our vocation of joy in the home is more about what we do than what we say. How well do you imitate Jesus when you're with family? Consider every interaction as an opportunity for them to meet Jesus, even if they stubbornly refuse to recognize him in you.
They already know that you follow Christ and go to Mass and believe that participation in church community is important. You don't need to remind them. Simply concentrate on bringing more joy into the relationships. If you're a good reflection of Christ, eventually, this WILL make a difference. Maybe not as fast as you'd like, but this hardship will help you grow even more fully into the image of Christ.
© 2009 by Terry A. Modica
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