15th Sunday in Ordinary Time (B) – July 14, 2024

St. Paul – Lyons, KS

Amos 7:12-15; Psalm 85:9-14; Ephesians 1:3-14; Mark 6:7-13

Why do we exist?

Today, I want us to reflect on something very important in our life as Catholics, as disciples, as followers of Jesus Christ. And it is something that we avoid. When we hear it, we are nervous, we make excuses, we give pretexts. What I’m referring to is our responsibility to be a missionary, to do the mission of Jesus Christ, to work for him, to do his work in the world. This is what we hear about in our Gospel today.

And this is very important! Why? Because for many of us, when we think about the Church, or our faith, or Jesus, and everything—many of us think: “Well, I need to be a good person, and not use bad words, not get myself drunk, and pray—oh, and go to Mass once in a while.” But if you read the Gospels, if you read the letters of Saint Paul, if you read the Scriptures and listen to the teaching of the Church for the past 2,000 years—you discover that there is something much more fundamental. And what is it? Our lives—my life, your life—we are mean to live our life, our entire life, not for ourselves, but for him “who died for us and rose again” (c.f., 2 Cor 5:15). 

So, for us, for anyone who is a follower of Jesus Christ, a Catholic, a Christian, a disciple—we need to change our thinking, our mentality: our life is not about us, my life is not about me, your life is not about you; our life is about Another, our life is for Another. This is the most basic, the most fundamental change we need to make. And this means that our life is about Another; my work, your work, is to live for Another. Jesus doesn’t invite us only to love him (yes, of course!)—but he also invites us, calls us, to participate in his work, in his mission in the world.

My Call: Before One Is Sent, He Is Called

Let me give you the example of my own life, because this is different for me than it is for you, but it is also very similar. One of the most common question I receive, as a priest since the day I was ordained, people ask me, “Wait…how old are you?” But another question I receive is, “Why did you decide to be a priest? What made you want to be a priest?” And I always share the story of how I first received my call. Many of you know, I was fourteen, and I was assisting at a retreat there at Camp WaJaTo—at fourteen years old. And one night, after I confessed myself, while I was in the chapel in from the the Eucharist in Adoration—in my heart I heard a simple call: “Michael, I want you to be a priest.” There, at fourteen years old, I heard God call me to be a priest, to participate in his work, in mission as a priest. And what did I say? “No. No way!”

Like many of us, when I heard God calling me to participate in his mission, I was nervous, I made excuses, I gave pretexts. In my mentality, my life was…my life! My life is about me! It is my life, and I want to follow my dreams, and my plans, and me, me, me! And for many, many years I could not accept the call of God. And I felt bad! Because I knew God was calling me, and I knew I should respond to God’s call…but I couldn’t. I couldn’t respond. But I couldn’t respond because I was missing the KEY!

And I think it is very similar for many of us. Yeah, the majority of you are not called to be a priest (some of you, some of the young men here are called to be priests, some of your sons are called to be priest—I am 100% sure). But everyone of us is called to participate in the mission of Jesus Christ. And yet, many of us (like me) are nervous, make excuses, give pretexts. Why? Because we are missing the KEY.

And what is the key? This is the key: in order to accept this responsibility, in order to embrace this responsibility (and to embrace it with joy and enthusiasm!)—the key is to develop a relationship with Jesus Christ, a real, authentic, deep relationship with Jesus.

What does Jesus do before he send the Twelve?

This is what we understand when we read the Gospels. In our Gospel today, Jesus sent the Twelve disciples. He sends them, two by two. He gives them authority over demons, they are to preach a message of repentance. In other words? They are sent to do the same work that Jesus is doing! Do you understand? The Twelve are given the mission to participate in the same work of Jesus. This is incredible! They go!

But what is the key? Why are they able to go? They are not nervous, they do not make excuses, or give pretexts. Why? Because they had a relationship with Jesus, a deep, real, authentic relationship. And because of this, they were ready to accept this mission. 

Earlier in the Gospel of Mark, we heard that Jesus called the Twelve for two reasons: to be with him, and to be sent. When he first called the Twelve, he called them first and foremost to be with him, and secondly to be sent. The first thing? To be with him, to spend time with him, to develop a relationship with him. Only then will they be ready to be sent, to participate in his mission. It is three steps: to encounter him, to develop a relationship with him, and to be sent by him / to participate in his mission.

Ok. Think about the example of a relationship between a man and a woman—because it is the same three steps. In a relationship, you must first encounter the other, meet them; then you develop a relationship with them, little by little; and then (and only then!) are you ready to marry them / to live the “mission” of marriage. Three steps: encounter, develop a relationship, marriage. But in the relationship between men and women, it is easy to live in the extremes and to avoid the key, the most important part. But it is crazy! If a man only encounters women, and nothing else—if he never develops a relationship an dhe never marries her, he only meets more and more and more women—what is he called? A womanizer! And that’s not good. But think of the other extreme: what if a man meets a woman, but then they get married the same day, like in Las Vegas? What is he called? He is dumb! Bueno, what am I saying? In each extreme, the man didn’t do the key. And what is it? To develop a real, deep, personal relationship with the woman. And this happens all of the time: we skip this most important part, yes?

Now, it is the same in the life of our faith. In my life, it was difficult to accept this call to the priesthood, why? I encountered Jesus, I felt a call to participate in his mission. What was missing? The KEY: a relationship with him. And that is what happened in my life. The Lord was very patient. And little by little, over the years, I began to grow my relationship with him—in prayer, in the Mass, in Adoration, in the Scriptures, in confessing myself, more and more—and one day, five years later, at nineteen years old, I was able to accept this call. What was the key? To develop a relationship.

Are you willing to develop a relationship with him?

So, the question for us today is this: are you willing to develop your relationship with Jesus Christ? Are you open to it? Many of you have encountered Jesus in a powerful way: in Emaús, in retreats, in an experience at the Mass or Adoration, in the Scriptures, in a homily, many of our youth had a powerful encounter with Jesus at the Steubenville Youth Conference—great! Bueno. Also, many of you feel a call to work for Jesus, to participate in his mission, to serve him—great! But what is the key? What ought we focus on first? Our relationship with him, yeah. This is the key!

What does this look like? It is not rocket science! Just think about developing a relationship with your spouse. For example? You must spend time with them, yes? Yes! You must make them a priority, yes? Yes! Many women complain that their boyfriend or their husband does not have time for them, or she is not a priority to him, and it causes hurt to their relationship. Great, but think: Do you make time for Jesus Christ? Is he a priority? Is the Mass a priority, do you make time for it each Sunday—or is it optional? Do you pray every day, do you make time every day to pray—or is it optional? Just like this would cause hurt in your relationship with your husband or wife or boyfriend or girlfriend—this causes hurt in our relationship with Jesus. If we want to develop our relationship, the assistance at Mass must not be optional, daily prayer must not be optional, assisting at Adoration of the Eucharist must not be optional—it must be a priority, we must make time for it.

What else? In a relationship, are there ever times you must ask forgiveness? Of course! If you hurt the relationship, do you need to work to heal it, fix it? Yes! It is the same with Jesus. how do we ask forgiveness from God? In the confession. Do you confess yourself regularly? Do you ask for forgiveness? If your relationship is hurt because of sin, because you cannot receive communion, because you are doing thing you ought not to do—are you trying to change? Very common today is to live with your boyfriend, relations outside of marriage, not be married through the church. Bueno, are we trying to fix this?

And there are many, many other examples. But what is the point? The point is this: the Lord is calling us, each and every one of us—he is calling us to participate in his mission. This is our responsibility as Catholics, as Christians. But? But the key is to develop our relationship with him. Thanks be to God that he is always ready to help us. But are we willing to develop our relationship with him? To give him our time, our attention, our priority?