Yes, I know that it is the third week of January but this is my first article of the new year and I feel that I would be remiss if I did not take the opportunity to wish you and your families a blessed and happy 2021!
Today we celebrate the 2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time. It is a unique time in the church year which is far from ordinary. We have just come out of celebrating the birth and baptism of Jesus and are just weeks away from entering into the awesome season of repentance; Lent. Even today our readings today are calling us to follow God. You might even give this weekend the title of “Calling out” Sunday instead of the 2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time. In both the First Reading and the Gospel, scripture is inviting all of us into our calling to serve the Lord.
So, where is your calling? Where are you being called to serve the Lord? There are so many ways. The often thought of is serving God in religious life as either a Priest, a Nun, or a Permanent Deacon.
With being the “newly ordained kid on the block,” I am familiar with what that “calling out” from God looks like for me. But ordained life is not the only way that we can serve God. We can serve God through being married and honoring our spouse each and every day of your married lives, our calling could be to serve the Lord as an unmarried single person, or maybe as a missionary serving either here in the U.S. or another part of the world, or maybe feeding the homeless or visiting those who are in prison and could use a compassionate and friendly voice to talk to, or maybe our calling is to sit in silence and pray for our country and our church?
With the onset of COVID, I have become increasingly aware of what a calling being a healthcare worker or someone who works at one of the many funeral homes that serve our communities is. These folks have been stretched and pushed this past year in ways that the rest of us cannot imagine. Yet, they have remained the hands and feet of Jesus to their patients and to the families of those who have died. I am extremely humbled by their “yes” to serving the people of God.
I would invite all of us to spend some quiet time this week sitting with God to see where he might be calling each of us and saying to our Lord, “Speak, for your servant is listening.”
Deacon Terry