Today I am offering you an invitation to genuine happiness. No doubt about it, most Americans today seem to be searching not just for a better income or solid employment but for a life of happiness. Unfortunately some of these folks fail to recognize this simple truth: “If you can’t find happiness inside yourself, you’ll never find it in the outside world, no matter where you go.” The reality is this: wherever you might go, that is where you are because you always take yourself with you.
So, wherever we go, we bring who we are with us. We bring with us all that has made us who we are. To have a better insight into who we are, we should look at what we do, look at the people or things that mold us into the people that we are. We need to see clearly what highway of life we are following. Most especially we must understand who or what draws the road map that we follow. Only when we have examined all of this do we come to know who we are. Once we have accomplished this, then we have taken control of who we are. Now we can see why we are happy or why we are not.
In the gospel for today, the fourth chapter, verses 12-23, we have the opportunity to be witnesses to the decision two sets of brothers would make that brought them great happiness, genuine inner peace. These brothers, all fishermen, we called by Jesus to follow him. They did not have any obligation to do so. However, clearly they examined their hearts and realized this invitation to follow Jesus set them afire with excitement and desire to be what God wanted them to be.
There has to be a moment in each person’s life very similar to the moments when Jesus said to the four men, “Follow me.” Do you recall when you heard Jesus’ call to you? For sure, he calls every person his Father brought into this world of ours. But back to the last question: “Do you recall when Jesus said to you “Follow me”? If you do recall that moment, you are among the minority of Catholic Christians. Ask the same question of our sisters and brothers of other Christian practices. Many will respond with the actual day when they realized that Jesus was calling them to follow him. That was the moment when they realized they were asked to commit themselves to their Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. That is the day, as they say more frequently than we do, that is the day when I was born again.
Our Catholic religion can too easily become a religion of book learning. Our focus upon the Catechism, our call to know the doctrines of our Church and the various teachings of the Church can have a consequence never intended. Too easily we can become people who know more about Jesus than we know Jesus. Perhaps we have put so much focus on “knowing the faith” that we, as a consequence, have greatly diminish what we have been called to do: know Jesus Christ, the God-man. We have to be careful not to fall into that trap. Yes, we need to know our faith practice. But more importantly we need to commit ourselves to knowing and following one particular man and his teachings, Jesus, the man of Galilee who calls you and me to follow.
The way to genuine happiness is, I am suggesting today, know who we are; knowing where we have chosen to walk. The options are ever so clear: to follow Jesus or not to follow him. It really is that simple.
I am a person who loves Southern Baptist gospel music. Saturday evenings I watch an hour long presentation of songs sung with a heart full of love for the person of Jesus. The hymns and other songs don’t necessarily focus on the theological reality of the Trinity. There is so much more meaning, however, when I can sing words such as Nearer My God To Thee.
So, let’s become a community of faith that is characterized not so much by the sometimes bitter divisions developed over such hot topic issues as abortion, birth control same-sex marriage, politicians receiving the Eucharist or the closing of schools or parishes. Let us become recognized as the community of believers who are driven first and foremost by a desire to truly know Jesus Christ. When this happens, we will become a community of believers who are truly blessed with the grace of happiness. Then we will be led by the Holy Spirit. Furthermore, we will become a community of believers who know our faith and who come to think with one mind and voice as St. Paul encourages the people of Corinth in his letter we also heard read today. What would the world think of Roman Catholics then?
A question for thought: And when did Jesus say to you, "Follow me"? Can you answer that question for yourself?
So, wherever we go, we bring who we are with us. We bring with us all that has made us who we are. To have a better insight into who we are, we should look at what we do, look at the people or things that mold us into the people that we are. We need to see clearly what highway of life we are following. Most especially we must understand who or what draws the road map that we follow. Only when we have examined all of this do we come to know who we are. Once we have accomplished this, then we have taken control of who we are. Now we can see why we are happy or why we are not.
In the gospel for today, the fourth chapter, verses 12-23, we have the opportunity to be witnesses to the decision two sets of brothers would make that brought them great happiness, genuine inner peace. These brothers, all fishermen, we called by Jesus to follow him. They did not have any obligation to do so. However, clearly they examined their hearts and realized this invitation to follow Jesus set them afire with excitement and desire to be what God wanted them to be.
There has to be a moment in each person’s life very similar to the moments when Jesus said to the four men, “Follow me.” Do you recall when you heard Jesus’ call to you? For sure, he calls every person his Father brought into this world of ours. But back to the last question: “Do you recall when Jesus said to you “Follow me”? If you do recall that moment, you are among the minority of Catholic Christians. Ask the same question of our sisters and brothers of other Christian practices. Many will respond with the actual day when they realized that Jesus was calling them to follow him. That was the moment when they realized they were asked to commit themselves to their Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. That is the day, as they say more frequently than we do, that is the day when I was born again.
Our Catholic religion can too easily become a religion of book learning. Our focus upon the Catechism, our call to know the doctrines of our Church and the various teachings of the Church can have a consequence never intended. Too easily we can become people who know more about Jesus than we know Jesus. Perhaps we have put so much focus on “knowing the faith” that we, as a consequence, have greatly diminish what we have been called to do: know Jesus Christ, the God-man. We have to be careful not to fall into that trap. Yes, we need to know our faith practice. But more importantly we need to commit ourselves to knowing and following one particular man and his teachings, Jesus, the man of Galilee who calls you and me to follow.
The way to genuine happiness is, I am suggesting today, know who we are; knowing where we have chosen to walk. The options are ever so clear: to follow Jesus or not to follow him. It really is that simple.
I am a person who loves Southern Baptist gospel music. Saturday evenings I watch an hour long presentation of songs sung with a heart full of love for the person of Jesus. The hymns and other songs don’t necessarily focus on the theological reality of the Trinity. There is so much more meaning, however, when I can sing words such as Nearer My God To Thee.
So, let’s become a community of faith that is characterized not so much by the sometimes bitter divisions developed over such hot topic issues as abortion, birth control same-sex marriage, politicians receiving the Eucharist or the closing of schools or parishes. Let us become recognized as the community of believers who are driven first and foremost by a desire to truly know Jesus Christ. When this happens, we will become a community of believers who are truly blessed with the grace of happiness. Then we will be led by the Holy Spirit. Furthermore, we will become a community of believers who know our faith and who come to think with one mind and voice as St. Paul encourages the people of Corinth in his letter we also heard read today. What would the world think of Roman Catholics then?
