A Common Journey
Today's readings are from 1 Sam 9:1-4,17-19;10:1a, Ps 21:2-7, Mark 2:13-17.
For St. Augustine, finding God was never an individual journey. God was found in community, and it was together that people would discover the will of God and the nature of God. God's self-revelation was never made strictly to one individual, but to a community. This is reflected in the great rule which St. Augustine wrote for those who wished to live the community life, a rule which today is still followed by religious orders around the world.
We see something of this in the first reading from the First Book of Samuel. Saul was chosen by God to be the ruler of all of Israel. He was "to govern the Lord's people Israel, and to save them from the grasp of their enemies roundabout." Yet even though it was Saul who was chosen, it was not to Saul that the Lord revealed this, but to Samuel. And so through His Providence God guided Saul to an encounter with His prophet, and Samuel anointed him with oil and appointed him king.
This anointing of a king was transformed by the birth of Jesus, who as the Christ is truly the Anointed One. Christ now is the true King of Israel, the King of all of God's people. And as the King Christ is now calling each of us to serve God according to God's will. Just as Jesus called Levi in today's Gospel, when we hear the voice of our King calling us, our only response should be to get up and follow Him. In our baptism we began this journey, for we too were anointed. We are each called to become Christ, for as St. Paul writes, "It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives within me." We must strive to continually die to ourselves so that only Christ will live within us. This is the way of the cross, the only way to follow Him. And when we do, when Christ alone lives in us, we become His hands, His feet, His mouth, His heart, so that we too might go among "tax collectors and sinner" and bring the true Physician to them to heal their sickness. By dying to self so that Christ alone lives in us, we can reach the poor, the sick, the dying, the desparate, the suffering, the lonely, and fill them with the hope of salvation.
So together, as a community of faith, let us continue to build each other up, let us guide one another towards God's will in our lives, and with all patience and humility let us bear one another's burdens in love, so that together we can go into the world as members of a pilgrim Church and transform this broken world through the hope of Christ's Resurrection.
Peace in Christ,
Michael
For St. Augustine, finding God was never an individual journey. God was found in community, and it was together that people would discover the will of God and the nature of God. God's self-revelation was never made strictly to one individual, but to a community. This is reflected in the great rule which St. Augustine wrote for those who wished to live the community life, a rule which today is still followed by religious orders around the world.
We see something of this in the first reading from the First Book of Samuel. Saul was chosen by God to be the ruler of all of Israel. He was "to govern the Lord's people Israel, and to save them from the grasp of their enemies roundabout." Yet even though it was Saul who was chosen, it was not to Saul that the Lord revealed this, but to Samuel. And so through His Providence God guided Saul to an encounter with His prophet, and Samuel anointed him with oil and appointed him king.
This anointing of a king was transformed by the birth of Jesus, who as the Christ is truly the Anointed One. Christ now is the true King of Israel, the King of all of God's people. And as the King Christ is now calling each of us to serve God according to God's will. Just as Jesus called Levi in today's Gospel, when we hear the voice of our King calling us, our only response should be to get up and follow Him. In our baptism we began this journey, for we too were anointed. We are each called to become Christ, for as St. Paul writes, "It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives within me." We must strive to continually die to ourselves so that only Christ will live within us. This is the way of the cross, the only way to follow Him. And when we do, when Christ alone lives in us, we become His hands, His feet, His mouth, His heart, so that we too might go among "tax collectors and sinner" and bring the true Physician to them to heal their sickness. By dying to self so that Christ alone lives in us, we can reach the poor, the sick, the dying, the desparate, the suffering, the lonely, and fill them with the hope of salvation.
So together, as a community of faith, let us continue to build each other up, let us guide one another towards God's will in our lives, and with all patience and humility let us bear one another's burdens in love, so that together we can go into the world as members of a pilgrim Church and transform this broken world through the hope of Christ's Resurrection.
Peace in Christ,
Michael