Today the Church celebrates the Second Sunday in ordinary time, which, confusingly, is actually the first Sunday we celebrate while wearing green vestments because of the Epiphany and Baptism of the Lord, but what can you do? Numerical oddities aside, this Sunday still provides us a great opportunity to set our hearts and minds on the mission of the Church and recommit to intentionally growing in our Faith this year.
The first reading this week is the briefest possible summary of everything God has done for His people, as well as everything God wants to do for His people. “It is too little, the LORD says, for you to be my servant, to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and restore the survivors of Israel; I will make you a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.” The beginning of the liturgical year imitates this reality as well. God creates us in His image, and we live as His servants, He makes us His chosen people and a light to the nations, and then we are sent out to take part in bringing salvation to the ends of the earth. In Advent we prepare our hearts for the coming of the Lord, at Christmas we rejoice at the Savior’s birth, and in both the Epiphany and the Baptism of the Lord we are sent out into the world to proclaim what we have received and what God desires for all of us.
All of this points back to the fundamental reality that we are first called, then chosen, and finally, we are sent. On a daily basis we must return, in prayer, to a deeper understanding of God’s love for us, and then, confident in our identity as chosen sons and daughters, go out to the world to proclaim this Gospel. Perhaps this year we can prayerfully examine what part of this cycle of discipleship needs strengthening in our lives. Some people are immensely zealous when it comes to evangelization, but it is difficult for them to focus on their interior lives. Others are diligent in prayer, but timid when opportunities to evangelize come up. Still others struggle to see and accept that God has called and chosen them, and that God sees them as deserving of His love. All of these things need healing and God’s grace, and once we understand what is holding us back from being the disciples God made us to be, we can surrender those struggles to Him and invite Him into our efforts to respond more fully to His Grace. Prayers always, Fr. McC