Today at Holy Mass in the first reading from the Book of Exodus we continue to hear the story of Moses…..After having to flee Egypt, he worked as a shepherd in the “family business” with his Father-in-Law….God was preparing Moses….Making him humble….All good things come from humility…”For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted”….And one given day - Just another day at work - Moses hears God’s ever small voice…”I am the God of your father," he continued, The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob. The cry of the children of Israel has reached me, and I have truly noted that the Egyptians are oppressing them. Come, now! I will send you to Pharaoh to lead my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt”…And just as any rational working man would - Moses is like - “Who me?, You want me to do what!”…….”But Moses said to God, Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and lead the children of Israel out of Egypt? He answered, I will be with you; and this shall be your proof that it is I who have sent you: when you bring my people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this very mountain”……..God can do anything! - Do we believe that?…..As Our Lady proclaimed in her Magnificat…”He has looked with favor on his lowly servant”…Throughout the story of salvation history, from the Old Testament to the New Testament to the present day…God uses ordinary people to do extraordinary things…..If we objectively read the lives of the saints, we will see for ourselves these were the people God called….They heard his voice and responded radically…So the question(s) today is - Do you hear is voice?……If you allow yourself to sit in silence before the Blessed Sacrament, you most certainly will hear his voice….And if you do hear his voice - Have you responded?…..We seem to think that somehow we are exempt from doing great things for God….Nothing could be further from the truth…..Each of us by means of our Baptism is called to a unique vocation to bring forth the Kingdom of God upon the earth….If only we allow God’s grace to work in our life….If only we submit our will to his will…..That is where greatness is found…….But we must dare to be great
“Blessed are you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth; you have revealed to little ones the mysteries of the Kingdom”
Years ago, Bishop Manny Cruz, the Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Newark, New Jersey was taking some seminarians on a visit to hospital for the poor…A “nice” gesture…But his “nice” gesture soon became GREAT and bore fruit for the Kingdom as a result of Bishop Cruz daring to become GREAT…In that hospital was a poor blind man from El Salvador….His name was also Manny…He was blind and he had HIV….At the time Bishop Manny Cruz first met Manuel, he was basically on his death bed…..Instead of just “ticking the box” as a bishop and doing the “customary thing” of taking his seminarians to a hospital to visit the sick…Bishop Manny saw that Manuel was about to die where he was in that hospital for the poor…So he took action!….He physically carried Manuel with his own two hands and checked him out of the hospital and drove him to the hospice run by Mother Teresa’s sisters for men with HIV in Lower Manhattan….This is where I met Manuel and heard the story about what Bishop Manny did for him - I was EXTREMELY impressed!…For the first two weeks, Manuel was bedridden - I thought he would die any day…But as time went by….Manuel began to regain his strengthen…He began to take his HIV medication….And in time Manuel began to thrive in the hospice - So much so, that he lived there for years…..After a period of time Manuel was ready to leave the hospice and go live on his own at an assisted living facility for the blind in New York City….Upon hearing that Manuel was going to leave the hospice, I called the office of Bishop Manny Cruz in Newark....…Now I do not know this man - Keep that in mind - I am just some stranger calling a Catholic bishop….....I told his secretary the story and he was so moved that Bishop Manny returned to the hospice to say Mass for Mother Teresa’s sisters and see Manuel again, the man he literally saved from death…..Upon the arrival of Bishop Manny, Manuel wept - In fact he sobbed at greeting the Bishop once again…So much more happened that day in the hospice…..Not only was a life saved but a soul was saved as well…All because Bishop Manny Cruz dared to be great…He did not just “tick the box”….He "stepped out" of his comfort zone….And when we do that - God “jumps in”…...And amazing things happen….As Catholics we must not be satisfied with “ticking boxes”…....We must give God “room” so he can work in our life and in the lives of those around us…....That means we must take chances…..We must allow ourselves to be vulnerable…..It’s in “that space” that God works…Its in “that space” that not only will we encounter the living God but so will the world around us!
God called out to him from the bush, "Moses! Moses!”…….He answered, "Here I am."
Once again, we hear in the Old Testament the story of another “underdog”…..Moses was called by God to liberate his people and was like - “Are you kidding me? - You want me to do what?”….But as we all know, Moses got passed his disbelief and placed his faith in the hand of the Lord - And amazing things began to happen - Like the parting of the Red Sea - Remember that “little trick”?…… So the questions for us to ponder today are - What is God calling you to do?…..Are you willing to “take a chance”?…..Are you willing to dare to be great?……or……Are we just “ticking boxes”?……Do we look through people and not at them?…..Do we somehow doubt God’s ability to work the miraculous even today?……Sadly, “we” are far too quick to “settle”…....We accept being average…..We are afraid to think big and actually strive to live big……Here is the bottom line - God is real….God can do anything….And God is waiting for you to “get in the game”!…Dare to be great - God uses the ordinary to do the extraordinary
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