God of our life, there are days
when the burdens we carry chafe our shoulders and weigh us down; when the road
seems dreary and endless, the skies grey and threatening; when our lives have
no music in them, and our hearts are lonely, and our souls have lost their
courage. Flood the path with light, run our eyes to where the skies are full of
promise; tune our hearts to brave music; give us the sense of comradeship with
heroes and saints of every age; and so quicken our spirits that we may be able
to encourage the souls of all who journey with us on the road of life, to Your
honor and glory. – St Augustine
Gospel
Text: (MK 6:1-6)
Jesus departed from there and came to
his native place,
accompanied by his disciples.
When the sabbath came he began to
teach in the synagogue,
and many who heard him were
astonished.
They said, “Where did this man get all
this?
What kind of wisdom has been given
him?
What mighty deeds are wrought by his
hands!
Is he not the carpenter, the son of
Mary,
and the brother of James and Joseph
and Judas and Simon?
And are
not his sisters here with us?”
And they took offense at him.
Jesus said to them,
“A prophet is not without honor except
in his native place
and among his own kin and in his own
house.”
So he was not able to perform any
mighty deed there,
apart from curing a few sick people by
laying his hands on them.
He was amazed at their lack of faith.
I have often asked myself what it was
that moved some of the great martyrs of the Church to give up their lives for
the Faith. How was it that Maximilian Kolbe could stand toe-to-toe with
the German commander of Auschwitz and ask to take the place of a condemned
prisoner? Can anything be compared to the courage of young Blessed Jose
Sanchez del Rio or St. Maria Goretti? There is a long list of martyrs
that runs through the twenty centuries of Christianity, and it is the blood of
these martyrs that waters the seeds which will grow into the next generation of
saints.
Courage and faith may be the two
virtues lacking most in the modern world. We are afraid. We fear
what our friends might think if we hold them accountable for their actions.
We fear how the world might view us if we say a prayer in public or if we try
to talk with a stranger about Jesus. And most of all, we fear the
invitation that we sense on our hearts to radical holiness. We know that
we are not content to merely rise each morning, go through our daily routine,
look for a few fleeting moments to say a quick prayer and then go to bed, only
to rise and repeat day after day after day. But what if, one day, we did
something different? What if, just for a day, we listened to our heart
and pursued that desire to do something radical for God? What if, just
once, we did not take offense at Him and instead truly listened to Christ
knocking at the door of our heart? He is there, day in and day out,
always knocking. In the past, He has always asked us, “Will you let me
in?” Now, though, His question has changed. Now when He knocks, we
hear Him ask, “Will you let me out?”
The Gospel message has to be
proclaimed to everyone in our lives, and despite all our complaints and
objections, Jesus has chosen us for the mission. It has been entrusted to
us. Now we must respond. He desires to use our gifts and our
abilities in ways that we could never imagine, but if we give Him permission,
we will be amazed at the things He will do through us. Then we will not
be offended by Him. We will only be in love with Him. He will not
be amazed at our lack of Faith. Rather, we will be amazed at its
abundance. We each must move forward to the people in our lives who
desperately need to hear the Gospel message and preach it to them. We
must speak Christ’s words, carry on His work, and always strive to walk in His
footsteps whether the scribes and Pharisees of today approve of our actions or
not.
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