God does not call the qualified, he qualifies the called…..“He raises up the lowly from the dust”…Only to move mountains that the world thought could not be moved

Today the Universal Church commemorates the life of a 3rd century Pope who is a saint…St Callistus was an interesting person who did not take the usual route to the papacy…Callistus was a former slave and when he became pope a man by the name of Hippolytus opposed him because Callistus believed that grave sinners who sought confession and were willing to do penance can be welcomed back into the Church….Hippolytus did not believe so…And as a result….Hippolytus assumed for himself papal privileges and became the first “anti-pope” in Church history…Here is where the story gets interesting…Callistus continued to give a faithful witness to the gospel of Christ even as he was persecuted and his life was taken from him for it….At the sight of Callistus death and the witness of his life, his archenemy Hippolytus not only repented but became a martyr for the faith himself and is now declared a saint as well…Why is this story relevant to us today?…This is the power of a faithful witness….Callistus, the former slave who became pope won over his enemy not by force but by the consistent example of a life dedicated to the gospel…..We will never argue anyone into the Church…However, a life grounded in gospel truth exhibited to the world for all to see “moves mountains”….If we want to see the world change…We first need to change ourself, pick up our cross and follow the carpenter from Nazareth…..No words needed! - Such a life speaks volumes and when it speaks - It speaks loudly!

“He raises up the lowly from the dust”

The more we read and learn about our Catholic faith we will conclude that God uses people that many in the world would have disregarded…St Paul, St Matthew, Moses, Mary Magdalene, the list goes on to this very day…..Because God’s ways are not our ways….The gospel from Holy Mass today references the story of Jonah…We all know the story of Jonah being sallowed by a whale…But that is not the interesting part about the story…God told Jonah to preach the message of repentance to the evil city of Nineveh and Jonah did not want to do it so he ran away from God…As we all know, running away from God is futile…God always catches up with us….So when God caught up with Jonah, as the story goes….He had a whale swallow him and for three days he suffered inside of that whale….God gave Jonah “something to think about”…When the whale "spit Jonah out"…He was then ready to preach to Nineveh…..What can we learn from this story?…God chose Jonah for a task that Jonah did not think he could do…God knew otherwise…So he “prepared” Jonah for the task…God does the same thing with us to this very day…..God does not call the qualified, he qualifies the called and each one of us by means of our Baptism are called to a special task given to us by God himself…You may not be “swallowed up by a whale” like Jonah but make no mistake…God has something for you to do…So the question is…Are you running away from that task?…We can run but we cannot hid….God will continue to call

“If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts”

As we began this reflection with the story of Callistus, the former slave turned pope…We remember it was the witness of his holy life and death that impacted his enemy Hippolytus, causing him to not only repent but become a canonized saint himself!….Who would have guessed a former slave could become the pope?….Who would have guessed the very man who hated him would repent and become a saint himself simply by watching the life and death of Callistus?…I will tell you who - God!….And who would have guessed that Jonah, who ran from God would only change his mind and preach to the city of Nineveh, which had a reputation for being one of the most evil cities in the world….Who would have guessed at the words of Jonah, the man who thought he could not do it, not only would preach to the people of Nineveh but he did such a good job, the people repented and changed their ways….Who would have guessed that?…..I will tell who - God!……..We cannot run and we cannot hid…God does not call the qualified, he qualifies the called…..“He raises up the lowly from the dust”…Only to move mountains that the world thought could not be moved