3rd Sunday of Ordinary Time - Conversion, Communion & Mission

January 23 - Third Sunday in Ordinary Time
Jonah 3:1-5,10 / Psalm 25 / 1 Corinthians 7:29-31 / Mark 1:14-20

INTRODUCTION - Calling of the Twelve & the Continuing Call

The apostles, seeing Jesus as treasure greater than that which their nets could offer, immediately follow him. This is quite unlike the rich man who refused Christ's summons because "his possessions were many." The evangelical counsel of charity, sometimes externalized by vowed poverty, is an element of this priestly call. There is movement from personal conversion to humility to apostolic service. Chastity is a virtue allowing the priest to mature in love and self-donation, a radical availability within apostolic charity. Obedience relates to Christ as the head and pastor. Such configuration to Jesus as obedient and humble servant is a regal service that puts one into the crucible of Christ.

BODY - Conversion, Communion, & Mission

The prophet Jonah goes to Nineveh and warns of destruction. The people know full well that they have brought God's judgment upon themselves. They avert divine retribution by putting on sackcloth, in other words, by heartfelt contrition and penance.

Priests of the new dispensation are also prophets and give warning about the dire consequences of sin. Instead of condemnation against a city, the usual battleground today is each individual soul. Indeed, the compassion of God is fully realized with the coming of our Lord. Priests, sharers in the ministry of Jesus, can actually offer the divine absolution. Priests and bishops preach the Gospel of Life in a culture of death. If the world is to accept the Gospel, then each of us, like cells in a body, must turn from sin and seek the peace of God. Our priests make Christ and his saving mercy accessible.

Our psalm reminds us that true prophets need to know and embrace the things of God. We must know his "ways", his "paths", his "truth", trust that he "shows sinners the way" and "guides the humble to justice". Every believer enters into this prophetic mission, but priests, due to their formation and charge, are most responsible. They exhort us not to superimpose our ways over God's or to soften the challenges of the Gospel. A friend of mine is an out-of-work minister. He was dismissed from assignments when congregations rebelled against his orthodox views on sexual morality and abortion. God forbid such things in the Catholic faith, and yet, while our pastors are usually secure in their assignments, opposition to the Gospel has resulted in many wounded healers. This, our priests also share with the crucified one.

The second reading has Paul telling the Corinthians the time is short, that the world as we know it is passing away. Human history seems to tell a different story. However, viewed in a spiritual light, Paul is quite right. The coming of Christ has changed everything. No longer need we live under the bondage of sin and death. These realities are conquered by the saving work of Jesus, but not undone. We live during the final unraveling, a time to proclaim the Good News and win souls for Christ. Paul recommends celibacy, so much a hallmark of the priesthood in the West. Priests are living signs of contradiction in a world that has largely forgotten God. They are eschatological signs of the kingdom. The sign of marriage will give way to the full manifestation of Christ's covenant and unity with his bride the Church. The priest, configured to Christ in ordination, celebrates this marriage banquet with his bride the Church at every Eucharist.

The Gospel has Jesus calling the apostles, the first bishop-priests. He will literally make them "fishers of men" to spread the Good News, to minister and preach in his name. There is still something of Christ's call in every conversion and faith-filled baptism. However, it is ever so vital to the Church in priesthood.
Are those who would be good priests, listening? Are we praying for vocations? Do we appreciate Christ's work that they alone make possible? I was challenged for talking about the priesthood at Mass. An angry woman told me, "You wasted my time talking about something the Pope said half the congregation and I can't have!" She listened, but did not understand. Most men will not become priests either; and yet, in the sacraments sins are forgiven. We all benefit. The priesthood exists FOR US.

Good priests are daily converted in the face of the mystery that is theirs. They, most of all, are mindful of St. Paul's admonition about the consequences of unworthy reception from the altar. The Holy Father has told priests "to present yourselves to men and women as the living Christ in his role as shepherd." Priests are literally "the property of God," and "the living prolongation of the ministry of Christ." Our Lord's words to the apostles are also given to them: "As the Father has sent me, so I send you." Priests are admonished to practice the "rest of frequent and prolonged prayer" to offset the "danger of dispersion" in all their many tasks. First, they need to "be converted" so that they might convert others." Second, their "communion (with one another, the Church, and Christ) is to bring others to communion." Third, priests benefit from an ongoing relationship with Mary, the first evangelizer of America, "that you may be on mission for others."

Like Christ, the recipient of a vocation is called to be priest and victim, expiating sins. Nothing could be nobler, but vocations are few and many priests are troubled. Similar to the plight from Jonah, the pastoral ministry of priests emerges from a reflection upon the disgrace of man on earth. The Lord has tragically seen many pastors devastate his flock. Scandals are always in the news. People are driven away by those who should guide them. Other priests are exhausted by pointless activity. Pope Pius XII pointed to the problem 50 years ago, and it is more valid now: "Man does not examine his interior, or upon God, who is his end." The voice of God cannot be substituted by television, the sickness of contemporary man. Priests are not exempted. Many good men are suffocating under countless meetings, bureaucracies, and an abandonment of those necessary personal contacts with each other, with the Son of God, and with concrete persons. There is the real danger of losing ourselves to the exterior. People who work with priests in church ministry know what I am talking about. The "real interior life" must not be reduced to a channel of sentiments but depends upon reflection-- upon intimate contact with God. Meditation, reflection, and silence are important for all. There are three things crucial for priests and our collaboration with them: CONVERSION, COMMUNION, and MISSION. The Lord calls out to apostolic men for conversion, communion with him and one another in the Church, and sends them out on mission.

We are approaching a new millenium. Everyone is excited. But, the new evangelization is not an announcement of Jubilee, but a demand that we enter into the plan of God. Priests are the first responsible for the proclamation. Together, we work with our 'head" and foundation" which is "Christ and Christ alone." "Love" is transparent of our identity and with Christ, the head and master of our formation. Christ, spouse and pastor of the Church with his permanent and complete mark upon his priests nourishes us. Every priest, in every place, is Christ. We should seek to inspire young people with holy curiosity (about the priesthood) and to pursue (vocations). Priests, in turn, call all people to conversion and seek to make them disciples of Christ.

A lack of communion with the Holy See is a violation of the faith of God's people. A priest is not his own man. He belongs to Christ. He is the property of the Church. He should only teach and do what the Church holds as true. Men live priesthood in the seeing that the first element is an interior life, the state in which he encounters the Lord in the midst of his priestly soul.

A priest's ontological communion with the Lord demands that he testify in pastoral charity. Ecclesiam Suam says that the Church is the "Mother of men" and yet, at the same time, her leadership is made manifest in her pastors. "The work of evangelization must maintain with courage that every communion finds its justification in the Trinitarian God; and the dignity of every man, in Jesus Christ." We are sent on mission, "Go and baptize in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit." Priests are the soul and dynamic of the preparation for the next millennium. The Church is not a bureaucracy, but a hierarchical family. The Church is saying to each one called: "Priest, give yourself to the Church, the living Christ on earth."

The "source and summit" of our unity is in the Eucharist. Being "servant" makes us one with our priests, bishops, one another, and the Holy Father. The celebration of the Eucharist is when "the Church is most visible." It is the "new and everlasting covenant in his (Christ's) blood." Our identity is most experienced (and expressed) at the altar of God. A minister of communion possesses a union of mind and will with the great high priest. The life of prayer prepares us for this. The Holy Spirit is the spirit of communion and love. We ask at the Mass that the Holy Spirit come upon the gifts and upon us.

CONCLUSION - Let Us Support Our Priests & Pray & Work for More Vocations

Priests are called to be a living and transparent image of Christ. He must live in the Church as mystery, configured in his very being to Christ. Here we see the true priest, the servant and spouse of the Church. In ministry and personal quality of life, the priest is to be "poor, chaste, and obedient." His life must not be reduced to mere functionalism or routine or become one of laziness or unproductive activity or driven by the extremes of authoritarianism or unrestrained democracy.

Let us ally ourselves with the Church that suffers a scarcity of vocations. The world is in the grips of a scientific, hedonistic, secularistic, libertine mentality that would have men live as if there is no God. In the midst of this, perhaps we are called (even) to martyrdom with our priests. The Lord who sends us will also sustain us. "Fear not, I have conquered the world."

Pope John Paul II says that the reason for the priesthood is the EUCHARIST. Cardinal Ratzinger gives the definition: "The Church is the celebration of the Eucharist and the Eucharist is the Church." Not side by side, they are the same. Priest who bring souls to the Eucharist, bring souls to the Church. Sharing the body and blood of Christ changes us into what we receive. We are all swept up into Christ's very being.



ASIDES (if necessary)

December 26 - Holy Family
If you knew a woman who was pregnant and already had 8 children, three of whom were deaf, two of whom were blind, and one mentally retarded, and who herself had syphilis, would you recommend that she have an abortion? If you said yes, you just killed Beethoven.

Anonymous

January 23 - Third Sunday in Ordinary Time
In the past 30 years, the Catholic Church has seen its ranks triple to more than 110 million in Africa, and the continent now accounts for 10 percent of the church's worldwide population. Africa's seminaries and convents are producing the largest class of young priests and nuns in the world, and their traditional beliefs are being heard worldwide. "The faith was brought to us by the early missionaries, and we want that faith to grow," said Raphael Imoni, a Nigerian seminarian scheduled to be ordained to the priesthood this year. "If that means going abroad to revitalize the faith in Europe and the United States, we will do that.

STEVE CHAMBERS ©1999 Religion News Service