Day 2 Triduum: The ‘Call’ to be Apostles

Homily:

In the Gospel (Mat9:9-13), Jesus calls Matthew “Follow me”. Fr. Dom explained that Matthew got up and followed without hesitation. Likewise, Jesus called Chastan and Imbert and they responded. Jesus is calling us too, he said. We are all used to our fixed seats- sitting where we are comfortable, but when Jesus calls, there must be a ‘movement’ away from our comfort zone.

He then related the “call” to our vocation St Paul talks about in Ep 4: 1-7, 11-13. Matthew’s call was to be an evangelist, an author. When Jesus calls, we respond to the call in different ways of life- some are called to be disciples, pastors and teachers. Whatever we are called for, we must be worthy of our vocation. Fr. Dom explained that we will be tempted but whenever we miss Jesus we have to return. When we are not faithful or deviated, we have to come back to Jesus little by little through repentance. Jesus did not come for the righteous but for sinners.

He further explained that the respondent becomes worthy of the call by loving God. It is a response of love. When one is in love, one is willing to give up his/her life and shed blood because of the love he/she has for Jesus like Sts. Chastan and Imbert.

“Do you love Jesus?” he asked the congregation.  “How deep is your love for Jesus?” he prodded further. He said that we say “I love you” so easily and so often that it is the most abused word and loses meaning. So what is love? Love comes from deep within. He said we need to love Jesus deep down in our hearts and so Fr. Dom along with the congregation sang the song “I love you Jesus, deep down in my heart”. To understand what love is, he explained the process of love:

It begins with friendship and as friends of Jesus we need to listen to him, to his word.

From being friends we move on to be his disciples. As disciples of Jesus, we need to be obedient by keeping his commandments.

Next we respond to our call and as apostles of Jesus we need to have a mission of Jesus (Mat 28: 19) – “go therefore make disciples of all nation”.

With this mission we encourage others that Jesus is truly active and alive – be enablers to make things possible (Mat 28: 19-20) – “baptising them and teaching them”.

Then from mission we move on to ‘new evangelization’– rekindling the fire in those who are lagging in the faith or distanced themselves.

This is a process we have to go through in love.  Jesus is calling us- so being what we are at this moment we have to respond to his call by loving Christ. Some are already apostles, he said, like Rt. Bishop Sebastian by succession of power but others are also apostles by the “call”.

Fellowship