You Follow Me

May 10, 2008

Saturday of the Seventh Week of Easter Mass in the Morning

'Go to this people and say: You shall indeed hear but not understand. You shall indeed look but never see. Gross is the heart of this people; they will not hear with their ears; they have closed their eyes, so they may not see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and be converted, and I heal them.' Let it be known to you that this salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles; they will listen." Acts 28:26-28

When Peter saw him, he said to Jesus, "Lord, what about him?" Jesus said to him, "What if I want him to remain until I come? What concern is it of yours? You follow me." John 21: 21-22

Piety

Jesus, you try everyday to call on us to follow you by living out the works of mercy to others. Help me to follow you everyday and to be your friend. Help me to share my gifts and your love with others. Amen.

Study

http://www.usccb.org/nab/readings/051008a.shtml

Forget about keeping up with the neighbors. Forget about comparing yourself to others. Because everything will come down to a one-on-one experience we each will have with the Lord. Jesus does not issue some general third person call seeking followers. No. He gets very specific. He comes down here. He gets close to us. He dwells among us. He makes himself a part of us everyday. And then he issues his commandment. “You follow me.”

There is nothing conditional. There is no wiggle room to follow Him later. There is only “Yes, Lord.” Or there is the other possible response to the invitation. “No, Lord.”

Are we too busy getting comfortable in our lives? Was Jesus too busy in his life to be crucified for our sins?

Don’t only focus on your personal response to the Jesus invitation. But also do not allow yourself to be concerned with what others may do or say. Only concern yourself with what you will do to save them and to accept Jesus. Others will have their time of reckoning. They also will have a chance to hear you message for the Lord.

Open your ears. Open your heart. Understand and be healed. If you do not, then the Lord will take his message to others who are more likely to listen.

If you don’t put your trust in that one-on-one relationship, then something else may try to grab a hold of you. Whatever that is, it may land you in jail or chained to something…a job, a mortgage, a drug, a television, a bottle of booze. However, Jesus tells us today do not worry about others. First, worry about your own salvation. After that, then concern yourself with saving others – by carrying the Good News to the ends of the earth.

Action

One message that comes through loud and clear in the Hebrew Bible and the Good News is the commandment to love our neighbors as ourselves. However, we are living in a time when people of all faith traditions are turning their backs on immigrants despite the plea in Scriptures to love your neighbor and welcome the stranger. Just because they may be different from us, it is not necessary to throw the stranger in Jail like Paul.

Don't worry about how your friends in Manassas or Prince William County will react. You can stand up for Catholic Social Teaching and let the world hear what you have to say at a public hearing on immigration next week. The Virginia Commission on Immigration will hold its first of five statewide public hearings on Thursday, May 22 in the Johnson Center Cinema on the campus of George Mason University. The Commission is seeking public input on how immigration issues are affecting Virginia.

The public is encouraged to focus their input to immigration issues affecting Northern Virginia. Public comment will be limited to three minutes per person. Sign up for public comment will be onsite at 1:00 p.m. Written comments can also be submitted in advance for Commission review prior to the meeting via email at immigration.commission@governor.virginia.gov, or by mail to:
Virginia Commission on Immigration, c/o Matt Gross, 7 North Eight Street, 6^th Floor, Richmond, VA 23219.

The Virginia Commission on Immigration is charged with studying, reporting and making recommendations to address the costs and benefits of immigration on the Commonwealth related to education, health care, law enforcement, local demands for services, the economy and the effects of federal immigration and funding policies.