Sister or Brother by Invitation by Beth DeCristofaro

Sister or Brother by Invitation by Beth DeCristofaro

Memorial of Saint Josaphat, Bishop and Martyr

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/111220.cfm

 

Perhaps this is why he was away from you for a while, that you might have him back forever, no longer as a slave but more than a slave, a brother, beloved especially to me, but even more so to you, as a man and in the Lord. (Philemon 15-16)

 

Asked by the Pharisees when the Kingdom of God would come, Jesus said in reply, “The coming of the Kingdom of God cannot be observed, and no one will announce, ‘Look, here it is,’ or, ‘There it is.’ For behold, the Kingdom of God is among you.” (Luke 17:20-21)

 

Piety

O Lord, I pray that I might be ready, today, to see your Kingdom already present.  May I devotedly build that small fragment of your Kingdom which you give me to build.

 

Study

It took many, many years and missteps until I finally achieved my goal of becoming a chaplain.  Then the icing on the cake was that I found a job with hospice, a ministry for which I had prayed. Many of us wait for long periods to reach a goalpost.  We might be impatiently held back, busy preparing, fumbling – all of which I did.  Then we cross that goal line only to find out we had just reached the continuation of a beginning not an ending. Now we start again perfecting and deepening this new place.  In prayer, we perceive God’s graces building the Kingdom by our journeying.

 

Paul sent his letter to Philemon in the hands of Onesimus, a runaway slave.  But in Paul’s introduction to the former master, it is clear that he considers Onesimus not slave but brother in Christ.  He has and encourages Philemon to welcome him into his community. Life journeys are like this in that God brings us by grace from a place of knowing only the restricted boundaries of our mortal experience to freedom in kinship with Christ.  We become aware of salvation granted with infinite generosity and love.  Justice and boundless mercy are conferred on us because we are his brothers and sisters, not because we are a particular role or status in life. God’s Kingdom is among us already.

 

Action

St Josephat is the first Eastern-rite saint who is also a Catholic saint.  He was martyred for his fervent support for reunification between the Orthodox and Catholic Churches.  Sadly today our Church and Christian Churches are also divided.  In your journeying in God’s Kingdom, what have you learned which might help you to reach out and reunite divided brothers and sisters in Christ?