Homily, Ordinary Time, Cycle A - Planting seeds and Christian discipleship

Friday morning I went to the Catholic Business Exchange on the Northside of Indianapolis to attend Mass, hear an inspiring speaker, and share fellowship with other Catholics business people.  After the speaker finished I spoke with a guy named Tom who shared a story about how Christian discipleship can impact others.    He told me about a fellow student from law school who he hadn’t heard from in over 10 years.  His friend called him up out of the blue and asked him to go to lunch after all this time.  He remembered him as a social friend but was not particularly close to him.   He wasn’t really sure why he wanted to get together and he hoped everything was ok.    

Turning to today’s Gospel, did it sound a bit familiar?   It may have seemed like a repeat of the Baptism of the Lord, but it’s from the perspective of John the Baptist.   John’s mission, was to prepare for the coming of Jesus.  He was ministering in the desert, through ritual baptism with water calling people to repentance.  Many people were coming to him, and finally Jesus approaches.  John says he didn’t not know who Jesus was, but calls him the “Lamb of God.  How does he know this?  By spending time with God in prayer and listening to him.   John said the one who told him to baptize with water would send the Holy

Spirit come down on the one who would baptize with the Holy Spirit.  John was given the gift of seeing the Spirit like a dove from heaven come down upon Jesus as he baptized him.  

John would recognize this as a sign of God’s peace, like the dove with the olive branch that returned to Noah after the flood.   The destruction was over and peace would reign.  There was an expectation in the Old Testament at the end time that God would send his Spirit into the world to reconcile man to God.   John recognized Jesus as this peace, testifying that he was the Son of God. John completed job that God sent him to do, announcing Jesus as the Lamb of God and Son of God. 

Isaiah prophesied that one would be sent to redeem Israel and be a light to the nations, and Jesus fulfilled this prophecy.   John was sent to prepare the way of the Lord, and announce he was the Son of God.  Paul was sent to be the apostle to the Gentiles.    We to are sent as well as disciples of Christ, strengthened by the  grace of our baptism, to proclaim Jesus as Messiah and Lord.  

How will we know how to do this?  Most importantly by spending time in prayer listening to God.  Through the sacraments, especially baptism, confirmation, communion and reconciliation will strengthen, nourish, and heal us, to prepare us for the mission we are sent.   We can also be open to the people God sends in our lives to impact us, parents, teacher, catechists, ministers, spouses, family, and friends,  Each time we pray we can reflect on how these people are doing God to impact us.   By doing His will it’s leading to be the person that God sent us into the world to be, which is Holy.    

Some of us are sent to be priests, deacons, and religious will be sent to minister in the Church and we need to be open to that possibility.   But many of us are sent into the world as single or married persons to impact the world through our families, friends, work, in recreation and where we volunteer our time.   We are sent to impact those around us by the way we live our lives as disciples of Christ.  

Returning to the story that Tom shared with me at the beginning, he met with his friend for lunch and they spent time catching up on their times in law schools, family, and careers.  But the big news he had to share was that he was in RCIA and would becoming a Catholic at the upcoming Easter Vigil. He said that Tom had a big impact on him.    Even though it was many years ago, he remembered that Tom was Catholic, and the way he lived his life had the greatest influence on him becoming Catholic. Tom didn’t think he did anything special and was far from perfect, but that he has always tried to be true to living out his Catholic faith.   He just planted a few seeds of faith by his Christian way of life that grew over time.  You never know how those seeds will impact others. 

I’d like to close with a paraphrase of prayer, We are prophets of a future not our own, shared with me by our youth minister, Emily Ketzner, that can help us realize on how of life of Christian discipleship can impact others.  

It helps, now and then, to step back and take a long view. 
The kingdom is not only beyond our efforts, it is even beyond our vision.
We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction of the magnificent
enterprise that is God's work. 

Nothing we do is complete, which is a way of
saying that the Kingdom always lies beyond us.
No prayer fully expresses our faith.
No confession brings perfection.
No program accomplishes the Church's mission.
No set of goals and objectives includes everything.
We plant the seeds that one day will grow.
We water seeds already planted, knowing that they hold future promise.
We lay foundations that will need further development..
We may never see the end results, but that is the difference between the master
builder and the worker.
We are workers, not master builders; ministers, not messiahs.
We are prophets of a future not our own.