Called to Preach
June 23, 2008
Read: Matthew 10:26-33
A priest once asked a man if he was a Catholic and the man indignantly said, “Of course.” The priest asked if he attended mass weekly, and the man replied, “I’m a Catholic, not a fanatic.” If he had attended mass more frequently he would have heard today’s Gospel – and he might not have been so dismissive of his faith. “Everyone who acknowledges me before others I will acknowledge before my heavenly Father.”
What a wonderful promise! It is the heart of our Christian faith. All that Jesus asks is that we declare ourselves openly for Him and his Gospel of Love. If we do this, He will be our advocate before His heavenly Father.
It does not seem like much, does it? However, there is a catch. If we declare ourselves openly for Christ, we then have to start living accordingly. If we do not – if we go back to our old ways – we will have, in effect, denied him – and you know what that means. “Whoever denies me before others, I will deny before my heavenly Father.”
We can deny Christ three ways - by our words, by our silence and by our actions.
Some of us have had moments - like Peter - when we have denied Jesus with our words. We may not directly say “I do not know him,” but when our words are contrary to what we know to be his teachings, it has the same effect. A Catholic politician who condones abortion because it is politically expedient is denying Christ. He or she may try to rationalize their position, but they know that the taking of an innocent life is contrary to the Christ’s Gospel of Life.
There are other times when we deny Him by silence. We fail to speak up when He – or his teachings – are ridiculed because we are outnumbered or do not wish to offend someone. It takes courage to express Christian values in a world that often considers compassion a sign of weakness and confuses intimidation with strength – but our world today surely needs men and women of courage.
We deny Him by our actions when we live the sort of life that is unworthy of a follower of Christ - when we base our life on the lies offered by this world - instead of the hope Jesus offers us for the next. We deny Jesus when we are manipulative, unkind, or insensitive to the needs of others - when we fail to follow the two great commandments – to love God and to love our neighbor. We deny Jesus when we fail to keep in mind that every one of God’s children is our neighbor.
It has been said that every Christian occupies some kind of pulpit and preaches some kind of sermon every day – and that may be the only Gospel that some people will ever hear or see. Our words – or lack of them - and have consequences because we may be the voice of Christ to non-believers. However, what we do – or not do – is greater evidence of our faith.
At his ordination, every deacon receives from the bishop a Book of the Gospels. As it presented the bishop gives him a commission. “Receive the Book of the Gospels whose herald you are. Believe what you read, teach what you believe, and practice what you teach.”
Jesus gave all of us that commission on the day of our baptism. He called each one of us to be a herald of the gospel – to proclaim it from the housetops - and to believe it. He called us to teach the values contained in the gospel – especially to our children. He called us to practice those values – not just on Sunday – but every day.
I think St. Francis of Assisi gave the greatest – and perhaps the shortest – homily on this subject when he told his followers to go out and preach the gospel – and when necessary – use words.
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