The Call We Have Received

Homily for Friday of the Twenty-ninth Week in Ordinary Time

Often, when answering the question, “who are you?”, we answer the question by turning to what we do, our occupations, talents, hobbies, etc.  “I am a doctor.”  “I am a social worker.” “I am an artist.”  “I am a musician.”

The passage from St. Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians invites us to a different perspective.  That is, St. Paul invites us to start with who WE are and then to move to what I do.  Specifically, St. Paul says, “Live in the manner worthy of the call you have received.”  The “call,” the choice God has made for us in Jesus, is a given.  We have been baptized, we have been given the gift of faith, we are daughters and sons of God who live in a faith community.  That’s who WE are. Now, accepting that identity, we are asked to live like we believe it’s true.

St. Paul gives us practical means to do just that: “live. . . with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another through love.”  Live with humility because we have been chosen, not because of my goodness, my worthiness, but out of God’s graciousness.  Live with gentleness because God is that way with me, even when I need correction.  Live with patience because God is patient with me, forgiving me again and again.  Bear with one another through love, put up with one another’s faults and foibles, by asking to receive the heart of Jesus who “puts up” with us by exercising his immense divine love, always extending his hand of mercy.

In the Gospel passage for this day, Jesus asks us to “read the signs of the times.” Because of our news media which runs on a 24/7 cycle, that task is not very difficult. The times we live in are made all too evident each and every day as we pick up a newspaper, watch the evening news, look at social media, or any of a dozen other news outlets. We are all aware of how divisive are times have become. St. Paul’s advice to “live with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another through love,” also fits the signs of our times.

The scripture today first asks us, do you know who you are?  And then says, now, become who you are, “live in a manner worthy of the call you have received!”