July 15, 2012 – Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Am 7:12-15; Ps 85:9-10, 11-12, 13-14; Eph 1:3-14; Mk 6:7-13
In today’s first reading, the prophet Amaziah explains, “I was no prophet, nor have I belonged to a company of prophets; I was a shepherd and a dresser of sycamores. The Lord took me from following the flock and said to me, “Go, and prophesy to the people Israel.”
God had a mission for Amaziah, and He called Him from his daily life to carry forth that mission.
What’s more, in the Gospel, we see Jesus commissioning the 12 apostles to preach the Gospel. He gives them the authority they need to do so, and sends them forth. And in the second reading, St. Paul praises the Lord “who blesses us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavens, as He chose us in Him, before the foundation of the world.”
Like Amaziah and the 12 apostles, each one of us has been called to carry out a mission – to be a Christian disciple and proclaim the Gospel to the world in all we say and do. He has given us all that we need to do that. Every gift we have comes by way of gift from the Lord. It is our responsibility to make the choice to recognize those gifts and to use them for God’s purposes, to give glory to the Lord.
There is a famous quote that is quite adequate here: “God does not choose the ready; He makes ready the chosen.”
He has chosen us all for a very specific purpose. If we give ourselves to Him as His servants, He will make us ready.
Will you answer the call?
