Let’s take a brief journey though the first reading of Saint Paul’s letter to the 1st Corinthians Chapter one.
26 Consider your own calling, brothers. Not many of you were wise by human standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth.We have no monarchy in the United States and no one is completely wise as God. However, we each have a calling to serve the Lord. Take for instance the writers of “A Catholic Moment”. I try to read them each day and am so impress how God touches their hearts to take the Gospel message and share with anyone who will listen how God touches their lives. Our readers share their live and add to the richness of the Gospel message.
27 Rather, God chose the foolish of the world to shame the wise, and God chose the weak of the world to shame the strong, It is admirable how Mother Theresa of Calcutta answered God’s call . She took the sick and dying of the city to shame the rest of the world to see the dignity and strength of the poor. Her calling spread to other women and the organization she established spread to many countries.
28 and God chose the lowly and despised of the world, those who count for nothing, to reduce to nothing those who are something, Sister Margaret Freeman was a Franciscan Sister of the Allegany in my city. Her order and she established a “Free Clinic” in the City of Saint Petersburg, Florida in the 1980’s. She believed that health care was a human right and she knew this way before anyone even heard of the Affordable Care Act. Grants and donation were used to fund the Clinic she started and it is still going strong today.
29 so that no human being might boast before God. Most of us can boast in a small way about leaders like the Senator John McCain whose funeral service is today. He was POW and a statesman. He knew the moral imperative of treating people as human. He knew that things like “water boarding” was not morally right. He also knew to not treat immigrants as less than human and rip families apart. He made mistakes when it comes to the support of the Iraq War and openly admitted it. We all do good and bad and that is the reason why none of us can boast before God or anyone else. I pray that God have mercy on his soul as we, as a nation, lay his earthly remains at the Naval Academy on Sunday.
30 It is due to him that you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, as well as righteousness, sanctification, and redemption, I lost too much sleep this last weekend watching Pope Francis in Ireland at the 9th world meeting of families. My wife, Anna, and I just recently visited her family in Ireland in July of this year. It was marathon watching the event on EWTN and RTE (Irish TV) for coverage. Pope Francis addressed clerical abuse and remedies to correct the issue that should have been done long ago. He also addressed the love and strength of the family unit. We are called to family as a community of families and how no family is perfect. Someone knew my family. We are called to unity even in the abuse scandal and shame of our Church today.
31 so that, as it is written, “Whoever boasts, should boast in the Lord. This brings us to the our Gospel for today. Is your calling for 10 coins, 5 coins, two coins or one. What are we to do with the coins or talents God has given us. One day all of us would hope to hear the lord say ‘Well done, my good and faithful servant.
Think about the talents God has given you and how you can use them for unity and good. It might be to be a good husband or daughter or just be fair in your business dealings.
Pray for unity in our Church so that when God calls we will listen and for Maria one of our readers.
God Bless
Bob Burford
