Hear Gods Word. Overcome Fear and Pride. Accept Your Mission.

Twenty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time
Reading 1 - Jer 20:7-9
Reading 2 - Rom 12:1-2
Gospel - Mt 16:21-27

 

Jeremiah and Peter, taken together, are an instruction for us. Why Jeremiah tried to quit. God did not accept the letter of resignation. Peter failed in the very first moments of his papacy, but Jesus did not ask for the keys back and no case with Jeremiah or Peter or anywhere else that we can find in the Good Book or in our Christian history.

Does God remove his will from someone just because they don't think they can do it? It may be left undone if they won't try, but he's not giving it to someone else. If he told Jeremiah before I put you and my mother's womb, I already decided your will, your work, and your fate in this world. Isn't that the same for all of us?

We all have a task that he has given us, and we may feel unwilling, unworthy to, sinful, to fearful, to young, to old. I don't have the right words. No one's going to listen to me. We can make all kinds of excuses, but we'll never be happy unless we try. And if we do try, God will do everything else.

Do we have to win now? We have to run. That's the message of the scriptures. We don't have to win the race. Jesus already did. He already won the war. We just have to wage the battle. And so if we fall down, we have to keep getting back up. One of our favorite quotes of Saint Mother Teresa of Calcutta.

God calls upon us not to be successful, but to be faithful.