Sunday, Sept. 5th, 2010. Lectionary # 130. Anniversary # 58 of first vows (Fr. Bert)

Scripture: Sunday, Sept.5. Lectionary # 130. Wisdom 9:13-18. Psalm
90:3-4.5-6.12-13.14-17. Philemnon 9.10.12-17. Luke 14:25-33: Sept.5, 1952
Fr. Bert professed his first vows in Society of Mary. Anniversary #58.

Discipleship is no easy commitment. Jesus gives us some difficult
decisions about being his discipleships. We listen to these words in the
Gospel of Luke who applied them to the churches that he knew from the
apostle Paul. The two may have traveled together in visiting these churches
and stirring the people to become faithful disciples of the Lord. These
words are addressed to us not to priests, religious, and bishops. Those
callings had not been structured in the Church when Jesus spoke of
discipleship. So these strong words from the Lord are applicable today to
us. They are the living words of the Jesus Christ who live among us and
who also rose from the dead.

The language is emphatic and dramatic as befits the Semitic manner of
speaking by a Master, a teacher, a Messiah. What does it mean for us today?
How are we to interpret this in our daily lives and by so doing become
faithful disciples of the Lord.

We may need to discover who Jesus is for the first time in our lives. We
must experience the living Christ if we are to be his disciples. Study
does not do this. Neither sticking to our own traditional image of Jesus
have the power to transform us into disciples of the Messiah. We seek
Jesus through definite times set aside for prayer. This demands discipline
on our part to reserve fifteen to twenty minutes early in our day and then
to close it with another period of prayer. This is prayer that stems from
faith of the heart and believes in the living presence of the Lord within
us and within the sacraments. Jesus is found both in our prayer and our
action and thus we are led to him and become his faithful disciples. We
cannot wait for an extraordinary experience of the living Christ like Paul
had. Our will come in the ordinary flow of our lives but with the focus
that we have from our periods of prayer that helps us meet and have an
experience of the Lord Jesus. Another component of faithful discipleship is
to make sure we call upon the Holy Spirit to make us feel and experience
the presence of Jesus while we pray. Jesus is in our hearts and the hearts
of our brothers and sisters. We need to recognize them as living in Christ
as our brothers and sisters. We find Jesu in the Scriptures that are daily
read in the Eucharistic celebration. We experience Jesus through the words
of our counsellors in the spiritual life, through our reading spiritual
books or the life of the saints.

Those who are serious about discipleship with Jesus will also be there for
us if we wish to discuss this with them and learn from them. Dedication to
Mary, the Mother of Jesus and our spiritual mother will help us to follow
someone who is a faithful disciple of Jesus during his life time more than
any one else had been. The apostles and saints of the past help us in the
demands of discipleship. Present saints, too, who are always among us if
we dare to look to find them will assist us. Some of these may have made
their dedication public and formal by their vows; they are supposed to help
us in our call to discipleship. We look for trustworthy faithful disciples
to show us how to follow Jesus.

Wisdom is the first and greatest of the seven gifts coming from the Holy
Spirit. Our first reading tells us that the Holy Spirit helps us to
discover the gift of wisdom. It is from the Spirit that we discover the
counsel or advice from God as to how to be disciples. "Only then are the
paths of us who are on earth made straight."
(Wisdom 9:18).

Psalm 90 is a wake-up call to be disciples of the Lord for our lives really
are short on this journey of our souls. We are told in the psalm that we
may reach seventy or eighty if we are strong. And today because of medical
advancement we can raise those years to ninety and even one hundred, but
they are limited too and pass quickly. The Psalm offers us a sober
reflection on our limits and our need for God as our refuge. Psalm ninety
is worthwhile reading slowly and pondering. It acts like a reality therapy
session with God and ourselves.

The letter to Philemon shows us how one person who was a slave becomes a
helper of Paul then emancipated and probably is one of the early leaders of
the Church in Asia Minor in his later years. Philemon experienced Christ
and became a disciple of Jesus the Lord.

Finally, since the Holy Spirit is essential to our understanding the
commitment of discipleship, here is a translation of a traditional prayer
to the Spirit that was placed in the back of a church in Germany. This is
my translation from the German:
"Come, Holy Spirit, sanctify us!
Fill our hearts with burning desire for the Truth, the Way, and the
fullness of Life.
Enkindle in us your fire.
that we ourselves may then be Light that shines and warms and trusts.
Permit our heavy tongues find Words that can speak of your Love and Beauty.

Shape us anew that we may be people of Love of your clearly seen Holy Word
of God.
Then we may renew the face of our planet Earth, and wil fashion all new
again.
Come, Holy Spirit, sanctify us, strengthen us, remain with us. Amen.