1. Are you COMFORTABLE? Just about every thing we do day in and day out is done only because we are comfortable in doing it. You probably came here and sat in ‘your spot’ for the 1000th time. Many will leave here and do the ‘same ol same ol’ all week long. But wait, the theme and mood of our readings for the first Sundays of ordinary time which is God’s CALL and our RESPONSE…tell us… that seeking comfort is NOT always the best attitude to have. Our world, while not ending, is in NEED and NOW is the time for you to take action.
2. What Comfort Zone you say? Yes, the church has just put us into a swirl of change in the Mass, and it looks like we are making steady progress in adapting, but if we get to comfortable, we’ll miss the message. The rewording of the Greetings, Gloria, Creed, Sanctus and Communion Rite head the list of changes. Yet there is one other change in the liturgy that deserves our attention. It’s in the CONCLUDING RITE. The visual CHANGE IS in the rewording of the 4 dismissal tropes, but the INTENTION IS, that as one of the new dismissals are proclaimed and the KEY WORDS heard, the power of those words will draw us each out of our Comfort Zones and stir our hearts into action.
The Latin text from which the dismissal lines were developed, came from “ITE, MISSA EST.” It is a COMMAND which means… “MARCH, YOU ARE SENT!” Now, all the new endings, avoid the word ‘march’. Instead we get our shot of courage with the more finely tuned, but inspiring command word… GO! GO in Peace…GO FORTH the mass is ended…GO and ANNOUNCE the Gospel…and GO…glorifying the Lord by your life”. ‘Go’ is a word used over 1600 times in Scripture. 2 of its more prominent uses came when the word GO was used by Jesus to send the 72 disciples out ‘as lambs amongst the wolves’ or in the ‘Great Commissioning’ when Jesus as he was leaving said ‘Go, therefore and teach all nations…”. GO is that power word, that when said FIRMLY and heard with an OPEN HEART, is intended to at least MOVE us, if not EXCITE us ‘TO ACTION’.
3. All 3 readings today CAPTURE the ITE MISSA EST or GO emotion. The reading from Jonah says, “Arise. Go to Nineveh…”. The reading from Corinthians says “Brethren, the appointed time grows very short…from now on…” and the Gospel tells us the “…kingdom of God is at hand, repent and believe…”.
4. The lesson of the story of Jonah, where God told Jonah, to GO preach repentance to the Ninevites, has two very clear points and not just to the Jewish people. 1st we understand God did not approve of how the Jewish people clung to a narrow-minded religious and nationalistic outlook. As God’s Chosen People, He WAS NOT their God to the exclusion of all other races. You see, the Ninevites were not Jewish, but yet they too needed to Repent and Change their way of life. And the 2nd point is that God chose to call and send a representative from the Hebrew nation…Jonah. God chose Jonah to let the Ninevites know that the blessings, that stem from the covenant with Abraham, of the incarnation and salvation would come to all nations, through them.
5. As far as Paul, he had to GO write a letter to the Corinthians. Christ clearly revealed to his disciples that he would return to this earth in his glory to judge the living and the dead. However, he did not reveal to them when this would be, so some of the first Christians (including, perhaps, St. Paul himself) thought and hoped it would be during their own lifetime. So in his letter to the Corinthians, St. Paul uses the tone of URGENCY to incite action; for he DOES know every man’s time on earth is at best short, so he advises and admonishes his pagan converts to do what our Lord himself advised his follower—ALWAYS to be READY for judgment.
6. It is a know fact, that Jesus WENT mainly to the Jewish people of Galilee to preach the Gospel. But through them, Jesus would take the steps whereby this ‘Good News’ would eventually be preached to all nations. And as we see today Jesus began to establish His Church, by CALLING the first of His Apostles. Andrew, Peter, John and James, would be apart of the foundation to His Church, the core of His fledgling evangelization team, that Jesus would later tell, “GO preach the good news to the ends of the earth.”
7. Today we must realize, spiritually there really is no “Comfort Zone’ to be found. And Jesus understood that as he was called to undertake the mission of salvation for His Father. What if Jonah had turned down God’s call with a …hardy NO. What if Paul told Jesus …eehh. What if Andrew, Peter, James and John all said ‘Sorry, I’m busy’ to Jesus as He called them to follow Him. All had to move CHANGE life styles to follow the call. We all need to understand that the World we live in is full of ignorance and sin and always in need of Repentance. Therefore, Anointed in Baptism and lead by the example of Jonah, Paul, Jesus and the Apostles, we each have been called to GO Serve the Lord to build His Kingdom in our families, work places and neighborhoods. For the sake of your soul and the mission, don’t worry about your COMFORT and today when you hear that ‘GO’ word, let’s get FIRED UP!
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