Called and Chosen

“Jesus turned and saw them following him and said to them,
‘What are you looking for?’”

John 1:38a

Have you ever been chosen to be a part of a team? Do you recall as a child in the school playground when the two team captains begin to choose people to be a part of their team and your name is called? How did it feel? Or maybe you didn’t get called or maybe called last? How did it feel? Sometimes when we are not called or chosen for something we question our value and worth because something in our hearts tell us that we were not good enough, but that’s not necessarily the case. Sometimes we are not chosen for one thing because something else awaits us.

Young Samuel heard a voice in the middle of the night and he thought it was Eli who had called him so he went and inquired. But, Eli said he had not called him. Later Eli realized that the Lord was calling out to Samuel so he instructed him to say, “Speak, LORD, for your servant is listening” if he heard the Voice again. He did and the LORD remained with him, sustaining him in the call to which He has called Samuel.

As Jesus began His public ministry, John the Baptist remained steadfast in His call in testifying to Jesus, crying out in the desert to make straight the paths, and baptizing in the Jordan. While with two of his disciples, John the Baptist caught sight of Jesus and he said, “Behold the Lamb of God.” Those two disciples in turn followed Jesus and stayed with Him. An interesting detail here is that the disciples of John became disciples of Jesus, showing us the fruit of fulfilling one’s call. John the Baptist’s call was to testify to Christ and to point the way to Christ for others, and his life did just that. When the appointed time had come and having been taught and prepared by John, the disciples followed the Master Teacher, the One who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

Brothers and sisters, we too have been called and chosen, not for the world, but for heaven. When the world rejects us it is because God has claimed us for His own. When others in this world refuse to befriend us, it is because our true friends are yet to be revealed. Rejection is never a gauge of our worth or dignity, but rather a reminder that something greater awaits us and that Someone has already called and chosen us. We have been called and chosen by God.

Click below to watch the reflection.

You Are My Beloved

“And a voice came from the heavens, 
‘You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.’”

Mark 1:11

Traditionally, the Epiphany, the Baptism of the Lord, and the Wedding Feast of Cana are commonly grouped together in celebration because they are all visible divine manifestations of Jesus. With the Epiphany, it is made known that Jesus is King of all the nations and with the Wedding Feast of Cana we see the divine authority of Jesus in even the ordinary life of the people, revealing that our God is a God who cares about the day to day events of the people, even running out of wine at a wedding! Today we celebrate the Baptism of the Lord, something that at face value seems silly — if baptism is to wipe away sins, why is Jesus, who is sinless, getting baptized?

Jesus desired to be baptized by John not because He was in need of cleansing or that He somehow needed it to partake in the divine life of the Father and the Holy Spirit, but because He desired to be in solidarity with the people and to show what is needed to be done to live as children of God. Rather than being cleansed by the water, Jesus sanctified the water by His act of humility and by the outpouring of the Holy Spirit who descended upon Jesus as He emerged from the water. How symbolic of the Exodus of the Israelites, whom God led from slavery into new life by crossing the waters of the Red Sea. Jesus, having taken on the sins of humanity, passed through the waters of the Jordan, washing away the death our sins merited us and emerging with the light of eternal life, that which by our baptism we now dare hope.

Upon coming from the water, the voice of the Father spoke to the Son, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased,” affirming the the identity of the Son and the source of His authority. Those same words the Father speaks to each one of us today: “You are my beloved son and daughter; with you I am well pleased.” Out of His great love for us, God sent His only begotten Son into the world to be born as we are born and to be baptized so that we might have the hope of eternal life, and to tell us that we are His beloved and that He is pleased with us. God calls us His beloved for He has loved us from all eternity, and He is pleased with us — just us. God is not pleased with us because we excel in our studies or workplaces or because we go to Mass or avoid sin, or even because we bring others into the Church, all of which are great things! But God simply loves us for we who are. God loves us in our weaknesses, in our brokenness, in our vulnerability, and God even loves us through our sinfulness. God loves us and stoops down to meet us in our weak, fragile humanity to raise us up to share in His divinity. How blessed are we? How blessed are we that God loves us so much? And the Father sent His Son into the world to show us just that.

Don’t forget, the Father says to you today, “You are my beloved, and with you I am well pleased.”

Following the Star

“And behold, the star that they had seen at its rising preceded them, until it came and stopped over the place where the child was.”

Matthew 2:9b

Today the Church celebrates the solemnity of the Epiphany, when we remember the arrival of the Magi or the Wise Men and their presentation of gifts to the Infant Jesus. On a deeper level, the Epiphany is the day when God was made manifest to the people — not just to the Jews, but to all people and all nations, as symbolized by the visit of the Magi from afar.

In that little manger held a most fragile infant. A baby born without the luxury of post-natal care or other medical care. A baby born in a filthy stable and laid in a cold manger wrapped only in scraps of swaddling clothes. This is the way God chose to be made manifest to us: in weakness, in vulnerability, in rejection, in poverty, and in adversity. Our God is a God who stands with us and chooses to be with us in our weakness and trials. Even as the Infant was being born, His life was sought after already by King Herod. From the very moment of the Infant’s life to His final moments, the Lord’s life was at stake and was sought after. God was made manifest in a way that encapsulates the depths of human suffering and the trials one might and must endure in life. In every way, God became man. God became man to tell us that He is truly Emmanuel, “I am with you in every way, every step of the way.”

It was the star that led the Magi to the Infant Jesus. As learned men, they would have seen countless stars, yet this one was different. So different that they were willing to leave their homes, their places of comfort and security, to set off for a long journey to a distant place to see where this star would lead them. They knew at the end of their journey the would find something and someone amazing, Someone to whom they must bear gifts. They also know they would walk away from that encounter changed, where life would never be the same. Brothers and sisters, when we choose to leave behind in comfort what is familiar we will always be led to what is greater, and that to which we are led, we will come to possess: God Himself.

Are we aware of the stars that surround us? What are those stars that we look upon and follow? Do they lead us to Christ or do they lead us away from Christ? Let us identify those stars in our lives — people, places, things — (among them the Church) and allow them to lead us to the Infant Jesus who is God made man, who is God made manifest to us, reminding us that He is with us, in our joys and sorrows, health and sickness, sufferings and trials.

Brothers and sisters, let us look up at the sky and the nature that surrounds us today and may we be reminded of the Creator who created and placed all those things there for our joy, the same Creator who was wrapped in swaddling clothes, laid sleeping, fragile, and vulnerable in the manger. God has made Himself manifest to us. Will we journey to the depths of our hearts, to the spiritual Bethlehem’s in our brothers and sisters to find Him?

Watch my reflection for the Epiphany below.