Pray To God Today

On this weekend a number of years ago, I was at morning mass and during the homily someone’s phone started to ring. The man frantically searched for his phone, searching his coat to finally turn it off.  When he finally did, the priest turned toward him and said, “You better hope that wasn’t God calling you, or else you are going to have one angry voicemail!” In todays Gospel Jesus calls four of his twelve disciples.   We here in Matthews account today, of Jesus approaching them while they work away, living their ordinary lives. Although familiar to us, it would have been rather peculiar to a Jewish person who would have read this Gospel, or to the Jews themselves.   In the Jewish tradition disciples sought out a teacher, but today the teacher searches for his disciples. Jesus finds these fishermen   and called them to a radical new life where they will become fishers of people. These fishermen, attracted by the invitation,   drop everything and immediate...

On one level this is a very simply question, you are a student at the university, or someone working at such and such place. You live in Winnipeg, Manitoba and you are currently sitting in Christ the King Chapel at St. Pauls College. You are related to so and so, and you have your own experiences, ideas, and originality. But yet, one can still ask, who are you? Who is the true you? Who are you, without relation to any job, place, amount of money, or prestige? What, at the very end of the chain, is it that you call you? Today, on this last day of the Christmas season, we celebrate the feast of the Baptism of the Lord. Jesus seeks out John and receives his baptism. John’s baptism allowed the revelation of Jesus’ true identity to all those around. His true identity comes from that heavenly voice who says that Jesus is the beloved Son, with whom God is well pleased. The first chapter of Matthew relates Jesus within history, and the second chapter relates Jesus to a series of place...