January 14, 2019
First Week of Ordinary Time
Dear Family of Mary!
“I am leading you in a motherly way to adore my Son; that you love my Son with me; that your thoughts, words and actions may be directed to My Son – that they may be in His name. Then my heart will be fulfilled. Thank you.” (January 2, 2019)
I can’t help it, I want to share the homily given by Fr. Marinko on Sunday, January 13, 2019!:
Dear Brothers and Sisters! Today on the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord Jesus Christ, we are called to meditate, reflecting on our own Baptism, reflecting on ourselves, our being. Christians are those who follow Christ, who follow Him, who walk in His footsteps. And what does Jesus do?
We heard that Jesus was waiting in the crowd. Then when His turn came, He walked into the waters of the Jordan River. He was one among others who were walking into the waters of the River Jordan. You see His degree of solidarity with humanity, that He became one of us, resembling us in everything, everything except sin.
Our Baptism is the beginning. To be Christian it means to resemble, even more, Christ every day! As He became like us in everything, therefore, we are following Him, trying to resemble Him, and that is the essence of why we pray, why we come to Mass, why we read the Word of God, why we get to know Christ and resemble Him even more.
An example of such a person who is our contemporary is St. Mother Teresa. Here are some examples from her life that show us what it means concretely. Mother Teresa once said when she was asked: “I was born in Albania, by birth I am Albanian, by citizenship, Indian, by what I do, I belong to all the people of the world, and my heart belongs to Christ.” That is her personal identity card! It describes who she is.
Brothers and Sisters, I think it might be even some priest who said that this theology of Mother Teresa is two hundred years late. And she said, “What 200, it should be 2000. I am 2000 years behind Christ.!” This is what she tried to be, coming closer to Christ, trying to be like Him. But we are always behind Him. And she thought that we recognize Jesus in two ways, in the Eucharistic Bread, and in the suffering, poor man, our fellow brother.
When they asked her, what was the secret of her success, she said, “I receive Jesus every day in the Holy Eucharist.” That was the life of Mother Teresa. “I receive Jesus every day, to give Jesus. Everything is so simple. I receive Jesus, I am nourished by Jesus, so I can give Him to others. All that I do I do for Jesus. I don’t do it for people. I do all I do for Jesus.”
The Indian Minister for Social Affairs at that time understood and said “We too are helping people, we also do a lot of good. But we do it for some reason. But you, Mother Teresa, you do it for someone!” And that, Brothers and Sisters, is what Mother Teresa did. She knew that by helping others she was helping Jesus and all that she does for people she does for Jesus.
And she used to say in five fingers, “You did this to Me.” This is the essence of the Gospel. “You did this to me.” And she took this as the motto of her life and for her congregation, “I thirst.” That means I recognize Jesus in the man who thirsts, who is hungry, who is in need, who is poor, who is suffering.
And when people would come to visit her, Mother Teresa would invite them to come and visit the sick, and she would tell them, “Come and meet Jesus.” In that we can see what it means concretely to be Christian, because Mother Teresa has lived in our time, she is our contemporary. She understood what it means to be Christian today.
That is what we hear in the Mass, through Christ, in Christ, and with Christ. That means to allow Jesus to work through me. When they asked her why, when she had so many projects, she was not worried? She said, “I am not doing that. It is Jesus who is doing all that, through me.” She considered herself a pen. God wants to write a love letter to a man, and I am His pen. I serve that purpose. You see how Mother Teresa understood herself and the meaning of her life? That is, Brothers and Sisters, very interesting, and that is where the mystery is hidden. All I do, I do for Jesus, and I allow Jesus through me to do everything.
Dear Brothers and Sisters, today I just gave one example of Mother Teresa, to remind us of what is possible. If we are resembling Jesus, coming closer to Him even more, people may say that is too hard. It is impossible to achieve such holiness in the circumstances of the world in which we live. But, Brothers and Sisters, what is it that Blessed Mother says to us? “If you have love, everything is possible, if there is no love, nothing is possible.”
That, Brothers and Sisters, is the key, that is where the mystery is, what the answer to the question is. Therefore, it is important to come to know the love of God. The Blessed Mother repeats Jesus’ calling to us to love God. What does this mean? Some people say it is important to love people. No, the most important thing is to love God first!
Mother Teresa asked that at noon they would have Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. But, there are poor, there are people in need…No, no it won’t go that way. First Jesus! Come to know that love. So that later we won’t come to say that it is “I” who am doing something. But to come to know the love of Jesus, to be active, to be doing something not for others but for Him, for Jesus. If the love of God, the love of Jesus grows in us, then the love for others will grow also.
When there were two persons in trouble, with problems, a conflict situation, a priest gave this advice. “Love God!” It sounded strange, but he was telling them to pray so that the love of God might be awoken within them. If the love of God is awoken, then it is impossible not to be renewed and to renew your relationship with all persons. I receive His love and then I am formed in His love, and I know in a concrete way what to do.
Brothers and Sisters may today’s Baptism of Jesus Christ inspire us to a greater determination to meditate on our Christian identity, to become those who follow Christ. Amen.
(Fr. Marinko Sakota, Pastor to St. James Parish, Medjugorje. Homily January 13, 2019)
“I am leading you in a motherly way to adore my Son; that you love my Son with me; that your thoughts, words and actions may be directed to My Son – that they may be in His name. Then my heart will be fulfilled. Thank you.” (January 2, 2019)
In Jesus, Mary and Joseph!
Cathy Nolan
©Mary TV 2019
