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Gospel - Mt 4:18-22
As Jesus was walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers,
Simon who is called Peter, and his brother Andrew,
casting a net into the sea; they were fishermen.
He said to them,
"Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men."
At once they left their nets and followed him.
He walked along from there and saw two other brothers,
James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John.
They were in a boat, with their father Zebedee, mending their nets.
He called them, and immediately they left their boat and their father
and followed him.
Hopefully you can recall or at least imagine a skit from the Carol Brunette Show – she plays a young woman, overwhelmed by life, controlled by guilt and shame, trapped inside her distraught self...seeking counsel and release.
Her sidekick, Harvey Korman plays a psychologist – tweed suit, round glasses, empathetic manner (Bishop Ricken could do the cheezy German accent if he were here!).
He tries to convince her that if she can talk about "it", she can deal with "it". Armed with Freud's wisdom and a good dose of Carl Rogers' "unconditional positive regard" he tries to persuade her:
"Come, come my dear! Let me help you. Tell me what's troubling you! It will be OK"
But she's reluctant – her body language reveals her resistance as she curls up in a tight ball.
But the therapist persists:
"Now young lady, I'm a professional; I've heard it all before. There's nothing you can tell me that will surprise or shock me; nothing you have to say that we can't deal with."
And so she begins her story – whispering into his ear.
A look of relief immediately comes over her face, and she continues.
But as she begins to experience being set free by her truth – beautiful joy coming over her countenance - something else happens.
Inversely, her therapist begins to hesitate, to frown and draw back; folding his arms as a look of disgust, fear and revulsion comes over his face & he stops her and says:
"My dear! Enough! What's wrong with you? How dare you! I can't ....I'm afraid that I cannot deal with you any longer!"
Burnett goes back instantly into her shell – her tomb really. Korman straightens his tie brushes his sleeves and retakes the authority and comfort of his role; and we're back where we started. Her 'worst fear' realized!
Funny, right? Well, only to a point!
Today brothers, in the apostolic Call of Saint Andrew and his buddies...in our Call to be believers and priests
....and in our Call to be here,
and to go from here armed with Divine Mercy –
one of our great fears is dashed as one of our greatest hopes is realized!
It's rock solid, good-news Gospel Truth –
that Jesus can deal with "it" whatever "it" is!
We just preached to our people – "We have a great High Priest who is able to sympathize with our weakness because He was tempted in every way that we are!" (Hebrews 4)
And Jesus' mercy can help us to be great and merciful priests for others who come to us afraid, tied up in knots, controlled by guilt, suffocated by shame.
As closest confidants, eventual 'pillars of the Church' – Jesus calls ordinary guys; blue collar workers; fishermen: Simon & Andrew, James & John. No special training or advanced degrees or religious expertise!
And Jesus needs no one to tell Him about the human condition. He can anticipate their faith and goodness, but also their fear and fumbling. It's no stretch for Him to foresee their heroism and their denials and betrayal. Their faith and friendship, their idealism will buoy Him up, but they will also leave Him quite abandoned on Calvary.
He can anticipate that it will be Andrew who 'saves the day' (John 6) - bringing the lad and his sack lunch of 5 loaves and 2 fish to help feed the crowds,
Jesus can also anticipate that it will be Andrew – who in the next breath puts his foot in his mouth, dismissing this "life line" with the words "But what good is that for so many"?
Still, Jesus calls Andrew anyway!
Despite our humanity – and in many ways, through it, He calls you and me too, brothers – first to let Him deal with us as we are, in the 'amazing grace' of the Father,
and then to be His merciful presence in the lives of those we serve back home.
But how can we hope to give what don't first receive?
You guys know how it is walking onto the confessional on Saturday – maybe nobody shows up; maybe a crowd right up to mass time;
maybe 'stoned to death with popcorn' sins;
maybe complex and painful sin that threatens to overwhelm us along with the penitent!
How can we keep from flinching at it all? How to keep a poker-face as confessors – more importantly how can we be Jesus' compassionate and merciful face - if we haven't received that gift of God through the ministry of another brother?
How can we be willing to reassure folks that anything can be dealt with in God's love, anything can be forgiven by the blood of Christ – no exceptions – unless we have first been on the other side as penitents?
Sure – we make a 'public confession' every time we preach – "You can tell a preacher's sins by the way a preacher preaches!" they say. But that alone is insufficient. And many folks don't 'crack that code'.
So now - as ordinary as Andrew – maybe sometimes not sure why we have been called, we come here tonight – to deal with the fear – that Christ and the Church can't deal with our story.
We come to experience in Christ and this sacrament, the fulfillment of our great Hope: that everything, everyone can deal with through the unconditional love that forgives, reconciles, heals and sets us free to be merciful ourselves.
It's safe here to consider how we have fallen short, failed some days, in our Call, seduced by fear, ego or short-sighted pay-offs.
- We acknowledge that we have failed to see Christ in those we serve and those with whom we serve.
- We observe that we've duped ourselves into thinking we're too busy to pray or adequately prepare for our ministry.
- We admit that we have labeled ourselves or our brothers – 'traditional' or 'progressive', 'Vatican II priests' or 'John Paul II priests', conservatives or liberals – and in doing so have threatened the Last-Supper unity (John 17) Christ wills for all His priests!
- True - we have fallen short in the reverence and purity that our vow of celibacy implies for ourselves & to God's People.
- We confess that we have failed in kindness to colleagues, parishioners and to ourselves at times.
- Right - we have allowed at our self absorption and egos unchecked to be sole criteria for our decisions and behaviors.
- We admit that we have failed to show the respect – along with some compassion – which we promised to our Ordinary and his successors.
- We're sad to say that at times, our kingdoms, not God's Kingdom, have preoccupied us.
- Yes, we have used our voices to spread gossip, to amplify frustration, judgment and despair about our Church's present or its future.
But nonetheless - we are called –
Just like Andrew and the other 11 –
And along with
King David, Paul of Tarsus, Augustine of Hippo, Francis of Assisi, Norbert of Premontre,
and all the other ordinary folks –
sinners called to become saints –
Here, we know we will find Christ...we can find in this sacrament
the mercy, insight, relief, challenge and joy to go back home...credible witnesses...
...fishers of men and women who are eager – even desperate –to be hooked by such "mercy within mercy within mercy". (Thos. Merton)
"Come Father" – Jesus says us tonight– "follow me!"
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