catholic - doing more for God - 23rd week Tuesday 2013

The ninth article of the faith says that we are a catholic church because among others we have means available to us – we just don’t have the Word of God or the bible, we have also the sacraments to make things complete; we just don’t rely on faith in order to be saved, we also have to do good, to make a difference in this world in order to be saved.  I call this the catholic attitude.  It is the attitude of doing more for God, the attitude of walking the extra mile for God, the readiness to go anywhere, the readiness to do anything depending on the call of God, it is the capacity to re-adjust our routine when God calls us to a certain endeavor.   

We just have to look at the roster of saints to be convinced of this – we have saints who are monks, nuns, priests, yes and they are a lot; but there are also saints who are mothers, fathers, widows and widowers, grandmothers and grandfathers, even children and teenagers; yes there are intellectuals and scholars, professors and orators, but there are also dirt farmers and even slaves; there are politicians, lawyers and soldiers but there are also catechists, volunteer caregivers; there are rich saints, saints of the nobility, but there are also poor people who became saints.  That is catholic – the readiness to respond to God’s call in whatever situation, in whatever station, that the opportunity for holiness is everywhere and anywhere, that the opportunity for holiness is leveled out for all, that the opportunity to serve God can be right there in our own backyard, in our own communities and in our own parish.  To be catholic is to be an opportunist  - to see every situation as an opportunity to serve God and neighbor, to embrace the situation where we can grow in holiness.  Kon kaisa nagasiling kita – baw ginapadala ka gid sang Dios para sa amon; pagbuot gid ni Lord nga makit-anay kita; siguro ginatawag ako sang Dios nga mangin mapinsensiahon, basi pagbuot ini sang Dios agod magtuon ako nga magmaalwan; ukon kon kaisa masiling kita merito ko pa ini.  Well it can be selfish but you see it forms in us an attitude to please God in everything that we do – and that is how holiness is define, to please God by doing God’s will in whatever state of life, in whatever situation we find ourselves in..

And so we ask ourselves are we conscious of our catholicity when we are for example in our offices, in our places of work, that however mundane the encounter, this can be a holy occasion, this can become an opportunity to serve God, this can become a chance, an opening to live a life of service and love?

Our gospel today narrates to us the call of the apostles.  It’s not a list of who’s who in Jewish society.  It is a list of ordinary men - fishermen, a tax collector, a rebel returnee even.  But that’s the point – God calls us, God encounters us in our reality, that’s where the call happens.

In a months time we it will be October and October is the month of mission.  We are reminded that we are called to reach out to people, we are reminded of our call, we are reminded of our mission in life.  That’s what Catholic is all about – it is a wide open space.  We are not confined in some tiny space to take care only of ourselves.  No.  Masangkad ang aton panghunahuna, ang aton panan-aw, ang pangagda, masangkad ang misyon.