Tenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
A week ago, on June 1st, I was in Seattle for the priesthood ordination of two young men. It was a joyous occasion. The presence of God was noticeable there. The ordination of these two young men gave hope to the people at the cathedral and the Archdiocese people. The Mass was about two and a half hours. However, it seemed to go very quickly.
Each one of these men had a unique path on the journey of faith. I mention this because these men listened to the call of God and, through prayer, answered the invitation to the priesthood. We heard in our Gospel reading Jesus said, “Who are my mother and my brothers?” (Mk 3:20-35) The mother and sisters, and brothers of Jesus are the ones that do the will of God. The brothers and sisters of Jesus are the ones who are willing to sacrifice something in their lives in order to fulfill the will of God – to follow in His ways. This involves changing the way that we look at the world and our lives. Perhaps we need to change the direction of our lives if it is not spiritually fruitful. If the pathway we are on is not spiritually fruitful, this could be a sign that we need to make some changes. Through prayer and asking the Lord for guidance, He will help us make the necessary changes. What might happen if we don’t turn to God in prayer, asking for His guidance?
Let’s look at our first reading to what happened to Adam and Eve when they didn’t turn to God for guidance (Gen 3:9-15). Adam and Eve listened to the advice of the serpent. By doing this, it led to tremendous trouble for Adam and Eve and for all humanity. Adam and Eve took the serpent's advice and disobeyed God’s advice, leading to problems. When we know what the will of God is, like Adam and Eve did, and we disobey the will of God, there will be problems in our lives. God wants what is best for us. God will always want what is good for our lives. God will never give us bad advice. We know that many voices are out there offering us advice today. The Internet is full of voices. Which voice(s) are we listening to? If we are listening to a voice that may not be from God, then most likely, it is advice that we don’t want to follow. This takes prayer and discernment. As I mentioned, God will always offer us good advice that will lead to our well-being and holiness. Is the advice that we follow leading to our well-being and holiness?
How do we know what God's will is? We have to pray. Prayer is the connection to the divine. Prayer connects our hearts with God's heart. It is through this union of hearts that we can know whether we are on the right path or not. It is through this union of hearts that we are able to discern God's will. God will lead us. God will inspire us. We have to listen and be open to the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
If we don’t pray or don’t pray very much, and we don’t listen to God, then we will want to follow our own path, or even worse, the path that the serpent wants us to follow. We will not seek to do the will of God but will always do our own will. If this happens, then our hearts can become hardened. A heart that has been hardened is incapable of responding well to the Holy Spirit. This is what happened to the scribes in our Gospel today. They were in the presence of Jesus, who is God, and they thought that Jesus was possessed by a demon. Their hearts had become so hardened that they could not recognize God's presence nor the good works that God was doing in their midst. Jesus warned them that to deny the presence and work of the Holy Spirit was an unforgivable sin. If the scribes did not recognize the presence of the work of the Holy Spirit, then they would also not recognize the opportunity to receive the mercy and forgiveness that God would offer them. To deny God’s offer of forgiveness is to refuse God’s offer of salvation. This is the unforgiveable sin.
This is why prayer and discernment are so important. We do not want our hearts to become hardened. We want to be open to the guidance of the Holy Spirit and always seek the mercy and forgiveness of God. We want our hearts to be united with the heart of God so that we can know and do His will.
One final thing – we need to talk to our sons and grandsons about a possible vocation to the priesthood. God may be calling some young people in our parish to this vocation. If this is the will of God, then we need to do what we can to help our youth follow the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Please pray for more vocations to the priesthood and religious life in this community. God will do great things when we pray and do His will. “Who are my mother and my brothers?” says the Lord. “Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.” And by praying and doing God’s will, we will stay on the right path that leads to salvation.
