22nd Sunday Ordinary Time - September 3rd, 2023 (Click Here for Readings)

Not many of us would attempt to evangelize in the style and fury of Jeremiah today, but we can certainly look to him as a model of obedience to God’s calling.

Though Jeremiah felt unqualified in his youth to warn Jerusalem’s authorities of the coming collapse of their homeland and exile to Babylon, he heeded God’s instructions, and preached what he was told to preach.

God’s words burned in him. He tried to suppress his preaching but he couldn’t. He was blunt and outspoken. He didn’t preach what the Jews wanted to hear and in the end was imprisoned, released and according to tradition was later killed by his own countrymen.

He was a prototype of the suffering Christ.

And St. Paul as well, in his letter to the Romans, displayed his bold style in urging his brothers and sisters to offer their whole selves, body and spirit, to God as a living sacrifice, and avoid conforming and fashioning themselves to the world of their time.

So what about us? . . . Could we evangelize today with the boldness of Jeremiah and St Paul to secular minded Catholics and Christians about not conforming to this world of our time and being transformed by the renewal of their minds? Most of us would need to consider our approach in order to bear much fruit.

But as Jesus tells his disciples in today’s Gospel, we too, regardless of our evangelizing style, need to take up our crosses, deny ourselves and follow him through our challenges and risks of ridicule and emotional crucifixions that are thrust upon us by faithless and secular minded friends and acquaintances.

By taking up our cross, for example, of rebuking an employer, co-worker or friend for their unscrupulous behaviors and then being ostracized or even terminated can be the virtual crucifixions that help us relate to Christ’s crucifixion in a small way.

It's easy to just roll with the flow in circumstances as these. That’s our human side much like that of St. Peter when he blind-heartedly tried to overshadow the mind of God by boldly telling Jesus he would not be killed?

And as Jesus rebuked him saying “Get behind me Satan, you are an obstacle to me,” we also can be an obstacle to Jesus when we display more of our humanity and less of our holiness to others by encouraging them to focus more on their secular ambitions and less on applying themselves in service to God.

The opportunities we have as greater role models of our holiness and less of our humanity . . . and by challenging humanity with holiness in all our surroundings are endless.  Let us pray for more awareness of these opportunities as they occur in front of us.
 
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