Mk.6:7-13
“Ordinary people, but extraordinary God…” One of the most influential personalities of the Catholic world of this century is Mother Angelica. She was born on April 20, 1923, in Canton, Ohio. Her parents belonged to American-Italian immigrant mill workers. She had a painful and miserable childhood because of her broken family. Her mother had only a menial job of being an apprentice in a dry cleaning shop, and they pinched pennies to keep food on their table. She attended a convent school; unfortunately, sisters were too hard on her because of her broken family background. Her mother’s mental health worsened during her high school studies. As a result, she had to make arrangements to send her along with a relative. At that time, she had a life-transforming experience. She was suffering due to intense abdominal pain. No medical intervention could alleviate her pain. Her mother took her to a God-man who advised her to pray through the intercession of St. Theresa of Lisieux. She began a novena to her, and at the end of the ninth day, she got up from sleep wholly cured. This incident changed her life. She decided to dedicate her life to Jesus.
She went to the congregation of sisters of St. Joseph in Buffalo in New York. It was an active order they suggested to her that cloistered life would be more suitable for her. Finally, she joined with the cloistered order of poor Clare. When she was a young nun, she had an accident with an industrial floor scrubbing machine and suffered a spine injury. She promised Jesus that she would start a new monastery in the southern United States if she could recover. She has healed miraculously again. She started a new monastery Our Lady of Angels Monastery Irondale, Alabama. The great miracle was yet to happen. She had excellent communication skills. She used to record her talks, matters concerning Catholicism and try to sell them. Her Bishop recognized her charism and encouraged her to continue this new mode of evangelization. In 1970 she started to record her video talks. In 1981 she made that milestone of her life. She began Eternal World Television Network (EWTN). It is interesting to know that her shows were recorded initially in the garage of her monastery. Today EWTN has got a reach of almost 264 households globally. In 1992 she launched a radio network – WEWN. It has 215 stations today. In 2009 she received a Papal medal from Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI for her significant service to the Church and the Christian world. She died March 27, 2016, making Jesus’ name known far and wide…an ordinary woman but an extraordinary God…
We are familiar with selection interviews conducted by various organizations to choose their staff. The purpose of this interview is to choose the best candidate to carry out the organization’s work most effectively and successfully. So they try to figure out a person with a high profile and educational qualifications. In the recent past, firms are behind freshers who are just passed out of the institutions or just completed, so that they can find out candidates with potentials and whom they can mould according to their company’s demand. Two thousand years before, Jesus formed a group of twelve men. Did he manage to choose the best of men for his dream project?
All the three readings of the day invite us to reflect on the call of God for his mission. In the first reading, God calls Amos to become his mouthpiece. The speciality of this call is that Amos was a herdsman and a dresser of sycamore figs. He did not have an educational qualification or communication skills to become a messenger of God to intervene in the socio-politico situation of the people of Israel. Therefore, why did God call such an ordinary man who was not sufficiently trained or equipped for this mission?
In the second reading, we heard about this uniqueness of our call to be the followers of Christ. Paul traces back the origin of this call, not as accidental or coincident instead, God called us before the foundation of the world. Thus, Paul beautifully describes the gratuitousness of this call. This call makes us his beloved, and we are rewarded with forgiveness of our sins, the privilege to know the mystery of his will and inheritance in his salvation.
In the gospel, we see Jesus sending his disciples two by two with the mission of proclaiming his Good News. He gave them supernatural powers such as command over evil powers, gift of healing, power to forgive sins, etc. Added to that the assurance of the divine providence that they need not worry about food, money, etc. Every need of theirs would be taken care by the Lord. They have to focus on their mission of proclaiming Jesus.
All these three readings speak to us about the greatness of our call. None of us are worthy. It is neither our merit nor our right, but it is a gratuitous gift. Paul understands this privilege in the following words: “God the Father blessed us with all the spiritual blessings in the heavenly places.” God raised Amos, who was just a herdsman or dresser of the sycamore tree, to a great prophet of Israel. Paul, who persecuted the Church, became the greatest missionary and ambassador of Christ. Let us analyze the twelve disciples of Jesus. Was there anyone who would worthy to be a follower of Jesus? They were neither educated nor well cultured. It was a mixed group, consists of fishermen, zealots, tax collectors; some were greedy, always fighting to find out who was the greatest, who could sit at the master’s right or left. Judas used to steal money from the common purse and using it for himself. Yet Jesus called and chosen them. He called and qualified them. He bestowed on them graces that are natural and supernatural. They need not worry or face any obstacle under the sun; they are called to proclaim Jesus and build his kingdom.
Our call to follow Jesus we need to understand from this background. This is the greatest privilege and unique gift of our life. We did not merit it, but he has chosen us before the foundation of the world. Since we are blessed abundantly, we are accountable to bear more fruit than others. Even in this pandemic situation, we need to think about how providential care sustaining and caring us. Let us be aware of our extraordinary God, Who uses our ordinary life for his great deeds. Let us live in this awareness and be good News to Our needy brethren through our words and deeds.