Twenty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time
Coming to Know Jesus
How do we get to know Jesus? If Jesus were to ask us “Who do you say that I am?” what would you answer? Perhaps those of us who read Rediscovering Jesus last Lent would have some specific answers. Perhaps your last retreat, especially an ACTS retreat gave you some evidence.
In RCIA, and in other areas of parish life where we are intentionally and consistently trying to be more aware of how God is working in our lives, we frequently name ordinary experiences. For example, this morning I met a family who came to the church office. Their daughter was excited about beginning to get ready for her First Holy Communion. Her mother and father would do the formation with her, and she was so pleased that it would be done at home.
And then Mom knew that it was time for her to get serious about her own faith. She had been baptized in another denomination and, although married in the Catholic Church and raising her daughters as Catholic, she realized that she too was being called to embrace Catholicism. The RCIA journey begins for her and for her family. Her daughter’s faith is one way that is helping her to know Jesus.
Many and great are the opportunities to know Jesus that await our YES! We can know Jesus and answer the question, “Who do you say that I am?” in our awareness of how God is working in our lives every day. These days I feel especially challenged by the events in our world. What would Jesus do if he walked into the middle of a protest group spouting hatred for other human beings? Who would Jesus be for those refugees who were being hauled like cattle without air and water in an 18 wheeler? What would Jesus do if he saw any death by execution?
We also know Jesus in hearing a good homily or reading a good book. We come to know who Jesus is in conversations with friends as well as persons who are not yet our friends. Music and the beauty of nature can inspire us to know and follow Jesus.
Anne Osdieck used this quotation from Pope Francis from his Morning Meditation of February 20, 2014, said:
We come to know him “in the daily encounter with the Lord, each day. Through our victories and through our weaknesses.”
We come to know Jesus…as disciples on the path of life, following behind him….This is a work of the Holy Spirit, who is a great worker; he is not a union organizer, [but] he is a great worker. And he is always at work in us: and he carries out this great work of explaining the mystery of Jesus, and of giving us the mind of Christ.
This weekend we give expression to our relationship with Jesus in “the work of the people” that we call liturgy—in our celebration of the Eucharist, when we remember how his disciples came to know him and recognize him in the breaking of the bread in the presence of others in the community.