Wanted: Missionary Disciples (3rd Sunday Ordinary A)

“We are all missionary disciples.” Pope Francis stresses in his apostolic exhortation, Evangelii Gaudium, that by virtue of baptism, “Every Christian is a missionary to the extent that he or she has encountered the love of God in Christ Jesus: We no longer say that we are ‘disciples’ and ‘missionaries’, but rather that we are always ‘missionary disciples’” (EG, 120).

We are always missionary disciples. We are called so that we might be sent. We are invited to a deeper friendship with the Lord so that we can go forth to share the joy of that fellowship to all. Discipleship is not just following the Lord. It also means being sent just as today’s gospel recounts how the Lord called his first disciples who were fishermen so that they might become fishers of men: “Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men” (Mt 4:19).

Let us reflect then deeper on the meaning and implications of this calling in the light of today’s gospel (Mt 4:12-23). First, we may ask, “What does it take to be a disciple of Christ?” What does it require of me to follow Christ? And second, how should we understand the missionary nature of discipleship?

Discipleship and its Cost. Spiritual writers and theologians have been using the phrase, “the cost of discipleship,” or “costly discipleship” as opposed to “cheap discipleship.” These refer to the fact that when we decide to follow Christ, such a decision is never easy because there is a high cost to it. Discipleship is demanding. When it does not require something great from us, chances are it is unauthentic discipleship; it is cheap as it is empty. 

In the light of today’s gospel reading, it is discernible that the cost of discipleship is high indeed. When the Lord, walking by the Sea of Galilee, invited some fishermen—Simon (Peter) and his brother Andrew—to come after him, “at once they left their nets and followed him” (v. 20).  Walking further along, the Lord saw two other brothers in a boat, James and John, the sons of Zebedee. The Lord called them and “immediately they left their boat and their father and followed him” (v. 22).

If we were fishermen, what would the fishing net and boat mean to us? Of course, these would be very important to us as these could mean more than just things; the net and the boat could well represent our means of living, our very way of life which most probably has been handed down to us by our parents.  Hence, today’s gospel is illustrating to us that to follow the Lord, to be his disciple requires leaving behind a way of life—nets, boats, fathers included! No mean feat indeed.

To turn away from all that we have clung to in life is also a process called conversion, in Greek, metanoia, which means a change of heart.  In today’s gospel, as Jesus begins his public ministry, he calls for metanoia for the sake of God’s Kingdom: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (v. 17). As he calls his disciples, he invites them to a change of heart. To be able to follow him in the path of the kingdom of God, those called have to leave behind the life they have gotten used to otherwise they would not be able to embrace the new life offered by the Lord. They have to turn away from an old value system that they may embrace the new values of Christ and the Kingdom.

Discipleship demands conversion. When we don’t take this demand seriously, when we prefer not to be disturbed as we follow the Lord, our discipleship is a sham because, for all we know, we have not actually left our boats and nets.  We may just be fooling ourselves.

What stands as our fishing net or boat? To follow the Lord more truthfully, what do we need to let go of? A meaningless work? A destructive relationship? Attachment to things? Addictions? Materialistic and narcissistic lifestyle?

Missionary Option.  To use the term of Pope Francis, “missionary option” may mean for us as our decision to be always in a state of mission. Discipleship always implies a missionary option.  Whoever the Lord calls to come after him is in not only for friendship with him but precisely for a mission: “Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men.” It is not for nothing that we leave behind our nets and boats and fathers. When we courageously choose to follow the Lord, we experience the infinite love and mercy of God; we experience the reign of God in our lives. We experience total salvation. It is this tremendous goodness of God that propels us with joy to become fishers of men. We go forth and share to all people this joy of being loved and saved.

We are always missionary disciples. Discipleship is not only following the Lord and enjoying fellowship with him and with the other disciples; it is also being sent to the lost, the least, and the last that they too may also hear, through us, the good news of the saving love of God, that they too may choose to belong to the kingdom of God.

To whom are we sent? Who are the lost, the least, and the last in our community? An aging parent? A wayward sibling? Uncatechized children? A hungry neighbor?  An unwed couple? A destroyed environment?

All too often we tend to choose to be safe and comfortable with our old fishing nets and boats. Courtesy, perhaps, of our protective parents.  But when we remain always in our safe and comfort zones we do not grow much. We end up bored and unhappy. Life is robbed of joy. Or as disciples, we may just choose to stay in the consoling fellowship of the Lord with the exclusive elect without reaching out to others; such discipleship is narcissistic.   

The true disciples of Christ are daring. Risk-takers. Courageous.  They leave behind their comfort zones--nets, boats, and fathers--to reach out to others and proclaim the saving love of God. Their lives are never boring but are always filled with joy.  Such is the beautiful invitation to become fishers of men, to become missionary disciples.

Star of Hope (Epiphany Sunday A)

When did giving hope become wrong?

I recall an episode of the TV series, “Honesto,” where a confrontation between Honesto’s adoptive mother (Lourdes) and her old father (Lemuel) highlights the value of giving hope. Lourdes is worried about the child’s (Honesto’s) persistent longing to know his own father whom he has not met since his birth. She is disturbed that some friends, like Diego who volunteers to act as Honesto’s father even for a day, are giving the child hope. Lourdes is gently confronted by the wise old Lemuel with this question: “Kailan ba naging masama ang magbigay ng pag-asa?” To this, Lourdes responds justifying her anxiety: “Kapag alam mong wala ng pag-asa!” But Lemuel knowingly looks at her daughter straight in her eyes and says something to this effect: “Palaging may pag-asa. Takot ka lang mawala sa ‘yo ang bata kapag magkita silang mag-ama.”

It’s never wrong to give and enkindle hope.  What is wrong is when we put off the remaining flickers of hope just because we are selfishly afraid and insecure concerning our personal interests. There is always hope. Hope is only gone when we allow ourselves to be overcome by our fatalistic resignation and our defeatist pessimism.

Picture grabbed from http://ph.images.search.yahoo.com

Star of Hope. In today’s gospel reading (Mt 2:1-12), a bright star, the star of hope for the people of Israel and of all nations, signified the birth of the King of the Jews as interpreted by the wise men from the East. These wise men followed the lead of the star and were brought to Jerusalem. They sought and found the newborn King in order to adore him for He is the long-awaited Messiah, the one who is to shepherd the people of Israel as prophesied and the people of all nations as now revealed to these gentiles from the East.

But one person was particularly troubled by the birth of the Messiah. Ironically, he who was the most powerful in the land of Israel was the most insecure of all—King Herod.  What represented as hope to all people was a threat to him. Hence, from that time on, Herod plotted to kill the newborn King.

Enemies of Hope: Fatalistic Resignation and Pessimism. Let us be aware that sometimes we are like Herod, and Lourdes, afraid to allow people to have hope. When people around us seem to have hope of becoming better in life, we pull them down with all our might. Courtesy of our crab mentality. We are sometimes consumed by our fear of being left behind. So we make sure that we are all together in our misery. Or perhaps, we infect people with our fatalistic resignation to life’s misery. We declare that our misery is our fate. There is no use striving hard because we are born to be poor, to be oppressed, and to be marginalized. It is God’s will anyway, so we might as well accept that we are going to be stuck into these deprivations for life. Or further still, we blow off any glimmer of hope with our defeatist pessimism. We just don’t admit that life is difficult; we further believe that life is absurd. Nothing in life is good and meaningful. We live with all the negativities we carry with us and we bring into this hell the people around us. What a pity! These can easily lead us to despair.

Seek the Lord of Hope. We pray that we do not fall into the trap of desperation. We ask for enlightenment  and some sparks of hope to allow us to see a meaningful way forward for our families and for the country amid the many social ills that beset our nation.  Let us shed off our Herodian complex and be the wise men from the East instead. In the darkest moments of our trials, let us not succumb to desperation but let us courageously journey to seek the light of Christ for He is our hope.  

Today’s feast of the Epiphany is a guarantee that God wills to reveal himself to those who seek him. He always sees to it that his people find him so that He may be their Lord and Savior most especially in these times of insurmountable hardships. With hope in our hearts then, we look forward to a year of fruitful rebuilding of peace and brotherhood among us.

Give Hope. It is never futile to give and enkindle hope. And our hope is in the Lord. Seek the Lord then as the wise men did. It is only when we have found the Lord and we carry him in our hearts that we can lead people from their darkest trials to the light of Christ. To those who are grappling in the dark, we all can be stars of hope. It is never wrong to give hope.