Journey with the Lord in the Path He threads

 Amos 7:12-15, Eph. 1:3-14, Mk 6:7-13. On this Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time Year B, the Church invites us to journey with the Lord in the path of justice and truth. Such a journey is put before us in today’s first reading, as Amos, a shepherd and a dresser of sycamore trees in the southern kingdom of Judah, made a certain moment in his life. It was a most unlikely journey for the likes of Amos to make. Yet, he knew that this was a journey he had to make. Amos felt under compulsion to make a difficult journey: “The Lord took me from herding the flock and said ‘Go.’” Amos went because he had a strong sense that he was being sent. In a similar way, in today’s Gospel, the disciples set out on a journey because they were sent on that journey by Jesus. They set out freely, but in response to a call, a sending.

The experience of Amos and the disciples can also be our experience; setting out on a journey not completely of our choice. In today’s second reading, Paul suggests the mystery of God’s purpose for our lives. It says that God wants us to live our life’s journey as Jesus did. Although we often make all kinds of journeys of our own choice, whether for business or other trips, there is sense in which we try to allow our God to guide us to take certain paths and avoid others, moving us in one direction rather than another. Although God has chosen this journey for us, “before the world was made,” according to Paul, God wants us to also choose this journey for ourselves. This is not a choice we make once and for all; it is one we are constantly remaking. All our lives we can keep on choosing to surrender to God’s purpose for us; we keep setting out on the journey God is calling us to take; we keep inviting God to have His way in our lives, saying with Mary: “Let it be to me according to your word.” If we keep choosing the journey that God has chosen for us in Christ, responding to God’s call, this will impact on other journeys we take in life. It will influence our personal choices. We will choose to do our personal business in ways that are genuinely Divine, that help re-create the image of God’s Son in us. We will do things in ways that are life-giving for ourselves and others, in ways that help us to become more fully the person God wants us to be.

May the Lord strengthen us in our journey of faith, grant us knowledge, wisdom, understanding and power, so that the flame of faith may ignite within us to dispel the darkness of our world! Amen!! Good morning and have a glorious Sunday!!!