Homily

Two brothers, Peter and Andrew, out on the water and casting their nets into the sea on a day like most other days, doing a job they had done thousands of times before as fisherman. But this day would end up being the most important day of their lives, because on this day Jesus would call them to leave it all behind and come and follow Him. And they did! They followed Him. They heard and they saw things that no other people could ever begin to imagine if they were not a part of the band of apostles and disciples. Although they could not yet comprehend or understand it, they would be following God Who became a man. There would be the great highs and the great lows, the passion and crucifixion, and the resurrection from the dead, and later the great struggles in preaching the Gospel, and the great joys in preaching the Gospel. All because of that one day when Jesus walked by and called them. All because of that one day when they answered the call of Jesus. So much depends on that call and answering that call. In fact, in our Liturgical books St. Andrew is known as the “The First Called.”

So, I was thinking about the idea of calling. When you call someone, you are attempting to make contact with that person, to establish a link between you and them. We call people for all kinds of reasons: to speak or meet with them, to praise them, to share good news or bad, to ask questions and get information, to spend time with them, to give them information. There are lots of reasons we call people and sometimes it’s nothing more than to tell them to get in the kitchen and start doing the dishes. We may be calling them directly with our voice, or we may use aids like the telephone, and we often call other people because we want something. We may want something for ourselves, or we may want something for them, or we may want something for the both of us, just a chance to spend some time together.

But think of it, please—every single time we call someone, whether it’s out in the parking lot or to some city thousands of miles away, we call people because of something we want, for us, or for them or for the both of us (although I grant you we may sometimes call because of something we want for another person, yet when we call someone it is still also about us and the person we’re calling.) Did you call out to someone today already, at home, or on the phone, or in the parking lot outside? By voice, or text or email? How many other people will you call this Sunday?

Jesus calls Peter and Andrew. Why? What does He want from them? He does not want something from them. He wants them. He calls them to be in a very close relationship with Him. He calls them to Himself, He calls them into His love, He calls them to genuine life and eternal life. And, after His ascension, by the power of the Holy Spirit, He will call them to call others in His name and into His love and into His life. That is their vocation—to be called by Christ and to call others to Christ. Vocation comes from the Latin root word “vocare” which means “to call.”

Just like Peter and Andrew we too have been called. We have been called by Jesus. He called us through our parents into Holy Baptism. He calls us through His Church, and through His bishops and priests. He calls us, the Lord calls us, in the depth of our souls. He calls us every day through circumstances, other people, happy events, sad occurrences, in our prayers and at Liturgy, and even when we’re tired or bored He calls us to come and be with Him, to come and listen to Him, to come and talk with Him.

We rarely, directly and firmly reject His call. Certainly, none of us here have rejected His basic call that we too, like Peter and Andrew, become His disciples. But those other calls—the calls where He wishes us to spend time with Him, those calls where He urges us to avoid sin and take up virtue, those calls where He asks us to put Him in first place instead of our own selfish egos—those are the calls that He makes as well. As Psalm 95 urges us, “O that today you would listen to his voice; harden not your hearts.” Our hearts may not be hard, but if they are deaf and not attentive the result is much the same.

Think of our country. As fewer and fewer people listen to His voice, what good has it done for us. And just stop to think of all the agenda items we are told we should be paying attention to, and how many of those have helped us as a nation, as a people?

And, as most cell phones show us very clearly, we either push the “Accept” or “Decline” button. Or it may be we have turned the ringer off altogether for right now. We send the Lord to spiritual voicemail. We’ll catch up with Him later, probably. Maybe we’ll even call back. But we’ve got things to do and places to go so Christ is sent to voicemail. And now that we’re sitting here today and have a minute to think, how sad is that for us?

That’s why it is good to pray before we eat, to set up times in the day even for a minute or two of prayer, to help us refocus our attention, so that the Lord can gain our attention, because there is so much noise out there, so many voices demanding that we listen to them, and it is so easy to get wrapped up in their messages, that we can fail to hear and respond to the one voice that really matters. St. John tells us Jesus said, “My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish. Neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.”

Let us not just spend time here in church today, good as that is. Let us also call on the Lord and listen for His call. There is no better way to start your week than to speak with Him and listen to Him. Jesus doesn’t have voicemail because He is always ready to hear us, always ready to be with us. We have so many, many ways in which we can spend our time. Let us be sure that we are also attentive to hearing the calls of our Lord. He offered Peter and Andrew lives of great love and satisfaction and He called them again and again after that initial meeting until they ended up being forever in His presence. He calls us to that very same thing. This week, every day let us take the time throughout the day to hear His messages, and to speak with Him. We just need our minds and the ears of our hearts to be listening.