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2023 January 22 __ 3rd Sunday • Isaiah 8:23-9:3 • Psalm 27 • 1 Corinthians 1:10-13, 17 • + Matthew 4:12-23 • Put Down Your Nets. Pray]
[__01__] Many years ago, my parents were helped
out of their car/vehicle trouble – which they were in – outside of a shopping
center / CVS Pharmacy, in a parking lot, when they discovered a flat tire,
something had pierced the rubber of the wheel and they were not going anywhere.
2 young people noticed the flat-tire. Seeing my father and mother were about to
call AAA Roadside Assistance, these 2 young people jumped into action and
changed the tire, put on the spare tire and put the flat tire in the
trunk. My father had tried to stop them
from helping, feeling he should call AAA, but then wanted to pay them
something. They would accept no reward.
They
testified to doing this out of Christian charity and service.
I imagine
they were also out shopping on their way to a CVS Pharmacy. They had interrupted their journey.
[__02__] In
the book of Matthew Chapter 4, we read that the disciples – Peter and Andrew,
James and John – were disrupting their regular way of fishing, and putting down
their nets in order to follow Jesus.
In other words, they were in the midst of doing something
else – doing their regular work – when Jesus came along and interrupted what
they were doing, what they were thinking about.
While there are persons of all ages who might suffer –
due to very serious situations – not just flat tires – but due to poverty,
oppression, do not our hearts often go out to those who are either appear to us
to be “older” or “younger”.
My
parents were not extremely old at the time of this incident, but they were
certainly much older than the 2 young adults who pulled out the jack and wrench
and other tools to change the flat tire.
In a
message to the Church in Ireland and the U.K., Pope Francis wrote: “All life
has inestimable value even the weakest and most vulnerable, the sick, the old,
the unborn and the poor, are masterpieces of God’s creation, made in his own
image, destined to live forever, and deserving of the utmost reverence and
respect.” (Message to Catholics, Day for Life in Britain,
Ireland July 28, 2013)
In some way, we are all born in need of help
at one time or another.
Even if we have some material wealth, the
ability to pay our bills, we have health
insurance, this will not prevent us from getting sick, catching an illness,
needing medical care.
In such cases, do we not want to be seen as
individuals with inherent value rather than simply the “ability to pay”.
The 2 young people who changed the tire did
not do so based on my parents’ ability to pay them. That did not matter to them.
Why are prayer and faith important to the
sanctity of life?
[__03__] At the March for Life 2023, on Friday of this
past week, former NFL coach and TV commentator Tony Dungy gave this example –
and it was an example of people putting down their nets in order to pray, and
also out of respect for the precious value of being alive:
“3
weeks ago, in an NFL football game, in Cincinnati, something happened that
impacted our entire country. Damar Hamlin of the Buffalo Bills made a routine
tackle and his heart stopped beating right on the field. It could have been
tragic, but the team medical staff rushed out they got Damar’s heart started
again. The real miracle was the reaction of the announcers on the broadcast.
What did they say? All we can do is pray.
All across the
country. People started praying. At that moment, Tony Dungy himself reported
that the stopped what he was doing to pray, in the middle of dinner with
friends and family to pray. The NFL football Buffalo Bills and Cincinnati
Bengals players played right kneeled down and prayed right on the spot on the
playing surface.
And usually when
that happens, the cameras cut away from that because we don't like to see
that. Oh, by the way, the game from that
moment on was cancelled.
My
comment – We
know that there are many things we can do – and are called to do – to assist
those in need.
Clothing
runs, food drives, home building projects are corporal works of mercy. [They
are the response Jesus in Matthew 25, I was hungry and you gave me to eat].
Charity is the foundation for but
not exactly the same as justice. Social justice, which is linked to the common
good and the exercise of authority, results when “associations or individuals…obtain what is
their due, according to their nature and their vocation.” (Catechism
of the Catholic Church, 1928)
Was there any “justice” applied happening in
the Damar Hamlin example ?
Tony Dungy ---
From the moment that Damar was taken off the field in the ambulance, the game
was canceled – with millions $$ on the line because of one player’s life. That
was an act of judgement and justice, to favor one life over the game itself.
The NFL “put down their nets”
Tony Dungy Even
people who were not necessarily religious, religious, got together and called
on God. Tony Dungy’s point is that …
well, that should be encouraging to us.
My
comment – And,
but every day, it is our responsibility to call out to God for those whom we
know in need and those we do not know in need.
Tony
Dungy: “Because every day in this country, innocent lives are
at stake. The only difference is they don't belong to a famous athlete, and
they're not seen on national TV. But those lives are still important to God and
in God's eyes. Psalm 139 tells us that God is watching every one of these young
bodies as they're growing in their mother's womb because he placed them there.”
So what can we do about that, in charity and
in justice … Well, I think we have to take a lesson from Damar Hamlin’s story.
We have to pray. We need to pray with the same fervor that we prayed with
during that because God answers prayer and He will answer these prayers to save
these precious unborn lives as we go forward.”
We’re called to put down our nets
and pray
[__fin__]
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