A Human “Yes”

Homily for Monday of the First Week in Ordinary Time

There are countless examples throughout Scripture when we see how the Lord has relied on a human “yes” at pivotal moments in history. What are some of those examples? Moses agreed to confront Pharaoh. David accepted the call to defeat Goliath and become king. Most profoundly, Mary saying “yes” to the Father resulted in the very events that we have been celebrating over the last few weeks…her “yes” brought the Messiah into the world. In today’s Gospel we have four more instances of individuals saying “yes” to the call of the Spirit.

One could beg the question: why does our all-powerful God sometimes rely on humans to carry out some task that shows His glory? What’s even more difficult to understand is why the Lord often chooses people who are broken and weary to carry out a specific mission for Him.

The apostles weren’t the best that society had to offer. They weren’t wealthy. They probably weren’t the best looking fellas. They probably couldn’t speak with proper grammar and diction. They probably weren’t the sharpest knives in the drawer. And they weren’t necessarily even very religious. And yet, here we see Jesus calling them to follow Him. He sought their “yes” for a very specific mission, a mission that would change the world. And their individual “yeses” did change the world! Here we are 2000 years later, the fruit of their willingness to respond to the Lord’s invitation.

Every call is an invitation to love God more perfectly and through Him to love others. Just like the apostles in the Gospel today, just like the countless men and women throughout history who have given their “yes” to God, we now are being called to follow Him more closely. He is inviting us into deeper relationship with Him, to love Him more deeply, and to serve our brothers and sisters in a way that He knows only we can. And that calling is unique to each of us.

In our prayer today, let’s reflect on how the Lord is calling us to love. How is He calling us to be the instruments that bring His presence to others? Are we willing to respond to that invitation with our own “yes”? Are we willing to allow the Lord to use us in our own pivotal moment in history? The Lord needs us. How will we respond?