I thought about a 3 letter acronym for today’s gospel, CMC. The first C stands for Call, M stands for Mission, and the last C stands for Conversion.
In the gospel Jesus begins His ministry. From the start, we notice that Jesus called disciples or students to accompany Him and learn from Him. As He was walking along the Sea of Galilee, He called Simon Peter and his brother Andrew. As He moved on, He then called James and his brother John. Jesus calls people! He does not leave them aside. Jesus though, does not call these men for nothing. He calls them for a mission. Jesus told them, “Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men” (Mt. 4:19). Our Lord called these men for a purpose. They were simple fishermen, doing their daily work to support themselves. But God had greater plans for them. He called them for the mission of bringing people to back God. He gave them the mission to preach, baptize, and evangelize. Finally, these disciples experience conversion or change of life. Scripture tells us that they “immediately left their boat and their father and followed him”. The disciples were so moved by Christ, that they did not hesitate to follow Him. They did not come up with excuses saying “Oh Lord not yet” or “I’m just too busy right now Lord, maybe later”. Instead the men left their comfort zones to follow Jesus. We clearly see that Jesus calls disciples, the disciples are given a mission, and they convert to a new way of life. CMC. Call-Mission-Conversion.
Till this day, we also see this pattern of Call-Mission-Conversion in our lives. From the moment of our Baptism, God calls us to be part of His family in the Church. He then calls us to not just focus on ourselves, but He calls for our earthly mission. Another word we use is vocation, we all have a particular vocation/mission depending on God’s call. Some of us have the mission to live as faithful husbands or wives. Others are called be priests, religious brothers, or sisters. Finally, we too must experience daily conversion. Like the disciples who left everything behind to follow Jesus, we are invited to leave certain things behind. We leave behind sin, selfishness, pride, anger, bitterness, and other vices to change our lives for the better. This is a daily process. Our Christian life is a pattern of CMC, Call-Mission-Conversion.
We all know our Diocese is in need for more priests and religious sisters. Currently, we do not have any seminarians or young women interested in religious life. This is huge problem. What will happen to the future of our local Church? We are confident God is with us and He still calls men and women to serve, but are their hearts open to listen? Do we teach our children that’s God’s call/voice is the most important thing in their lives? No Vocations Director, priest, or sister, can do vocation ministry alone. All of us have our part and we do need to work together to promote a culture of vocations. To encourage our youth to discern God’s call in their lives. To remind them that God created them for a mission of serving our community in their own way. To show them that conversion is on-going process in the Christian life. Let us continue to pray for an increase of vocations to the priesthood and religious life. Morse so, let us also work towards encouraging and fostering our youth to consider dedicating their lives to ministry in our church. Our Christian life follows this pattern of CMC, Call-Mission-Conversion.
