From pastor’s desk on the 6th Sunday of Easter, year B
“It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you” (John 15:16). – In this Sunday’s gospel reading our Lord Jesus unmistakably communicates that it is He who chooses individual people to be His followers, not the other way around. All of the disciples were hand picked by Jesus. Moreover, Christ called each apostle, when they still did not understand anything of what Jesus was doing and saying. However, Jesus knew their hearts and what they would be capable of, so He chose them to the task of evangelization, that is, to preach the Good News of Salvation to the entire world. By and large, the gospel of John is clear about the fact that the initiative belongs exclusively to Jesus. Those who were called merely answered that call and followed Jesus. Their faith had increased while they were spending time with Christ.
Nowadays, quite often we hear voices like this: “I have not baptized my children, for I do not want to impose any religion on them.” Or, “I want my child to choose religion when he is an adult. He will find out what is fitting for him when he understands better, so I am raising him without any particular faith.” The problem with this approach is this: we always choose something, especially in the matters of faith. Even if we think we are not choosing any particular religion for a child, it is already a choice—the choice will be atheism, scientism, or eclectism (a mix of beliefs borrowed from different religions and traditions). Besides, let us remember that baptizing a child is NOT like joining political parties. Rather, baptizing and catechizing a child is the matter of life and death. No one chooses whether to come to this world or not. It is life that chooses us. We are born because life is given to us as a gift. The same rule applies to our faith in Jesus, it is a gift from God—a precious treasure—that needs to be guarded and fostered.
In baptism each one of us has received the gift of faith, that is, we have received life in God through Jesus Christ. We have been chosen to live in the fullness of life that is possible only with and in Jesus. That is also the only way to bear real fruit of conversion and evangelization. Again, in Jesus’ own words: “It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain” (John 15:16).
If we truly realize how great the gift of faith in Jesus Christ is, we will be able to carry the message of salvation to all the people. This will be the fruit of our faith in Jesus. If we are still hesitant about our religion, we need to pray that Jesus may send His Holy Spirit to illuminate our minds and hearts so that our faith may increase.
I wish you all a blessed week. Fr. Janusz Mocarski, pastor