The Call

"Fishers of Men", Artist Michael Dudash

"You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you. This I command you, that you love one another." John 15:16-17

 
I love this short, but direct quote from John's Gospel. Jesus is not only speaking to the disciples that were gathered around him, He is speaking to ALL of His disciples throughout the ages.  The original disciples left their homes and livelihoods to follow Christ and to learn from Him so that they may go and do what He had called them to do. We are still called today to be His voice in today's society.  But, as we fulfill God's plan for us do we truly listen to what it is He has to say? Do we answer Him when he calls us? Better yet, as a disciple of Christ are we truly the embodiment of Him here on earth. Is what we say, write, tweet, post and share a true representation of how we should be acting if WE are today's disciples? Judging by the things I'm seeing on social media I'm thinking that the answer is a resounding NO.

If you read my last post you know that I've taken a break from social media, for the most part. When I do go on now, though, I take a breath, a pause, and think of the question of what would Jesus do? How would Jesus respond to the hate? How would Jesus respond to the violence, the smut, the language, the way we treat each other? Yesterday I saw a post that was just so deplorable that in the comments section all I could think of was, "Jesus wept." Obviously he would treat the people with unconditional love. He's a love the sinner, not the sin type of guy. I do think, though, that Jesus does weep when He sees how we are distancing ourselves from Him today. I'm seeing less and less of Him in our words and deeds and more and more of the other guy, you know, Satan.

I will be frank, I think that I have PTSD from being on Facebook and Twitter during and after the election. I've never seen so much hatred toward each other in my entire life.  Thank God for the off button on my computer.

Getting back to my original point, how can anyone possibly hear a call from God if they are constantly distracted and have an attention span like the dog from "Up?" (oohh a squirrel!!) How can we possibly love one another, as He commanded, if we cannot even respect ourselves and each other? As I said in my last post, tune out to your electronic devices and tune in to prayer. Trust me, you will feel so much better for it.

One of the priests I follow on Twitter (I know~ go ahead giggle that I'm referencing Twitter), Fr. Goyo Hidalgo tweeted this the other day and I thought it was an amazing suggestion to share:

When in doubt, pause. 
When angry, pause. 
When you can’t forgive, pause. 
When in pain, pause. 
When tired, pause. 
When you lose hope, pause. 
When you feel lost, pause. When you feel alone, pause
When you pause, pray. 
When you pray, thank God for He is always with you.

Have a beautiful day and weekend. Peace, joy and love to you all.

Mare