The LORD said to Elijah: “You shall anoint Elisha, son of Shaphat of Abelmeholah, as prophet to succeed you.” (1 Kings 19:16)

The major theme for this 13^th Sunday in Ordinary Time Year C focuses on our true vocation as disciples of Christ. That God has given us certain talents, gifts and has called us to fulfill some specific tasks and/or purposes to help extend the Kingdom of God, to share the Good News of the Gospel with people around us, to apply the teachings of our Lord Jesus Christ and to accomplish God’s divine will in our lives.

Our vocation and ministry are natural and necessary expressions of our faith in Christ Jesus and service to the Church. They are always graced and constituted by a divine initiative in the person of our Lord Jesus and God’s chosen people as instruments of divine grace. Therefore, our vocation and ministry are a melding of human and divine energies, a cooperative effort between our almighty ever faithful God who never fails and us, human beings, whose hands, feet, head and heart that often falter.

Our vocation and ministry are empowered and driven by divine grace to withstand different changes throughout the Church’s history: (1) threats of human prejudice (e.g. distinction between Jewish and gentile Christians), (2) religious persecutions, (3) heresies and other misrepresentation of the truth faith, (4) theological and political animosity and complication, (5) misguided military campaign, (6) heartless and ruthless inquisition, (7) corruptions of political power and misuse of authority, (8) Protestant Reformation of the 16^th century C.E. due to the loss of ecclesial integrity and credibility, (9) Enlightenment in the age of secular rationalism, (10) Modernism and Relativism that affect the decimation of the clergy and the religious in the twentieth century, and (11) Post-Modernism of the moral of the contemporary secular society. However, our true vocation and ministry continue to progress in the Church because God’s grace and goodness further the Church’s work of salvation and strengthen all who are called to the vocation of its ministry and service.

God does not want us holding a relationship of Transaction but Transformation. Therefore, Dynamic Christian disciples are those who (1) BELIEVE, (2) GROW, (3) SERVE, (4) LOVE and (5) LEAD others to Jesus. Today’s topic invites us to appreciate our Christian vocation and to assume our responsibilities to fulfill God’s will in our lives to glorify God.  

How can we help each other have greater courage and resolve to abandon our sins and foolish attachments to accept and exercise courageously our Christian vocation? 

Wishing everyone a blessed week in the Lord.