Proclaim the Word

"Proclaim the Word; be persistent whether it is convenient or inconvenient."

These words of Paul to Timothy really struck me as I reflected on today's Scripture readings and prepared my homily. In a simple phrase the Apostle to the gentiles sums up our baptismal call, namely, to proclaim the word, the Good News, of the God-made-flesh Jesus Christ. Most Christians aren't called to preach this in the technical sense of standing up before a congregation Sunday after Sunday expounding the Sacred Scriptures. But all are called to proclaim the word by the witness of their lives. And when you boil it down to essentials, the word, the Good News, to be proclaimed is love. Thus we are each called to act with love towards others whether it is convenient or inconvenient. That's the bottom line. That, in its essence, is what it means to be a Christian. (Since some people seem almost hostile to the idea of the priest talking about love, like it is some dirty wordy from the Godforsaken 70s, let me make it clear that by "love" I don't mean simply warm fuzzies. I mean the real deal shown to us by Christ, above all when He willingly sacrificed Himself on Calvary.)

Confronted with such a herculean task - loving at all times in all things - we are tempted to cry out "Impossible!" However, we are instructed by the example of Moses in First Reading of today's Mass. He is given a nearly impossible task, being told by God to keep his arms raised for the duration of the battle with the Amalekites. He tries to go it alone for a while, but eventually his strength fails, his arms sag, and the battle turns against Israel. Note what he does at this point. He seeks the help of others. He has Aaron and Hur support his arms until the battle is won. Likewise in fulfilling our baptismal call to "proclaim the word" we cannot go it alone. We need the support of others. And so week in and week out we gather together to be supported first and foremost by the Lord who pours Himself out in Eucharist. But also to be supported by our brothers and sisters who join together with us. In gathering together we see that we are not in this alone. And that with the help and support of others we can indeed persist, no matter how inconvenient the task may become.