Most of us were infants when we were baptized, and cannot remember our own baptism. What I know of mine is only that told to me by my mother. When I was baptized, the rite was done in the Latin language. As the water was poured three times over my head, the priest said, “Roberto Carlo, ego te baptizo in nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti.” “Robert Charles, I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” My brother, Bill, who was 2 years old at the time of my baptism, loudly told the priest, “His name is not Roberto Carlo. His name is Bob.”
Today, we hear Jesus calling Peter and Andrew, James and John to be his apostles. Just as they were called by name to join Jesus, so, we too, were called by name to be apostles of Jesus at our baptism. At the moment of our baptism Jesus said to us, “You are mine.” This was all the more made clear at our confirmation when, from our own lips, we declared that we belonged to Jesus.
We look at these statues of St. Peter and St. Paul and can think that we are not worthy to be apostles of Jesus. St. Peter and St. Paul were holy men. However, if we read the gospels, the apostles were not initially holy. They were a bunch of guys. Some were fishermen. Some were thieves and murderers. Some were armed revolutionaries fighting the Roman Imperial Army. They proved themselves time and time again to be blundering fools and cowards. One was even a traitor. Yet, in spite of their shortcomings, Jesus saw within them the potential to be his apostles, to be leaders of the faith. As with all of those we name saints, they had to grow into holiness, just like you and me.
One thing is certain, Jesus is relentless in calling us to be apostles. Jesus doesn’t just call us once, but calls us multiple times, over and over again in our lives. There is a beautiful poem, much too long to be read here, entitled, “The Hound of Heaven,” and written by Francis Thompson over one hundred years ago. It is an autobiographical poem about Francis Thompson, and how he ran away from Jesus most of his life, pursuing everything in life except God. As much as he tried to run from Jesus, Jesus chased at his heels like a bloodhound, never far behind him calling him to be an apostle. Finally, Francis gives in, and says,”Yes,” to Jesus. These are the lines that God speaks to him in the poem when Francis finally relents and says, “Yes.”
| ‘And is your earth so marred, | |
| Shattered in shard on shard? | |
| Lo, all things fly you, for you flee from Me! | 160 |
| Strange, piteous, futile thing! | |
| Wherefore should any set your love apart? | |
| Seeing none but I makes much of naught’ (He said), | |
| ‘And human love needs human meriting: | |
| How have you merited— | 165 |
| Of all man’s clotted clay the dingiest clot? | |
| Alack, you know not | |
| How little worthy of any love you are! | |
| Whom will you find to love ignoble thee, | |
| Save Me, save only Me? | 170 |
| All which I took from you I did but take, | |
| Not for your harm, | |
| But just that you might seek it in My arms. | |
| All which your child’s mistake | |
| Fancies as lost, I have stored for you at home: | 175 |
| Rise, clasp My hand, and come!’* |
When I was 17 years old, all I wanted to do was play music, compose music and marry my high school girlfriend, Ruth. And happily, I did all of that. But Jesus was calling me to do more. Jesus called me into Church ministry so that I might use those musical skills for the glory of God. But even that wasn’t the end. Jesus called me to pursue my study of the Church and go back to school and get a graduate degree. But that wasn’t the end. Jesus continued to call me to be a deacon. After 40 years of church ministry, 22 years as a deacon, am I finally done? No. Today, Jesus continues to call you and me into a deeper relationship as his apostles. He says to us, “Rise, clasp My hand, and come!” We have a choice. Will we rise and clasp his hand, or not?
*Nicholson & Lee, eds. The Oxford 1 of English Mystical Verse. 1917.
