Today=s readings stirred me a bit because of the fact that each of us here has found a treasure and has responded by giving our whole self to the outcome.

        In the first reading Jeremiah has also done this. The tradition is that Jeremiah was a very young man, maybe as young as 15, when he experienced the call to be a prophet. He really was deeply touched to the point that the Word of God penetrated his consciousness and he became indignant, that is, he began to see how the people were not doing what God wanted. He became a sharp-edge to his approach to life and to people. In the text we hear God saying: AOK, just get rid of the sharp edge, start loving these people and present the Word of God to them.@ In the process of presenting the Word of God to them he became a person of contention and a person not really appreciated in the community. But he had to learn to love his enemies.

        In the life of Joseph Tyrrelia, a Ukrainian Catholic, raised by his grandmother, he really had deep faith. His parents were card carrying Russian comrades, that=s what they called them officially in the organization. When he prayed at lunch or supper his own brothers, sisters and parents would mock him. So he finally got drafted. At first he said he=s not going to join the Army but then he thought no it=s a good idea the government can pay and I can evangelize the soldiers. So he packed his duffle bag with bibles and he went to sign up. When they opened his bag and found all the bibles and they threw him in jail. As things happen he was in many different jails, escaped, and was caught again.

        One jail he was in the cell was a refrigeration unit. There he is in this refrigeration unit with only a tee shirt and even feeling hot. The Russians come in with their heavy coats, and hats and the air has smoke in it. AWhat are you doing practicing yoga or something, you should be freezing.@ He said: AI=m praying, that=s all.@ He too, was rebuked by the Blessed Mother telling him that he has to pray for his enemies and be more gentle toward them and love them.

        So the issue is really this, God has a plan. He accepted our offering of ourselves and he is not finished with us. So we have to be willing to interpret the present phase of our life as God=s action on us and how are we cooperating with it.

        Remember it took Fr. Rogier, he was a Marinist, and he got the call to become the founder of the Missionaries of the Holy Spirit, and the superiors refused to give him permission to do it so they sent him back from Mexico to France to teach grade school. He was a scripture scholar and teacher. He almost got ulcers. But in that ten year period he took it as a sign that God wanted him to learn something. He learned how to live the will of God in the present moment. In 1914 he=s going with a bishop to Mexico. They land in Cuba. The bishop finds out what=s happening in Mexico and says, AI=m not going!@ Not Rogier, he went on to Mexico. December, 1914, he starts his order with one novice. Within ten years he has 110 members.

        To give you an idea of how he learned to do God=s will in the present moment, one time he came home during the Revolution, and the superior told him that the government had taken the four houses. He said: AGood thing we didn=t have five!@ And he wasn=t flippant. He knew that if something was happening God was doing something. Sure enough what was happening was when they had four houses each house was beginning to go its own way. When the government took the houses they banded together so deeply that they had a tremendous unity. So his remark was really insightful.

        The real issue is do we really believe that God has accepted our commitment and do we trust that he is guiding us and shaping us and do we interpret our life accordingly knowing that each phase of our life has a purpose in God=s plan and are we cooperating with him especially fulfilling the mission that God has sent us to accomplish?

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