Put me in coach, I'm ready to play, today!
These song lyrics celebrate the great sport of baseball but they could be about any athlete. Ready to play means properly prepared, having practiced, and now they are ready to go. It's time to play ball!
In life we are often sent but not before we have been properly prepared. Our children grow up and make their way in the world but not before high school and hopefully college. Our jobs and possible promotions can be calling us but we too must be prepared. Even at church, Priests & Deacons just don't show up at the altar or minister to us, they are properly prepared in seminary and formation.
When ready, we are all sent!
As people of faith when God calls to send us in, we all should respond, put me in coach, I'm ready to play today!
Todays Gospel from St. Mark brings us to a graduation day for the 12 Apostles. By now they have been learning from the Master, hearing all of his teachings and witnessing his mighty deeds and miracles. And now, it's their turn. Jesus tells them, I'm putting you in, you're ready, it's time to play ball! You are sent! Jesus has them go out to preach repentance, to drive out demons, to heal the sick. By the authority of Jesus, it's their time; they are sent.
Jesus gave them plenty of instructions too especially to take very little for the journey. The way we travel today surely we would all want to take more. Jesus was teaching the Apostles to not depend on physical things but learn to depend (trust) completely in God, who provides all of our needs. This too is a wonderful lesson that all of us would do well to learn. How often do we withhold our total self from God because we are weighed down by our stuff, our physical and spiritual baggage? Instead, we can depend on God.
So we now know the Apostles are sent and we should be realizing that we are sent too. We have been prepared by our faith: the Word of God, the Sacraments, and the Eucharist. It's time for us to be sent into the world. At the end of Mass we are specifically sent; we may hear Go and Announce the Gospel of the Lord or Go in Peace, Glorifying the Lord by your Life! What does this truly mean to each of us? What are we to do when we are sent? We are called to announce the Gospel and we are called to be a Christian witness by our everyday lives, not just our Sunday example but our Monday through Saturday example too!
And we should never be afraid to be sent. Amos in our 1st reading says he is not qualified and God sent him. St. Paul was a tent-maker and once persecuted the Church, he was not qualified, and God sent him. What about those 12 Apostles; not exactly leadership material or pillars of the community. They were not qualified but God sent them. And now, God sends us too!
Remember, cliché or not, this is true: God does not call the qualified; he qualifies the called.
So we are to share his teachings in word and deed and always teach the truth as handed on by the Church. We share the truth in charity and love but it must be the truth. It must be the real Christ centered truths and not the watered down secular society version of the truth. Speak the real truth as we are sent in both our words and our deeds. Perhaps I can do so by volunteering to spend more time in parish ministry, or other ministries in my community. Maybe I'm being called to help with PSR or RCIA or to a ministry of prayer. Maybe I'm being called to be a 1st Friday adorer or attend Mass sometime during the week. In so many ways, we can be a witness to a calling as we realize we are being sent!
So as we prepare to receive Jesus in Holy Communion and then hear those words of sending, Go in Peace glorifying the Lord by Your Life, may our Thanks Be to God reflect these words too; put me in Coach, I'm ready to play, today!
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