“Come, and you will see."
The Oscar
nominations were revealed last Thursday.
And there is a movie out that is up for best picture. It is one of the few I have already
seen. Maybe you saw it too: Boyhood.
This is a movie about the boyhood of a main character named Mason, who
is played by a young actor named Ellar Coltrane. It shows the boy growing up in a broken
family and how he comes of age in today’s changing world.
But the most
impressive thing about this movie is that it was filmed over the course of twelve
years -- with the same actors. So back in 2002 the director started filming
when the main character was only six.
The movie ends when he is actually eighteen. The director confesses that he really didn’t
know how the whole thing would end up, until the whole project was finished in
2014. All kinds of unexpected things
could have happened along the way, and the movie may have become a total flop. But it didn’t.
It’s nominated!
Somehow, when
they spliced together all the years of filming, the movie came out pretty
good. It may win the Academy Award.
Sometimes when we
look at our own lives, we don’t have the faith that even this director did. We might not see how the events of our life
tie together. Maybe life seems rambling
to you. Incongruous. Events unrelated. Some see jobs come and go, friendships start and end, with nothing to tie
it all together. Others feel like they
are a victim of circumstances, that there really is no plan to life. And spiritually ... you may believe God takes no
notice of your life. If your life were
shown on the big screen, you might imagine folks would fall asleep.
No! That’s not how a vocation works. That’s not how God calls us, directs us, and
reviews our lives. Our God is more like
a benevolent movie director. And your
life is up for nomination. Your life has
been unfolding ever since your early encounter with God as the director, and
today he invites you to “Come and you will See” him at work all along the way.
For me, I
remember a moment when I was walking in to church with my dad, I must have been
6. And when we entered the church, he
pointed up to a large stained glass window of St Patrick up in the back of
Church. He told me, “That’s your patron
saint.” I didn’t think anything of it
at the time, but when I review the movie picture of my life, I see that it was
one encounter where God was planting seeds through my dad. It was one of my earliest encounters with God
who eventually directed my life towards the priesthood.
Everyone here has
a vocation story like that. It started
when God found you very early, and planted seeds of future happiness. In fact that’s all we hear in today’s
readings.
In our first
reading, the prophet Samuel reflects back when he was about eight or ten and he
heard God calling him at night. He asked
Eli what it was, and Eli told him to pray:
“Speak Lord Your servant is listening.”
That was the start of the prophet learning to listen to God. That kid had no idea he’s become Samuel the
prophet. But he tells that story so that
we can see how God had been working in his life all along the way.
In our Gospel,
John the Evangelist tells the story of the day that John the Baptist handed the
ministry off to Jesus. Behold the Lamb
of God. Go to him instead of me. He recalls that it was Andrew and a second
man, unnamed who were the first ones called.
Commentators say that it is likely St. John himself. And we know John brought James. So this is John’s memory of what happened
years earlier when God first called him.
As he reviews the
film of his life, he recalls that was how St. Peter came into the group, his
brother Andrew told him to join. And
when Andrew brought Simon Peter to Jesus, the Gospel writer recalls that’s the
moment when Peter got his new name: Cephas.
But none of them had any idea that this all made sense, until they came to see
Christ. These are all recollections /
flashbacks of God’s work in the lives of these men.
They recall these
events in today’s readings to teach us this fundamental truth: God works all the time in all our lives
loving and caring for us, even though we don’t realize it til later. So, how can you realize it today ? Jesus says, “Come to me and you will see.”
Ask the Lord in
prayer to replay the moments of your life when the two of you met, when you
grew in faith, when he was with you in hard times and good times, and you will
see. If you have a question about a
certain turn of your life, ask him to show you again and listen as Eli
instructed Samuel: “Speak Lord, your servant
is listening.” Our readings today are
small glimpses into the vocation of ordinary people like Samuel, Eli, the
Baptist, Andrew, and likely James and John.
And Jesus. They all drew power
and grace from prayerful remembrance. I
bet there were times when the twelve apostles sat around after Jesus death and
asked each other, “Do you remember when you first met him?”
Well, that
invitation comes today to you as well. Do
you remember when you first met him? Open
up some picture albums and old journals.
Come and see. He’s there. And
it’s not just a thing of the past. He is
still calling you and dying to meet you even today. They may seem like insignificant events now,
and ordinary … but your faith says otherwise.
You are the star
of this movie directed by Christ. And
because he is the director, you are nominated for better than an Academy award! How will this picture unfold tomorrow? If you are here to receive Christ into your
heart, I would say it will be a blockbuster.
As Jesus says today: “Come to me
and you will see.”