Tebow "in" Ireland

There cannot be a mom in America who would not be proud to have Tebow for a son. He works hard, he is articulate, he is generous, he is pro-life, he prays, he loves Jesus Christ, His Lord and Savior. And, today, he "made" it into the bulletin of our local church. I have an excuse to use some of the photos I have been collecting of this young man. Today's Gospel from Mark 1:14-20 in the NO is the calling of the disciples. I use Matthew for my references here. Now, granted, not all, as St. Paul points out in his epistles, are called to be apostles. Paul was, as he notes in 1 Corinthians 1:1-Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God.

Some of us are called to be teachers, mothers, wives, husbands, doctors, engineers, lawyers, fathers, priests,  prophets, or athletes. Wherever we are called, we are to witness to Christ's love and mercy in our lives. 

St. Josemaria Escriva wrote,

In order to love and serve God, it is not necessary to do extraordinary things. Christ asks all men without exception to be perfect as His heavenly Father is perfect (cf. Mt 5: 48). For the great majority of men, to be holy consists of sanctifying their work, to sanctify themselves in their work, to sanctify others with work, and also to find God on the road of their life.

And from Matthew's Gospel, Chapter 4 almost identical to Mark we hear today:

And Jesus walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea (for they were fishers).

    ¹⁹And he saith to them: Come ye after me, and I will make you to be fishers of men.

    ²⁰And they immediately leaving their nets, followed him.

    ²¹And going on from thence, he saw other two brethren, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in a ship with Zebedee their father, mending their nets: and he called them.

    ²²And they forthwith left their nets and father, and followed him.

The radical call to be an apostle is the call of the priest. Most of us are called to discipleship, to learn, to follow, to witness in the ordinariness of our daily lives. Let us look at Tebow and not forget what type of impact we can have on the world, even if ABC, NBC or CNN are not filming us. God knows our hearts. Some of us have left the nets, some of us still fish daily, some of us cook the fish...do whatever in and with the Love of Christ. I pray that Tebow, through his example of manly discipleship, will inspire a young man today in the Catholic Church to become a priest. We need more apostles to lead us disciples.

By the way, pray for Abdullah al-Sabah of Kuwait (probably not his real name), who has just converted and become a disciple of Jesus Christ. For some, this decision is the loss of fame and fortune, and maybe more.