3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time (A)

INTRO: tell story of Father and little boy making the kite!

A little boy and his father are making a KITE. They spend hours together carefully gluing the pinewood slats, fitting the delicate paper onto the frame, and fashioning the tail.

Then on that first windy day father and son set out to launch their new kite. Dad instructs his son how to hold the string tight and run as fast as he can and then…….to loosen the string while the kite goes airborne.

THE KITE FLIES HIGHER AND HIGHER!!! The boy is mesmerized. Then to the father’s surprise, the boy completely let GO OF THE STRING!!!

With sheer joy he watches the kite soar until it is only a speck in the sky!!!

Walking home together the DAD wonders:

Will he let go of his son when the time comes for him to be on his own?

LETTING GO is the theme here this church weekend.

The men, Peter, Andrew, James, and John…had to let go of everything to follow Jesus. Have you let go of everything?

When we are babies, it seems we always want to be held…you know hands up, hold me, don’t let go of me.

Then we learn freedom…and soon we are on our own, and do not want to be held anymore. I am a BIG BOY now.

And for us as Catholics, as disciples of Jesus, that BIG BOY attitude SHOULD include what Jesus wants of us!

We shouldn’t be SO BIG that we forget or do not include following Christ and His ways in our adult lives.

I very much see this story as NOT JUST the call of 12 apostles, but the call to all of us that JESUS wants something from us, and that is:

He wants us to let go of OUR ways of doing things.
and to make sure we are doing things His WAY!

At the time of Christ, when men LEFT THEIR TRADE and FAMILY the only acceptable reason to do that was for the STUDY OF THE TORAH, which was studying the words of God. Here these four men are studying the WORD MADE FLESH, so as to live accordingly in the ways of JESUS.

CONCLUSION
Every year when you hear these stories of the call of the apostles I hope it triggers you to “check” on yourself and see if you truly have let go of YOUR WAYS to follow His ways.