15th Sunday in Ordinary Time - Year B - Our Mission & “Songs for the Journey”

Charisms are spiritual, supernatural gifts given to people at baptism for the good of the church. Some of the charisms may seem "extraordinary" (such as prophecy, healing, or discernment of spirits) and others more "commonplace" (such as administration, service, music, or mercy), but all charisms are empowered by God. Though we all have personal, professional, and vocational goals in life, we often forget that God has gifted us these charisms and created us for a purpose and mission on earth to build God’s kingdom.

In the First Reading (Amos 7:12-15), we encounter Amos who describes himself as a shepherd and a dresser of sycamores before the Lord instructed him to prophecy to the people of Israel. Amos’s message stands as one of the most powerful voices ever to challenge hypocrisy and injustice. In our Second reading (Eph. 1:3-14), St. Paul tells us that God the Father has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavens. We must not hoard our blessings as God blesses us so we may, in turn, be a blessing to others.

The Gospel reading this weekend (Mk 6:7-13) shows purpose in action as Jesus summons the twelve disciples and sends them out. As a missionary church, Jesus also wants to send each of us out to accomplish the tasks only we are gifted to do. Armed with the particular charisms given to us at baptism and our living relationship with God, we’re able to say yes to the Holy Spirit’s call to our mission.

Charisms are different from the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit in that they are gifts we are meant to give away. As we grow closer to Christ and walk with him, grace is released and our gifts are manifested. We cultivate our gifts over the course of our lives as we deepen our relationship with God, the church, and church teaching. The readings this Sunday call each of us to listen, discern, and heed the way God is calling us individually. What charisms do you have that will help you answer that call?

As you discern, here are some hymns for the journey as we present our latest video, "Songs for the Journey”, a beautiful collection of Catholic church songs and other Christian hymns of blessing and strength for the journey.

This collection features four (4) never before released songs from the Sunday 7pm Choir, a new version of another song (An Old Irish Blessing) and a new organ accompaniment version of one of our popular hymn releases (Go Make Of All Disciples).

Video can be watched by clicking here or on the picture below: