Third Sunday in Ordinary Time B.   January 22, 2006.  Our Lady of Grace 5:15, 9:30.  Jonah 3:1-5, 10.  I Corinthians 7: 29-31.  Mark 1: 14-20.

William Wasson grew up in Phoenix, Arizona.  During his teen years he helped his father work with the placement and rehabilitation of teenagers who were in serious trouble.  William Wasson thought that his choice for his own life would be different.   He decided to study to become a priest.  While he was in the seminary he was diagnosed with a progressive thyroid deficiency that would prevent him from fulfilling the work responsibilities of a priest.  He left the seminary and went to Mexico for his health.  Finally, a Mexican bishop ordained Father Wasson and he stayed in Mexico.

God’s strange, powerful and mysterious hand is in every aspect of Fr. Wasson’s life.  Shortly after he was ordained, a teenager broke into the poor box at his church and stole 500 pesos – a really small amount.  The poor teenager was caught and put in jail by the police.  Fr. Wasson refused to press charges against the young “criminal”.  Then something even more amazing happened.  Fr. Wasson asked to take the teenager and eight other teens that were in jail home with him.  By the end of that year Fr. Wasson was caring for 32 homeless children at his home.  God had started something in the heart of Fr. Wasson that was completely outside of the plans of the young priest who had come to Mexico for health reasons.  Not only did Fr. Wasson give homeless children a home, he also taught them that they were a family.  He showed them how to love one another and server one another.  He promised them that they would never be homeless again.  Nuestros Pequenos Hermanos – Our Little Brothers and Sisters – is not an orphanage.  The Little Brothers and Sisters are a loving family made up of street children, and abandoned and abused children who have learned to be a family to one another, with the help of caring adults, at the homes of the Little Brothers and Sisters, and with the support of generous people, especially people in parishes in the United States.

The original home was founded in Mexico in 1954.  In 1986 a new home was founded in Honduras, in 1988 in Haiti, in 1995 in Nicaragua, in 1996 in Guatemala, in 1999 in El Salvador, in 2002 in Dominican Republic, in 2004 in Peru, in 2005 in Bolivia.  Since the poor teenager robbed the poor box in Fr. Wasson’s church, more than 15,000 children have found a home with the Little Brothers and Sisters.  Who would think that God would work so powerfully through a young man who was too sick to even be ordained a priest in the United States?  Who would think that God would inspire so much good through a little robber?  God’s ways are not our ways – and God calls those he wants in ways that those called do not even understand.

“As Jesus passed by the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting their nets into the sea; they were fishermen.  Jesus said to them, Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men and women. They abandoned their nets and they followed Jesus.”

Jesus calls each of us in ways that we often do not understand.  Marriage and parenthood are a deep and mysterious response to God’s grace.  In every friendship, every profession and every career the Holy Spirit leads us in directions and to places we would never have considered at the beginning.  But God is in charge of our lives.  Our responsibility is to follow Jesus.  Following Jesus is also the source of our greatest joy.

Last summer a group of our teens and adults visited the original Little Brothers and Sisters Home in Mexico. I have asked Rena Bonello to tell you about her experience on the trip.  (Introduce Rena)

On April 30 the Little Brothers and Sisters will be with us at all of our Masses for a Fiesta Grande.  They need our love, our care and our support.  There is much to be done before April 30. We need volunteers to house children, committee members to make our fund raising and celebration successful, and ongoing sponsors for specific children.  A collection to help bring the children to us will be taken up after Mass today.  There are also tables with additional volunteer opportunities in the commons.  Caring for children is a very special ministry.  For our call to follow Jesus we give God thanks and praise.