# Answering Gods Call - Bishop Barron's Daily Sermon

An episode of [Daily Sermons With Bishop Robert Barron](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/6783446284), 21 Jul 2026, 15 min.

Audio: https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/api.spreaker.com/download/episode/73038763/answering_gods_call_bishop_barron_s_sunday_sermon.mp3



## Transcript

[0:00] Speaker 1: Peace be with you. Friends, were at the thirtieth Sunday
[0:03] Speaker 1: of ordinary time. The year goes by fast, doesn't it.
[0:05] Speaker 1: We're almost to the end of the liturgical year. The readings,
[0:09] Speaker 1: it's kind of a rare thing when all three of
[0:10] Speaker 1: them do have a kind of a golden thread running through,
[0:14] Speaker 1: which is the idea of the call, of the primacy
[0:19] Speaker 1: of God's action in the life of salvation. Whenever we
[0:24] Speaker 1: start thinking, Okay, this is my project, so I'm going
[0:28] Speaker 1: to work on my spiritual life and I'm going to
[0:29] Speaker 1: get in a better friendship with God, and I'm going
[0:31] Speaker 1: to read these books and I'll make some progress. You're
[0:34] Speaker 1: on the wrong path. On the biblical reading, Grace always
[0:39] Speaker 1: comes first. It's always God's action. Now listen with which
[0:46] Speaker 1: we cooperate. So, I mean God wants us cooperating with
[0:50] Speaker 1: his grace. He doesn't want us to become puppets. No,
[0:54] Speaker 1: but he acts first. And if that's not the case,
[0:58] Speaker 1: then we're on If so fact, I'll we're on the
[1:01] Speaker 1: bad path if we think I'm launching this process. Okay,
[1:04] Speaker 1: So first reading from the prophet Jeremiah. Here's what we hear.
[1:09] Speaker 1: He's talking about the exiles of Israel. And this is
[1:11] Speaker 1: a big theme in the Old Testament. You know, the
[1:14] Speaker 1: northern tribes of Israel were exiled by the Assyrians, and
[1:17] Speaker 1: then about a century and a half later, the southern
[1:20] Speaker 1: tribes are threatened by the Babylonians. They're eventually carried off
[1:23] Speaker 1: into exile. So deep in the Old Testament consciousness is
[1:27] Speaker 1: the idea of someday the exiles will come back. Someday
[1:33] Speaker 1: all the tribes will be gathered again in Israel. So
[1:37] Speaker 1: here's Jeremiah now expressing it. Behold, I will bring them back.
[1:43] Speaker 1: This is God speaking now through Jeremiah. Behold, I will
[1:47] Speaker 1: bring them back from the land of the North. I
[1:49] Speaker 1: will gather them from the ends of the world, with
[1:52] Speaker 1: the blind and the lame in their midst, the mothers
[1:55] Speaker 1: and those with child. They shall return as an immense throng. Yes,
[2:01] Speaker 1: the exiles will come back, but it will be God's doing.
[2:06] Speaker 1: Now again, the cooperation. The exiles could say, oh, Lord,
[2:09] Speaker 1: we're not going to go back, we don't want to
[2:11] Speaker 1: cooperate with you. No. Of course, he's calling on our
[2:14] Speaker 1: powers and so on. But he takes the initiative. Now
[2:18] Speaker 1: listen in the second reading, which is from that marvelous
[2:21] Speaker 1: Letter of the Hebrews. I've not been really focusing on it,
[2:25] Speaker 1: but get out your Bibles when you can and go
[2:28] Speaker 1: through this text. Try to find a good commentary on
[2:31] Speaker 1: it because it's complex, but it's such an important text.
[2:34] Speaker 1: But just one thing I want to focus on here.
[2:38] Speaker 1: He's talking about priesthood, about the Temple priesthood, and by extension,
[2:43] Speaker 1: the priesthood of Jesus Christ. Listen, no one takes this
[2:48] Speaker 1: honor upon himself, but only when called by God, just
[2:54] Speaker 1: as Aaron was Yeah said, it's a little point, isn't
[2:59] Speaker 1: that rather Well, No, I go back to my years
[3:02] Speaker 1: in seminary formation. So I was a professor for a
[3:05] Speaker 1: long time, as rector for three years when my job
[3:08] Speaker 1: was to determine whether these guys were, you know, properly
[3:12] Speaker 1: disposed toward the priesthood. Well, I would be part of
[3:15] Speaker 1: interviews very often when I was rector. I interviewed every
[3:18] Speaker 1: student as they're coming in and we'd ask about their
[3:22] Speaker 1: vocational call, etc. It was always a bad sign if
[3:27] Speaker 1: a student said something like, well, I've always wanted to
[3:29] Speaker 1: be a pre since I was a kid. I've I
[3:33] Speaker 1: determined this is what I want to do. This is
[3:35] Speaker 1: the path that I want to take. Well, okay, but
[3:39] Speaker 1: it sounds like you're in charge of your life here.
[3:41] Speaker 1: It sounds like you're setting the agenda, you're setting the tone.
[3:47] Speaker 1: The right answer when we'd ask someone about their vocation
[3:50] Speaker 1: was you know, I'm feeling called by God to this
[3:57] Speaker 1: path and again, vocation, right, vocacio, it's a calling. There's
[4:03] Speaker 1: someone listen, outside of your own ego that is summoning you,
[4:10] Speaker 1: and very often against your will. There's a resistance to
[4:15] Speaker 1: it at first. Wats that all throughout the Bible, from
[4:18] Speaker 1: Abraham to Jeremiah and to Peter and Paul, there's a
[4:22] Speaker 1: resistance to it. But the call comes from outside. See
[4:28] Speaker 1: because as long as you're in charge, then it's the
[4:32] Speaker 1: project of your little ego, and it's going to be
[4:36] Speaker 1: far less than God wants it to be. Let me
[4:40] Speaker 1: say that again. If your ego is in charge of
[4:42] Speaker 1: the project, it will necessarily be less than what God wants.
[4:48] Speaker 1: See God, think of Jesus and then getting into Peter's
[4:52] Speaker 1: boat and he says, Duke and Altam go out into
[4:55] Speaker 1: the depths. See Peter, you even messing around in the
[4:58] Speaker 1: shallows way too. That's your little ego project, whatever it is,
[5:03] Speaker 1: whatever it is, and no matter how successful it is,
[5:05] Speaker 1: if it's your little ego project, it's the shallows. I
[5:08] Speaker 1: want you out into the depths. See. So now Peter
[5:12] Speaker 1: has to respond to a call beyond his own ego.
[5:17] Speaker 1: And so here this is ancient the priesthood. No one
[5:22] Speaker 1: takes it upon himself, like this is my idea. I've
[5:26] Speaker 1: been summoned by a higher power. Okay, Now with those
[5:31] Speaker 1: two in mind, Jeremiah from Hebrews, now we have this.
[5:35] Speaker 2: Well.
[5:35] Speaker 1: It's really one of my favorite stories from Mark. It's
[5:38] Speaker 1: in this pivotal chapter ten, when Jesus is now making
[5:42] Speaker 1: his way toward Jerusalem, which means toward the cross, the
[5:46] Speaker 1: story of the blind Bartimaeus. And now watch for the
[5:50] Speaker 1: same motif. As Jesus was leaving Jericho with his disciples
[5:55] Speaker 1: and a sizable crowd, Bartimaeus, a blind man son of Timaeus,
[6:01] Speaker 1: sat by the roadside begging. Every word is worthy of commentary.
[6:08] Speaker 1: Here Jesus is in Jericho. The attentive Biblical reader knows
[6:14] Speaker 1: he's therefore in this arena of sin. When the israel
[6:18] Speaker 1: Lights come into the Promised Land, they conquer Jericho. Remember
[6:23] Speaker 1: by processing liturgically around the walls, blowing the trumpets, and
[6:28] Speaker 1: down come the walls of Jericho. It's symbolic of the
[6:32] Speaker 1: sin that's conquered by grace, and so it's not surprising
[6:36] Speaker 1: that Jesus will confront trouble and difficulty there this bar
[6:43] Speaker 1: to Mais is a blind man. Blind people can't see
[6:48] Speaker 1: where they're going, right, Blind people are lost. Now pause
[6:53] Speaker 1: here for a second. If the problem with the spiritual
[6:57] Speaker 1: Order is my ego project is in lead in a way,
[7:02] Speaker 1: In a way, blindness is not an entirely bad thing.
[7:05] Speaker 1: Because you're not now in control of your life, you
[7:10] Speaker 1: are apt to look elsewhere for direction. There's something, in
[7:16] Speaker 1: other words, salutary about admitting blindness. As long as hey,
[7:21] Speaker 1: I'm great, I can see find my eagle eyes. No
[7:23] Speaker 1: just where to go? And boom boom boom, I'm off. Well.
[7:26] Speaker 1: Bartimaeis is blind, and he knows it good, good, And
[7:33] Speaker 1: he sits by the roadside, begging, in command of his life,
[7:38] Speaker 1: hardly got everything he needs, no way, He's a blind beggar.
[7:47] Speaker 1: So are we all, fellow sinners, So are we all
[7:53] Speaker 1: in the spiritual order. We're blind and we're beggars. And
[7:57] Speaker 1: so he cries out hearing it's Jesus of Nazareth. Listen
[8:01] Speaker 1: to him, Jesus, son of David, have pity on me.
[8:07] Speaker 1: I think it's so moving that we basically repeat Bartimaeus's
[8:12] Speaker 1: cry at every mass. What he says in the Greek
[8:16] Speaker 1: here is alaya is on may, alayas on may. That
[8:19] Speaker 1: sounds familiar. Curiate a liaison, Christ, a alaison, curiate a liaison.
[8:27] Speaker 1: At the beginning of every mass, we compel everybody at
[8:31] Speaker 1: the mass to enter into the space of bartimaeis blind
[8:38] Speaker 1: and begging. We don't come into mass with this kind
[8:42] Speaker 1: of blithe confidence that we are in control of our lives.
[8:45] Speaker 1: We got our egle, eyes open, and we got all
[8:48] Speaker 1: the things we need, and we're marching along, and boy,
[8:50] Speaker 1: isn't it great? Maybe if Jesus is a wonderful accompaniment
[8:53] Speaker 1: to our ego project. No, that ain't gonna work. That
[8:58] Speaker 1: is not going to work. Rather, we all begin by
[9:03] Speaker 1: acknowledging we're like Barton maus curie Alison, Lord, have mercy
[9:08] Speaker 1: on me, have pity on me. I'm not in command.
[9:15] Speaker 1: I'm waiting for someone else to take control of my life. Okay,
[9:21] Speaker 1: now watch what happens. Many rebuked him, telling him to
[9:25] Speaker 1: be silent, but he kept calling out all the more,
[9:27] Speaker 1: son of David, have pity on me. That happens a
[9:30] Speaker 1: lot too, doesn't it in our society, Because boy, do
[9:32] Speaker 1: we love people that are in command, people that got
[9:35] Speaker 1: it together, and they're smart, and they're accomplished, and they've
[9:38] Speaker 1: found their own path. And so if you're a blind beggar,
[9:42] Speaker 1: you're saying, I don't really know where I'm going, I'm
[9:45] Speaker 1: kind of lost, I'm helpless, I'm a sinner. Well, the
[9:47] Speaker 1: society will say, come on, get it together, what's the
[9:51] Speaker 1: matter with you? Will be opposed in the same way
[9:54] Speaker 1: barti Maeus was, but to his great credit, he keeps
[9:58] Speaker 1: crying out, son of David, son of David, have pity
[10:00] Speaker 1: on me. So then here's a decisive moment. Jesus stopped
[10:05] Speaker 1: and said, call him now, Remember Jeremiah, it's the Lord
[10:13] Speaker 1: will bring the exiles back. Remember the Letter to the Hebrews,
[10:16] Speaker 1: no one becomes a priest on his own, but is
[10:19] Speaker 1: called into that life. So here Bartimaeus, and therefore all
[10:25] Speaker 1: of us are called by a higher voice. I think
[10:32] Speaker 1: maybe I've explained this to you before, But the Greek
[10:35] Speaker 1: word ecclesia, which means church. Ecclesiastical comes from that.
[10:42] Speaker 2: But the root of that is elee oh, to call
[10:47] Speaker 2: out from, to call out from e collein.
[10:55] Speaker 1: Bartimaeus is being called out of his cramped, blind, helpless
[11:03] Speaker 1: life by a higher voice, by a higher powers. It's
[11:09] Speaker 1: Jesus saying to Peter right going to the depths. Same thing.
[11:12] Speaker 1: He's being summoned at code into communion with Jesus. That's
[11:18] Speaker 1: the church, everybody. It's not a bureaucratic organization. It's a
[11:23] Speaker 1: relationship to the one who's called us beautiful. He's now
[11:28] Speaker 1: being summoned, So they called the by a man saying,
[11:33] Speaker 1: take courage, get up. Jesus is calling you good. This
[11:37] Speaker 1: is the decisive moment. See do we do we say
[11:39] Speaker 1: yes to it? Or do we run the other way?
[11:42] Speaker 1: That's the question. So Bartimaeus, God bless him, threw aside
[11:46] Speaker 1: his cloak, sprang up and came to Jesus. He's that
[11:51] Speaker 1: moment everybody, when I don't care if you're the if
[11:53] Speaker 1: you're the President United States, I don't care if you're
[11:55] Speaker 1: the richest person in the world. I don't care if
[11:56] Speaker 1: you realized every one of your stupid little ego dreams.
[12:00] Speaker 1: You're a nobody, You're nothing in the spiritual order until
[12:05] Speaker 1: Jesus calls you. Now you know who you are. Now
[12:11] Speaker 1: you know what to do. Now you know what your
[12:13] Speaker 1: life's all about. That's why beautifully he throws off his cloak.
[12:17] Speaker 1: The scholars tell us that there are baptismal overtones here,
[12:21] Speaker 1: which I think is very credible, because in the ancient Church,
[12:24] Speaker 1: when you were baptized, you took off your street clothes,
[12:27] Speaker 1: you stripped down, and then you went down into the water,
[12:31] Speaker 1: and then you were clothed in the white garment. You've
[12:34] Speaker 1: got a new life now. So Bartimaeus takes off his cloak,
[12:39] Speaker 1: his old life, and then beautifully he springs up. Think
[12:42] Speaker 1: of this man, you know, blind beggar, crouched by the
[12:45] Speaker 1: walls of Jericho's life kind of going nowhere, but summoned
[12:49] Speaker 1: by Jesus, he has this energy. He springs up, comes
[12:53] Speaker 1: to Jesus, and then beautifully, how baptismal this is too.
[12:59] Speaker 1: What do you want me to do for you? Jesus
[13:01] Speaker 1: asked at every baptism, the priest or, the bishop, or
[13:05] Speaker 1: the deacon, the baptizing minister says, what name do you
[13:09] Speaker 1: give your child? They give the name, and then is
[13:12] Speaker 1: what do you want for this child? It's the same question.
[13:16] Speaker 1: It's the same question, Jesus asked, part to me, is
[13:19] Speaker 1: what do you want? The blind man replied, Master, I
[13:23] Speaker 1: want to see there's a world in that right. He'd
[13:27] Speaker 1: been blind and know where he's going, lost, hopeless, having
[13:32] Speaker 1: been called into the life of the Church of intimacy
[13:36] Speaker 1: with Jesus. Now he wants the vision of what my
[13:39] Speaker 1: life is all about. And Jesus says, your faith has
[13:43] Speaker 1: saved you, and his sight returns. And then how the
[13:46] Speaker 1: story ends to me is always so striking. That's why
[13:49] Speaker 1: I say every word of this story matters. And so
[13:53] Speaker 1: he received a site and followed him on the way.
[13:58] Speaker 1: It begins with this man hopeless, crouching, blind and begging
[14:02] Speaker 1: by the walls of Jericho. It ends with someone confidently
[14:08] Speaker 1: walking the way behind Jesus. He knows who he is
[14:13] Speaker 1: now because he has been called cole Ode. He surrendered
[14:19] Speaker 1: to the power of God. So it goes with every
[14:23] Speaker 1: one of us, and God bless you.

Shows are listed from Apple Podcasts' charts and directory, and Podcast Index where it is used. Every show and episode belongs to its publisher and plays from the publisher's own feed; this site hosts none of them.