Mass Readings Audio
https://bible.usccb.org/podcasts/audio/2021-01-24-usccb-daily-mass-readings
Third Sunday in Ordinary Time – January 24, 2021
Welcome to the one hundred and forty-eighth episode of By Your Life. I’m Lisa Huetteman and I know that you have a hundred different things you could be doing right now, so I thank you for choosing By Your Life.
My goal is to inspire, empower, support, challenge, and encourage you to connect Sunday, with Monday-Friday, in a secular business world. It’s my desire to help you live our Catholic faith in the marketplace. I hope to offer you practical ways to go forth and glorify the Lord by your life.
In this edition, we’ll reflect on the readings for the Third Sunday in Ordinary Time (YEAR B). In 2019, the Harvard Business Review published an article about the top twenty business transformations of the last decade. The article summarizes the results of a study by Innosight of the world’s most transformative companies. The study looked at global companies that achieved the highest-impact business transformations over the past decade as measured by new growth, repositioning the core business, and financial performance. Each of these companies developed new-growth businesses outside its traditional core which have become a significant share of the overall business.
Note: The authors of the study didn’t include Catholic Social Teaching as a criteria to evaluate the purpose-driven mission of the Transformation 20. But many of the companies’ changes are focused on fundamentals of Catholic Social Teaching like improving healthcare and caring for the environment.
One of the companies on the list is Denmark’s biggest energy company, Danish Oil and Natural Gas, who in 2012, slid into financial crisis as the price of natural gas plunged by 90% and S&P downgraded its credit rating to negative. Needing to build an entirely new company, they responded to the need to combat climate change and made the decision to wholeheartedly go from black to green energy. The firm now known as Ørsted divested its oil and natural gas businesses and began phasing out coal, creating a giant earnings gap that urgently needed to be filled. The company’s investment in offshore wind power proved to be too expensive, producing energy that was more than double the price of onshore wind. So, they embarked on a systematic “cost-out” program to reduce the price of offshore wind and managed to cut the cost by more than 60% while achieving scale.
The authors of the study discovered that the strategic impulse to identify a higher-purpose mission that galvanized the organization—was a common thread among the Transformation 20 companies. Other companies that made the list were China’s AIA Group that moved beyond insurance to become a wellness company, and Dutch electronics giant Philips that largely divested its legacy lighting business to focus on healthcare technology.
80-year-old Ecolab was growing 10% annually by selling industrial cleansers and food safety services with a strategic plan to sell more of what they had. Their transformation began by talking to customers who were buying their core products but also voicing concerns about access to clean water. Projections for the year 2030 showed that 70% of the world’s GDP would be based in water-stressed regions. So, in 2011, Ecolab acquired water technology company Nalco and the combined company is now one of the world’s leading suppliers of hardware, software, and chemistry that helps manufacturers and service firms become more efficient users of water.
According to the authors, the takeaway lesson from these and the other mission-changers was clear. They wrote, “In an era of relentless change, a company survives and thrives based not on its size or performance at any given time but on its ability to reposition itself to create a new future, and to leverage a purpose-driven mission to that end.” It was the decision to infuse a higher purpose into the culture, one that guided strategic decisions and gave clarity to everyday tasks, that propelled these companies to success.
In an era of relentless change, a company survives and thrives based … on its ability to reposition itself to create a new future and to leverage a purpose-driven mission to that end. ~ Scott D. Anthony, Alasdair Trotter, and Evan I. SchwartzOur Gospel this Sunday highlights the greatest higher-purpose mission transformation of all times. Simon and Andrew, James and John were fishermen when they chose to leave their nets, boats, and father to follow Jesus, and he made them fishers of men. (Mk 1:16-20) Following Jesus led them on a road filled with challenges, pain, and suffering, and ultimately, except for John, a martyr’s death. But their higher-purpose mission didn’t end with their death. They followed Jesus into eternal life.
The apostles aren’t the only ones who received this call. “Follow me” is a direct and personal invitation for all of us. Once we figure out that our earthly life is only part of the equation, everything in it takes on new meaning.
This is what St. Paul was writing about to the Corinthians in our second reading. “The world in its present form is passing away.” (1 Cor 7:31) When preaching about this reading, Bishop Barron said, Paul “has witnessed something that is so shocking, that is so new, overwhelming, flabbergasting, and strange, that he’s convinced the world as we know it is passing away. He’s seen something that is so confounding and so exhilarating that all the things we take to be important—marriage, family, personal feelings, material goods—they are all things we should let go of and not worry about anymore. What moved Paul to this spiritual space? It was the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Paul saw the risen Christ and therefore everything he held worthwhile he now considered so much rubbish.”
Most of us aren’t knocked to the ground by God as Paul was. (Acts 9:4) For many, our spiritual transformation is a more gradual journey that takes a lifetime. And for some, it is something in between. We have an ah-ha moment but then it takes a while to let go of the “rubbish” or at least place it in its proper order of importance.
The day I recognized that I wanted my priorities to be God, family, and then work, but instead was living with work, family, and God as a distant third priority, was the day I decided to make a change to follow a higher-purpose mission. I made the decision to leave my high-paying corporate job to start out on my own. My higher-purpose mission was the welfare of my children.
Like all the Transformation 20 companies, starting my own business had a lot of challenges and I had to overcome a learning curve that took me years. But when hurricanes or the biggest economic downturn since the Great Depression threatened our livelihood, I didn’t go looking for another corporate job that would have impacted my family’s wellbeing. Instead, because of my commitment to my higher-purpose mission, I kept moving forward. And now, as I’m approaching retirement, I’ll tell you my finances are not where they would have been had I stayed in Corporate America, but they are sufficient. What is more important is that my daughters are thriving with God in the #1 place in their lives too. You can’t buy that and that is my measurement of success.
You don’t have to be a multibillion-dollar global company, you don’t even have to be a company at all, to make a higher-purpose mission transformation. You simply have to make the choice to make following Jesus your number one priority.
But don’t wait too long. “Time is running out.” (1 Cor 7:29) Why waste another minute working toward or worrying about something that is passing away? You may have to divest of the things you used to hold in highest esteem, or you may just need to place them in the proper order of importance. Either way, transformation, by its definition, means you have to change.
But, in Rediscover Jesus, Matthew Kelly writes that we don’t necessarily want our lives transformed. “Sure, we want some tweaking, but not transformation…. We pray for tweaking. ‘Oh, dear God, please tweak this. And, dear God, please tweak that.’ But God’s not in the business of tweaking. God’s in the business of transformation.” God is the King of transformation. And he desires transformation for us because he wants us to have an incredible joy, … incredible peace, … and incredible happiness.
One of the great challenges of our spiritual life is to switch from tweaking to transformation. Matthew Kelly continues, “The sad, tragic, and miserable truth is that most of us never prayed a prayer of transformation. Most of us never once in our lives have come to God and prayed, ‘All right, God. Whatever you want. Everything’s on the table. I’m 100% available. Transform me. Transform my life. Take what you want to take. Give what you want to give. I’ll do whatever you ask me to, God.’ … If you want to see miracles, pray that prayer. That is a prayer God will answer. Never once in the history of the world has God not answered a sincere prayer of transformation.”
Never in the history of the world has God not answered a sincere prayer of transformation. ~ Matthew Kelly @MatthewFKellySo, let’s pray this prayer of transformation. (Taken from Welcome CRHP 2.0)
Loving Father, Here I am. You made me for more than I am right now. I trust that you have an incredible plan for me. Transform me. Transform my life. Everything is on the table. Take what you want to take and give what you want to give. Transform me into the person you created me to be, the-very-best-version-of-myself, so I can live the life you envision for me. I hold nothing back. I make myself 100% available to you. Lead me, guide me, and show me what it is you are calling me to; then fill me with the courage and grace to do it. Amen
May God bless you abundantly this week and transform you so that in everything you do, you will glorify the Lord by your life.
If you liked this episode, spread the word. You know what to do, forward, share, or click to post. Also, check out the Resources page where you can find a link to the books and other resources mentioned in this and other episodes of By Your Life. I’m always interested in what you think, so give me some feedback by leaving a comment.
