SOLEMNITY OF SAINT PIUS X

TWENTY-FIRST SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

25 AUGUST 2019

          Saint Luke does not reveal the identity of the person who asked Jesus the question “will only a few people be saved.”  However, we can make two assumptions.  First, that person has probably been following Jesus in his journey from Galilee to Jerusalem.  He or she has more than likely eaten and drunk in his company and listened to him as he taught.  Second, that person is more than likely Jewish.  A Jewish person asking a Jewish rabbi the question of how many will be saved would expect the rabbi to answer that a few – the descendants of Abraham – would be saved.  That is in contrast to the vast majority of the world’s inhabitants who were Gentiles and considered outside of the realm of salvation.

            Jesus does not answer the question.  Instead, he says that salvation is not limited to a few chosen ones.  Salvation is for everyone.  However, salvation is not forced upon anyone.  Those who seek to be saved must enter through the “narrow gate.”  On his way to Jerusalem, Jesus knows that he must pass through the narrow gate of his suffering and death, before reaching his resurrection.  He invites those who are walking with him to embrace that message.  He is looking for intentional disciples, and not just people who claim to know him.

            Today, we celebrate the Solemnity of our patron, Saint Pius X.  We ask his intercession as we respond to his call to walk more completely with Christ as his intentional disciples.  His motto, “To Renew All Things in Christ” is our motto at the beginning of this century, as it was his at the beginning of the twentieth century.  To assist us in this task, we have developed a strategic plan for the next five years for our parish.  Under the leadership of Brett Bauer, we enjoyed broad consultation as we focused on the task of evangelization. Now that we have completed our building project, the Lord is calling our parish to evangelize, to spread the Good News of our Savior, Jesus Christ.  We can evangelize through prayer, service, sacrificial giving, faith formation, and community life.  The Strategic Plan outlines five specific areas to strengthen our role:  Liturgy and Worship, Faith Formation, Stewardship, Engagement, and Operations.

            The Strategic Plan is available on line.  You can obtain paper copies at the parish office.  Being responsible stewards of parish finances, we avoided the expense of printing hundreds of copies and putting them at the doors of the church.  Please read the Strategic Plan to be part of walking together as intentional disciples through the narrow gate.  We know that the concept of evangelization is not widely understood by Catholics.  For that reason, we will begin our newly-initiated themed year as the “Year of Evangelization”.  To kick off this first year, we have set aside a special evening (Wednesday, September 25) to host a well-known speaker, Mark Hart, to give us a better understanding of how we can be effective evangelists.  Mark has many years of experience in ministry and will help us understand our role as evangelists more deeply.

            As members of this parish, we are walking together with Jesus Christ on our way to the new and eternal Jerusalem.  The Lord is challenging us to become more intentional disciples, to trust that his love transforms us.  As we share our joy at the good news of his kingdom already in our midst, we will face our own narrow gates, as he did.  We will face the skepticism of those who think we are crazy to initiate this effort at the time of the clergy abuse crisis.  The Letter to the Hebrews reminds us that any difficulties we may face can be seen as discipline – as the Lord renewing our spiritual energy and strengthening us to embrace the message of salvation.  We respond to his call in today’s Gospel to enter the narrow gate of the Lord’s passion and death, confident of the power of the resurrection.

TWENTIETH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

18 AUGUST 2019

          The Letter to the Hebrews uses the image of a stadium filled with fans watching a race.  We can imagine the runners getting ready to run – stretching their bodies, focusing their attention on the race ahead, and trying to handle their nervous energy.  They are encouraged by the fans cheering and urging them to keep their eyes finished on the prize at the finish line.

            Last Sunday, the author of this same letter introduced us to Abraham and his descendants as models of faith.  Their example encourages us in our faith.  Today, he insists that all of these witnesses who have crossed the finish line are literally cheering us on as we encounter our own obstacles in our race to the finish line.  That is why we always end the preface at every Mass with these words:  “And so, with the company of Angels and Saints, we sing the hymn of your praise, as without end we acclaim.”  We do not sing the Sanctus alone.  We sing it with that great crowd of witnesses.  They are present with us at every Mass, cheering us on to persevere and to endure whatever hardship to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, the leader and perfecter of faith.

            Jesus himself speaks of that role in his instructions today to his disciples, which includes you and me.  We have been immersed into the waters of Baptism.  That is why our Baptismal Font helps us to understand the reality of baptism.  We who are immersed into those waters are immersed into his death.  When we emerge from those waters, we emerge to share in his life.  He talks about his role of setting the world on fire.  The divine fire of God’s love purifies those who embrace his message.  But that same fire judges those who turn their backs on his love.  Jesus is talking about being immersed into his suffering and death.  On his way to Jerusalem, he speaks of that baptism with anguish.  But he also keeps his eyes on the finish line, trusting that the Father will raise him from the dead and bestow the gift of peace in the glory of his resurrection.

            As we continue to run the race and grow more fully in our faith, we know the peace that comes from our efforts to share in the Lord’s passion.  But we also know that pain of division when we speak or live the truth of our baptism.  The prophet Jeremiah knew that pain in an acute way.  God sent him to speak the truth to the king and his advisors that they should surrender to the Babylonians.  The king and his advisers did not want to hear that truth and accused Jeremiah of sedition.  They threw him into the cistern, and he sank into the mud of their hatred.

            If we live and speak the truth of our baptism, we will also encounter opposition.  The truth given to us by Jesus Christ often conflicts with the truth spewed by our culture.  If we embrace the sanctity of all human life from the moment of conception through natural death, then we will go against the notion that life is disposable and can be subjected to our will.  We can get caught up in the complicated argument about immigration and can forget that these immigrants are made in the image of God and deserve respect.  If we believe that the most important aspect of life is to persevere in faith, then we go against the common perception that power and wealth are the ultimate goals in life.

            When we run into these obstacles, we need to remember that there is that great crowd of witnesses who are cheering us on.  We see the image of some of them in our Triumphal Arch.  All of them know the purifying fire of God’s love.  All of them have been completely purified as they surround the throne of God.  As we continue our race, we cannot make the same mistake of the enemies of Jeremiah and Jesus.  We cannot throw them into the mud of our resentment and anger.  Instead, we need to treat those with whom we disagree with respect, offering them the fire of purification, and not the fire of judgment.

NINETEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

11 AUGUST 2019

          The Letter to the Hebrews defines faith as “…the realization of what is hoped for and evidence of things not seen.”  As an example of authentic faith, the Letter cites the faith of Abraham.  Called by God, Abraham left his comfortable life in Ur to journey to a new and unknown Promised Land.  He began this journey, because he had faith in the God who made the promises.  In his journey, Abraham encountered many obstacles:  enemies who resisted him, his old age that challenged God’s promise that his descendants would be as numerous as the sands on the shore of the sea and the stars in the sky (the third mosaic in our center aisle), and even his willingness to obey God in sacrificing Isaac, the only link to that promise.  Because Abraham demonstrated the realization of what is hoped for and the evidence of things not seen, he became the father of all who had the courage to embark on this journey of faith.

            The Book of Wisdom gives an example of the faith of some of his descendants.  The children of Abraham may have been living in slavery in Egypt.  But, at least they knew that condition and understood it.  However, they trusted God and participated in the first Passover Meal.  Each household slaughtered a lamb and spread its blood on their lintels, trusting that God would spare their firstborn males.  Like Abraham, they left the place where they were familiar and embarked on a journey through a desert about which they knew nothing.  Their journey in faith was difficult, filled with many dangers.  But they came to that same land promised to Abraham.  They realized what they had hoped for, even though they could not have seen it.

            In reading the Scriptures, we encounter countless men and women on their journeys of faith.  At the heart of every journey is the God who journeyed with them.  In the fullness of time, God himself departed from the familiar home of his divinity to empty himself of the privileges of divinity to journey with us as a human being, even to death on a cross.  We have been following the journey of Jesus Christ in the Gospel of Saint Luke as he makes his way from the security of his home in Nazareth to his ultimate death and resurrection in Jerusalem.  On the way, he has been calling people to follow him.  On the way, he has been giving advice to his disciples about the best ways to walk with him in faith.

            He tells us, his disciples, that we cannot depend on earthly treasures as we walk with him to embrace the Kingdom of God already in our midst.  Those treasures will not endure.  Instead, we walk in the faith defined in the Letter to the Hebrews.  That faith is threefold.  First, faith is an intimate relationship with Jesus Christ, a trust that enables us to continue letting go of what is comfortable and familiar to embrace new challenges and difficulties in our journey of faith.  Second, faith involves a trust that God will always remain faithful to us, just as he had remained faithful to the children of Abraham walking through the desert from slavery to freedom.  Finally, our faith is expressed in the Nicene Creed that we pray at every Sunday Mass.  We profess this faith, not as isolated individuals, but as children of Abraham walking together on our journey to the new and eternal Jerusalem, promised to us by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

            Authentic faith always involves risks and always encourages us to trust as we venture from what is comfortable to what is unknown.  Authentic faith invites us to let go of fear and embrace trust. Jesus gives himself to us in his real presence in the Eucharist.  Nourished by that presence, he invites us to recognize his presence in those we serve as humble servants.  If we have the courage to be humble servants, he will recognize us as his followers and serve us in that eternal Kingdom.  Much has been entrusted to us, and much will be given, if we continue to trust and walk together in faith.