Church of St. Mary at Clinton Heights

What does it mean to be a Christian?   For us Catholics, it is very foreign question but one that I think the times are demanding we look at.  What does it mean to follow Jesus?  The Gospel today gives us a hint.  It is not about being powerful or being served.  As we are witnessing, this will only lead to trouble and corruption.  Authentic Christianity is about serving one another in the name of the Lord Jesus.  It means that we align ourselves with the vulnerable of the world.  Jesus gathering that child to himself for me is a sign that His Body exists, we exist, to serve the poor and vulnerable, no matter who they are, what they look or where they are.

 The cornerstone of any Christian community must be Christ.  He is the source of the Church, the center of every parish, the inspiration of all we do , and the supreme model of service.  As we look at the future, He must be the center of this community.  Jesus must be the pastor. Jesus’s Word must be that which guides us.  From this flows everything we are.  Our worship will be focused on the glory of God and our thanksgiving to God for we have and have been given, most importantly, our salvation in Christ.  The Sacraments will not be rituals we go through; they will be encounters with the saving mystery of God.    Our gatherings for community and support will be build a community that learns how to laugh with each other, to learn each other’s name, how to work together with power plays, to disagree with each other  and to know we that are there for each other.  Our service to the vulnerable in this community and beyond will be done in Christ’s name and for His honor and glory, not ours.  We have so much to give in this community, so many gifts and talents that we can make a better world.  Together we are strong; together we can serve, together we will rebuild the Body of Christ.  Finally, we must learn about who Jesus is.  How?  Learning how to prayer; studying the Sacred Scriptures, learning what our church teaches and why, forming our consciences so we can make good decisions, and learning how to question and grow deeper in our belief.

 How will we do all this?  By prayer and God’s help.  I have been wondering to myself why I stay in the Church and how can I represent a group that has done things that have hurt others and then worse, covered it up.  What I have come to know is that my faith is not in a structure or institution.  I stay because of Jesus and who he is for me.  Jesus is more than a concept, but my friend and Master, the one I talk to through out the day, the one who I can always count on when things are crazy in my life, Jesus is the one who shows me the way even I resist him…I have learned that my friend in very patient with me.  This is the Jesus I want you to know and love.  It is this Jesus who binds this community together. 

 What will attract people here will not just be the building even though it is important.  What will attract people maybe the music and how it is, but that cannot be the only reason.  What will attract people here maybe the faith formation process or how well we serve the poor and needed.  All important, but that can’t be the main focus either.   What will attract people here will be them walking in here and leaving and saying that those people are really Christian and they showed me who Jesus is and can be for my life.  I want to go back there because I found Jesus there.

For us here at St Mary’s. I am making that our main goal.  As we make our commitment to the Reigniting our faith and discipleship initiative the next few weeks, I ask you to see your contribution as a way to help this community to create opportunities for people to know Jesus, to help you grow in your life with Christ, and to make this church’s reputation be about Jesus.   As you will see, everything we are proposing to use our 70% will be focused just on that:  enlivening and deepening your commitment to Christ and mine, to worship well, to be a community, and people who serve the rest.

During Lent, we always talk about giving something up. My question today is why do we just need to wait until Lent. Many people are already doing it. Giving up foods with a lot of salt or cholesterol, stopping smoking, giving up watching too much TV and exercising, and the list continues. One way to interpret today’s gospel is to ask what must I do away with, cut away, so that I could be a better follower of Jesus. One place to start is to take an inventory of our day; perhaps, meditate on your calendar. Is there time for prayer? How time is spent as a family? How much time am I not using my cellphone, iPad, etc and having a conversation with someone? If there is a spot for exercise, is there also a spot to read the Scriptures? Another place to look is in our hearts. This maybe the harder to place because it means we have to confront parts of our selves that we would rather not look at. Looking into our hearts means we confront our sins and all those parts of ourselves that are still in need of redemption and change. In reality,it is here where we “cut” out parts of ourselves….angers we have never dealt with, our envy, our selfishness, the me first attitude, our laziness, our apathy, and whatever else we meet Finally, St James offers us another to examine. Our concern, solidarity with the poor and our acts of charity. Again, look back to Lent. We put money aside for the poor….what about September? Where is our charity today? This past week we celebrated the feast of St Vincent de Paul. He wrote the following:

 Even though the poor are often rough and unrefined, we must not judge them from external appearances nor from the mental gifts they seem to have received. On the contrary, if you consider the poor in the light of faith, then you will observe that they are taking the place of the Son of God who chose to be poor. It is our duty to prefer the service of the poor to everything else and to offer such service as quickly as possible. If a needy person requires medicine or other help during prayer time, do whatever has to be done with peace of mind. Offer the deed to God as your prayer. Do not become upset or feel guilty because you interrupted your prayer to serve the poor. God is not neglected if you leave him for such service. One of God’s works is merely interrupted so that another can be carried out. So when you leave prayer to serve some poor person, remember that this very service is performed for God. Charity is certainly greater than any rule. Moreover, all rules must lead to charity. Since she is a noble mistress, we must do whatever she commands. With renewed devotion, then, we must serve the poor, especially outcasts and beggars.

St Vincent challenges to root out of live the judgmentalism that can creep into our hears. He reminds that charity is the most important virtue…charity not limited to those we like and love, but charity to all we meet.

So, today’s Gospel calls us to cut out all the parts that keep us from following Christ with our whole hearts. May we look honestly at ourselves and give up that which is in the way. Why do we have to wait until Lent when we can do it now? We will all have things to change in Lent anyway.