June 13, 1999 |
With the celebrations of Trinity Sunday, Corpus Christi, and the Sacred Heart, we now find ourselves back completely in Ordinary Time. Not "ordinary" because "nothing" is happening, but "ordinary" because the counting (Latin-ordinare) of the Sundays is resumed until the Solemnity of Christ the King, and then the new Church year.
There are several themes this Sunday: the call of the priesthood/religious vocations; the choosing and mission of the Twelve Apostles; and the proclamation of the Kingdom of God.
The "sending" of the Twelve Apostles could lead us to reflect that in some way or another each of us is sent, in virtue of our baptism, to proclaim the Kingdom of God, and the healing power of Christ by our lives and example. What have we received from the Lord as a blessing that we need to share with others? What is the need of Christ's healing in our lives, city, and community? To be a missionary is not just reserved for those who are sent overseas in the name of the Church, but for each one of us. Each one of us, at the start of a new day, is given a mission. Are we open to what the Lord asks us to do each day?
The CATECHISM OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH reminds us that:
"By her very mission, the Church travels the same journey as all humanity and shares the same earthy lot with the world: she is to be a leaven and, as it were, the soul of human society in its renewal by Christ and transformation into the family of God."
All of us who are baptized have been set on a path that leads to holiness and intimacy with our Triune God. This God who created all is a keeper of promises. He is faithful and loving and has accepted us into His circle of life. Choosing to accept us into His family, He provides help and assistance for us to live out our Christian vocation through the power of the Holy Spirit, the Church and the Sacraments. Our choosing to be for God is both freeing and limiting. Our choice frees us to become the best we can be and to grow spiritually in the loving presence of God as long as we remain faithful to our vocation. Being human, we often fail, but the great love that our God has for us provides a way for us to return. To be faithful we continue to limit our choices to that which is good and to choose away from that which is evil. To be faithful, we MUST pray and trust in the providence of God.
At Sunday Mass, Christians relive with particular intensity the experience of the Apostles on the evening of Easter when the Risen Lord appeared to them as they were gathered together (cf. Jn 20:19). In a sense, the People of God of all times were present in that small nucleus of disciples, the first fruits of the Church. Through their testimony, every generation of believers hears the greeting of Christ, rich with the messianic gift of peace, won by his blood and offered with his Spirit: Peace be with you!
Christ's return among them a week later (Jn 20:26) can be seen as a radical prefiguring of the Christian community's practice of coming together every seven days, on the Lord's Day or Sunday, in order to profess faith in his resurrection and to receive the blessing which he had promised: Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe (Jn 20:29). This close connection between the appearance of the Risen Lord and the Eucharist is suggested in the Gospel of Luke in the story of the two disciples of Emmaus, whom Christ approached and led to understand the Scriptures and then sat with them at table. They recognized him when he took the bread, said the blessing, broke it and gave it to them (24:30).
The gestures of Jesus in the account are his gestures at the Last Supper, with the clear allusion to the breaking of bread, as the Eucharist was called by the first generation of Christians.
Pope John Paul II, Dies Domini, 33
Christian stewardship takes a positive view on money. It sees money not only as a medium of exchange, but as a symbol of the person who has it. Our true selves are revealed in the way we acquire it, use it, and share it.
And Jesus went on to say, And so I tell you this: use money, tainted as it is, to win you friends, and thus make sure that when it fails you, they will welcome you into the tents of eternity. The man who can be trusted in little things can be trusted in great; the man who is dishonest in little things will be dishonest in great. If then you cannot be trusted with money, that tainted thing, who will trust you with genuine riches? And if you cannot be trusted with what is not yours, who will give you what is your very own? (LUKE 16: 9-12)
Paige Byrne Shortal
"At the sight of the crowds, Jesus' heart was moved with pity for them because they were troubled and abandoned, like sheep without a shepherd."
There are communities of Catholics in the southern and western states who celebrate Eucharist once a month. Missouri is not far behind these states. In our own deanery there are parishes "covered" by a priest who is assigned to other duties: another parish, a high school teacher, or a hospital chaplain. Parishes with one man assigned often bring in guests to help out, just as we have for more than a month.
But is "covering" a parish on Sunday morning really nourishing the people of God? Can a man who is essentially a visitor or guest really speak to the people's needs? And what of all the other work of a minister? What about holding the hand of a person facing death? Comforting a father who has lost his child and is afraid to burden his wife with his own grief? Preparing a young couple for marriage or counseling the spouses who are struggling in their relationship? Ministering to the divorced? The widowed? The teenagers?
"The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few."
We hear of the "vocation crisis." Ironically, there are more ministers in parish communities than ever in the history of the Catholic Church. A few statistics from CARA (Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate): In the 1997-98 academic year there were only 3,158 seminarians in US theologates, but 23,333 students in graduate lay ministry formation programs. In the past 25 years the number of clergy in the US has declined by 40 percent and the number of women religious have decreased even more dramatically. During this same period the number of lay ministers has grown steadily. In 1998 the Official Catholic Directory reports 22,000 lay professional ministers.
This past year in our archdiocese we ordained one man to the priesthood. Ten permanent deacons were ordained who, while now officially clergy rather than lay, live the life of a layperson, often with wife and children. This past year Aquinas Institute of Theology (my alma mater) graduated a total of 32, only five of whom are priests or seminarians.
Further most of these lay folks have had to pay for their own education. When I was going to graduate school my degree was largely funded by grants from the Archdiocesan Office of Lay Formation (with some help from the Dominicans and Jesuits). That office no longer exists and the Archdiocesan Development Appeal apportions no money for lay minister education.
With so many theologically educated and pastorally sensitive people available and more in school who are willing to study nights and weekends and pay thousands of dollars all to minister to their communities, why is their a vocation crisis?
"Ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers."
God is the harvest master and we pray for vocations. Will we know it when God answers our prayer?
1) Exodus 19, 2-6
2) Romans 5, 6-11
3) Matthew 9, 36-10, 8
God is the God of all things. We are often ready to credit God with sovereignty over the spiritual realm, but we just as often neglect to acknowledge God's sovereignty over our physical and emotional world. The people of Israel were offered a covenant which called for them to be a kingdom of priests, a holy nation, (1) but the covenant was also a promise of a new land and a relationship of love. The promised land we have heard about. Love we speak about often enough. Buy the measure of that love and the concern for our physical lives we too often forget. It is precisely in this that God proves his love for us: that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (2) Jesus was so distressed at the pain of the crowd that he sent his healing power out through his disciples and told them to beg the harvest master for even more workers. (3) Our stewardship is concerned with the truth of our spirits, the depth of our love and the gifts of our bodies. We are called to be frugal with our own needs and extravagant in our efforts to meet the needs of others.
Next Sunday the reading's will be: 1)Jeremiah 20, 10-13; 2)Romans 5, 12-15; 3)Matthew 10, 26-33.
In today's Gospel we hear Matthew carrying out his role as pastor. He reminds his flock as Jesus is moved by those whose hearts are troubled and feel abandoned that they are like sheep without a shepherd. "The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few; so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest." There are many that feel troubled and abandoned in our world so we need more laborers for the harvest; we need your prayers for more priests, sisters and brothers to carry out the Gospel message. Matthew writes his Gospel during a difficult period in the Christian community's early history. Likely this Gospel was written close to AD 80 shortly after these early Christians had witnessed the destruction of Jerusalem in the year 70 and most had fled Jerusalem in droves during the Roman-Jewish war. But the most painful situation was how these early Jewish-Christians had been expelled from the synagogues where they had been accustomed to preach and teach. Perhaps the situation in Kosovo reminds us of how the early Christians must have felt. The Kosovo people are being persecuted for their religion and their ethnic background much like the early Christians. Likewise they are being expelled from their homeland. Possibly we can realize from these events that it is impossible to convert a world if we are not yet living the life of Christ at home.
Celebrate 2000...Reflections on Jesus, The Holy Spirit, and the Father, by Pope John Paul II. Marriage And Virginity Or Celibacy Virginity or celibacy for the sake of the Kingdom of God not only does not contradict the dignity of marriage but presupposes it and confirms it. Marriage and virginity or celibacy are two ways of expressing and living the one mystery of the covenant of God with His people. When marriage is not esteemed, neither can consecrated virginity or celibacy exist; when human sexuality is not regarded as a great value given by the Creator, the renunciation of it for the sake of the Kingdom of heaven loses its meaning...
Christian couples...have the right to expect from celibate persons a good example and a witness of fidelity to their vocation until death. Just as fidelity at times becomes difficult for married people and requires sacrifice, mortification, and self-denial, the same can happen to celibate persons, and their fidelity, even in the trials that may occur, should strengthen the fidelity of married couples.
These reflections on virginity or celibacy can enlighten and help those who, for reasons independent of their own will, have been unable to marry and have then accepted their situation in a spirit of service. [FC n. 16]
