-Last Sunday's homily is available By email request
-This Sunday's Scriptures can be found at Sunday readings
-Check out this weeks LinC letter at LinC Letter
-I will be celebrating mass this weekend at 5:30, 9:30am and 12:30pm
Can You See Me?
This weekend's feast of Christ the King and the great gospel text of Matthew 25 provides the opportunity for continuation of my reflection Vision 2016 "every one add one: renew, reflect, reach out!" The opportunity to renew our faith lived in communion with God in the parish is most accessible by serving a compassionate ministry here with others.
If we can "read" or "see" the world and daily life through the lens of the gospel then we can recognize and encounter the Lord Jesus in the simplest acts of compassion which becomes a new path for "remaining in the Lord".
Our plan or vision is that others find us credible witnesses to the life of Jesus Christ risen from the dead. Others are most likely to see and "encounter" the communion of God Father, Son, and Holy Spirit by experiencing our sincere and compassionate service. Recall, that Jesus said "this is how they will know you are my disciples, by the love you have for one another."
Those words of Jesus indicate to us how we would make one small step more deeply into the communion of the love of God and that is by turning to our brothers and sisters in community with compassion. This is maybe less heroic service then turning to the stranger, however, it demands that we take a new look and see the littleness, neediness, Christlikeness in our brothers and sisters (our spouses, our children, our parents) and see it as openings for compassion and service right where we live.
This is what the vision "every one and one" means by renew. If each of us could renew the way that we are relating to our neighbor in communion we could deepen our faith in communion. This deepening or renewing of our faith is a necessary step to our reaching out to our neighbor in the form of invitation to return to church.
So, let's turn our vision to the people closest to us and see them as the needy Christ in our midst. Renewing or deepening our love for them through new compassionate service is the first step to inviting them to encounter the love of God that we have found in our parish "communion of the faithful here".
1 comment:
I think this is the most challenging area of compassion. A mother can so easily run out of patience with a child; or an adult child can come to find an aging parent just exacerbating. Or how about a sibling who suffers from an emotional disorder and can be difficult to tolerate day in and day out? When faced with these kinds of situations, "letting the stranger in" becomes more of a welcome distraction than a sacrifice. So, it is helpful and necessary to hear these reminders about the need to open our hearts wide to those who are closest to us. I particularly like this line: "take a new look and see the littleness, neediness, Christlikeness in our brothers and sisters and see it as openings for compassion and service right where we live."
"Take a new look" is the encouraging phrase. I do believe that when we rise each morning and combine fresh energy and commitment with a prayer to Jesus for strength - asking Him to renew our hearts with love and devotion in the areas in which we struggle - that He will work with us. He will love our courage and faithfulness and be present with us as we reach out in mercy to those in our midst who so badly need our love. And then finally, to bring them in with us into the communion of saints at the parish – where we most fully experience ourselves as the Body of Christ – we can be confident of yet a deeper renewal of life and love among us all.
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