-Last Sunday's homily is available
-This Sunday's Scriptures can be found at www.usccb.org/readings
-check out this weeks LinC letter at www.parishLinCLetter.blogspot.com
-I will be celebrating mass this weekend at 8:00 am and 6:00pm on Sunday
Here We Go Again!
We often think of the greatest witness(witness = martyr) that one can give is to die for the love of God. Martyrdom is the word we use to describe those who have died in defense of the faith in pure imitation of Jesus. The gospel for this Sunday reports the sending of the disciples (apostoloi = those who are SENT) to save the lost of the House of Israel. It is possibly a more fundamental witness and a more "difficult" one. Jesus describes himself as the One whom the Father SENT. He also says, "as the Father sent Me, so I SEND you". So, to be sent by God to witness to Jesus' saving love may be the best way to imitate Jesus = witness.
My experience of the faith and my life in the priesthood seems to be an unbroken chain of days on which I have BEEN SENT. There is an important quality to being sent. One who is sent does not "come in his own name" rather the one sent represents the other. In this case God. Or is that true?
The area for growth among those who see themselves as SENT is the purification of this awareness and the faithfulness to the ONE sending. I can look back on my chain of days as one sent and I can see seasons during which I was not really representing the One Who sent but I was asserting the one sent: the self-separate. Jesus has described these variously as the wiley manager, hired hand, whitewashed sepulcher, unfaithful steward, foolish virgin...all of these have forgotten the SENDER and imposed rather the SENT.
All the baptized must reclaim their identity as missionaries.....disciples who are SENT to the lost of the household of God. "Every One Adds One by 2016" is calling us to see ourselves as SENT, apostles, with a mission to grow the church-communion through participation in the Eucharistic-communion that we celebrate here.
So, here we GO again!
2 comments:
This week's reflection is particularly striking to me - I think because "mission" and "sending", all in the name of Jesus, are at the root of my spirituality. But even though it is so important to me, I know that it doesn't mean I am ever flawless in it. In fact, I think my resonance with it makes me even more aware of those times that I fail and struggle with it. Yet, it is always before me - from the time I wake up in the morning and renew my commitment to God and His will for me - until I go to bed at night when I consider my efforts and experiences of the day.
As we grow in our spiritual lives and attempt to live holy and devoted lives to the One who sent us, I think our desire for communion grows all the deeper. But coupled with that call to communion, is the call to “go” – in the name of Jesus – and to bring others into that communion with us. These works of communion and sending, as sacred as they are, are not closed off from sin and weakness. Rather, they are as vulnerable to temptation as the rest of life. And so, as the Matador suggests, I too can recognize times when I go “off the rails” and find myself “self”-centered instead of “Other”-centered.
Yet there can be beauty even in those times of failing, because we have an opportunity to offer love, mercy, support and friendship to one another – remembering that we are God’s instruments at all times. These seasons of being “self separate” simply offer new opportunities to grow in our humility and our affection for our heavenly Father and to open ourselves up to His guiding hand to put us back “on the rails” again. Indeed, here we GO again.
I am called & I am sent to share what Christ and His Church have for the world through the sacrifice and celebration of the Eucharist in communion. We are set in but not of the world and this is increasingly clear. We believe in the one God who is. By sharing His mercy and grace so others may receive and experience.I must be His light and share His love and encourage all those who never knew or who drifted away as they just went with the cultural flow and allowed the world to distract them from the beauty of God's love and. Life is a series of conscious decisions about who we serve and each step is either moving closer or moving away from the light of the gospel. My talent is not my own and where I am is because God can use me in that place. I am sent to each place yet I need to devote myself to knowing this great call and mission.
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