Who Are You?

Homily for the 26th Sunday in Ordinary Time

September 29, 2024

Really … Let’s take a moment to ponder that question…and then ask ourselves how we came to that answer. Do we define ourselves by our accomplishments, or our history, our title, or particular critical experiences, or our relationships, or some combination of the above?

Another way to get at this question might be to ask, who gets to tell us who we are? Who has the most influence in shaping our self-image? Is it our parents, our partner or spouse, our friends and colleagues, our profession? Or perhaps it’s the world, particularly the world of advertising, which constantly tries to overwhelm us with ads picturing perfect people leading perfect lives all designed to tell us who we are, or at least who we should be. Or maybe it’s the news media, eager to make us anxious with a constant barrage of worrisome

headlines.

I ask these questions because I think the Gospel passage today is very much

about identity, though perhaps not immediately evident. At first glance the passage appears to be about Jesus admonishing his disciples to lighten up, to stop worrying about others who are following him (but not, apparently, to the disciples’ satisfaction) and instead focus on what matters or, perhaps even more, on avoiding those things that can cause one to stumble and stray from Jesus.

Scholars tell us that this section reflects some of the conflicts between early

Christian communities. Mark is framing this part of his narrative to address some of the problems his folks are having with other Christians. Apparently, the early Christian church wasn’t all united in their beliefs, sometimes they clashed with each other, and occasionally even berated one another over differences in practice.

In other words, Mark was trying to help his congregation answer the question of who they are. Will they define themselves over and against other Christians or will they discover their own identity in their personal and collective attempt to follow Jesus, to care for the vulnerable, and to avoid those things that are destructive to self, neighbor, and community? Which brings me back to the question of identity. Note the tone and tenor

struck by the disciples’ statement:

Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he was not following us.

More complaint than observation, and perhaps even more accusation than complaint, the disciples want Jesus to affirm their judgment and action against this other follower because he was not playing by their rules or following their lead. In other words, the disciples seem to have decided who they are and have defined themselves over and against this other person.

· They are the leaders of the fledgling Jesus movement.

· They are more important than others doing works in Jesus’ name.

· They are the inner circle who should be obeyed by lesser disciples.

What’s striking, of course, is that all this happens almost immediately after Jesus chided their earlier arguments about which of them was the greatest. It seems that all Jesus’ admonishment did was to encourage them to give up vying amongst themselves so that they could vie together against everyone else!

This is probably because this identity question can be really, really hard to answer. We don’t come into this world knowing who we are, where we’ve come from, or even where we’re going.

So, the real question today for us to think about is, are we like the disciples, or are we like Jesus? In other words, are we more concerned about what others are doing, or not doing, in their attempt to follow Jesus, or are we working on our own spiritual life?

The passage from James gives us some insights into how we can better our spiritual selves, but that process is directly connected to our temporal selves. James takes time to denounce the exploiting activities of the rich. He is not denouncing wealth as such, rather he is attacking wealth obtained by corruption. He attacks ill-gotten gains and the motivations that drive us to these ends. The passage again exposes unrighteous behavior, behavior which is the product of a "useless" faith. It’s not what we’re about.

I read yesterday the article entitled 6 N.J. cities rank on national list of top 30 safest and richest cities and Summit ranks 13. As Catholic Christians, is that how we want to be identified? Certainly, there’s plenty of encouragement from the culture to do just that. We are encouraged relentlessly to define ourselves through our accomplishments or, even more often, through our possessions. The moment we venture down this road, however, I believe that we’re doomed to a sense of scarcity where there is never “enough” – accomplishments, honor, possessions, money, youth, whatever commodity we’ve decided is our measure – and each and every other person around us therefore becomes a competitor. And before long like those ancient disciples, we’re trying to tell

other people what to do and judging them for not conforming to our expectations.

When Jesus sees this happen with his disciples, he responds by inviting them,

to entertain the peculiar logic of God’s kingdom where the weak and vulnerable

are to be honored and where glory comes through service. This week, he reiterates his counsel that mercy and love must be the vehicles through which we discover and express our identity. And one of the great things about service, love, and mercy is that we never run out of them. There is no scarcity of opportunity to care for others, no lack of occasions to love our neighbor.

Who are you? Who am I?

Christians have from the beginning of our story struggled with this question, so it is not surprising that we struggle with it still. But as we wrestle with it, perhaps try to better understand that identity finally isn’t something we can attain, but only receive as a gift. And one of the primary reasons Jesus came was to tell us that we are beloved, holy, precious, and honored in God’s eye so that we might also hear ourselves called to lives of love, mercy, compassion, and service.

In a few minutes we will baptize these two beautiful children. What examples

will we give to them about how to follow Jesus? They’re watching … and so is God! RSM

Pastoral Conversion Part 4

September 29, 2024 

Feast of the Archangels – Michael, Gabriel, Raphael

Dear Friends:

Our reflection last week on the pastoral conversion of the parish community spoke in terms of mission that takes shape and finds expression in a gradual process of a renewal of structures, where different forms of shared pastoral care emerge, as well as forms of participation in it that involve the entire People of God.

To that end, we know that our discernment of pastoral conversion will necessarily involve our Archbishop, regional bishop, dean, other pastors, priests and deacons, as well as men and women religious.  But most importantly, this discernment will need the full engagement and participation of you, the lay faithful, who, by virtue of your Baptism and the other Sacraments of Christian initiation, and in many cases by matrimony, participate in the evangelizing action of the Church.

The Church recognizes that, in a particular way, you have a specific secular character, and “seek the Kingdom of God by engaging in temporal affairs and by ordering them according to the plan of God”. In this process, you may also feel called, or be called, to work with me as pastor, and our parish team, in the service of the ecclesial community for discerning our growth and life going forward.

And that participation will happen both with the assistance of individuals and of bodies or groups, particularly the finance council and pastoral council. 

We are blessed here at St Teresa’s to have outstanding members of our parish community who serve generously on the Parish Finance Council.  Surely, the administration of goods of our parish, and of every parish, demonstrates to some extent, the role of evangelization and evangelical witness, because we know that when we want to measure priorities, a budget is the best illustration.  In this, we are reminded that both in the Church and in civil society, “all the goods that we have, the Lord gives them to go to the world, to go to humanity, to help others”.   Here at St Teresa’s we always have an eye on the lookout for the needy and vulnerable among us.

I am blessed by the generosity, leadership and guidance of our finance council collaborators.  While they are a consultative body, I listen to them very carefully and heed their advice and guidance.  With their assistance, we are proud that St Teresa’s enjoys a culture of co-responsibility, of administrative transparency, and of service to the needs of our Church. We understand that our financial transparency is not understood as a mere formal presentation of statistics, but more as information that is the community’s due, which always invites involvement and critical suggestions.

Among all the ways we are transparent, we are most proud of our published annual report that shares with the community as a whole all the goods belonging to the Parish, how they are administered; what the financial situation of the Parish is and what resources are effectively at its disposal.  The 2023-2024 report is in process at this reading and will be in mailboxes soon!

Further, Cardinal Tobin has decreed (“required”) that every parish in our Archdiocese have a Parish Pastoral Council.  While at St Teresa’s, we have not had a pastoral council per se, we have relied on the expertise and guidance of focused, standing committees that advise me and the parish staff on faith formation, security, buildings and grounds, technology, and our cemetery and mausoleum.  To comply with the Cardinal’s decree, our parish pastoral council is quickly taking shape.

We will continue our discussion of parish pastoral councils next week.  For now, let's ask the intercession of the Archangels Michael, Gabriel and Raphael to help us to become better messengers of peace!

Fr Bob

Instruction "The pastoral conversion of the Parish community in the service of the evangelising mission of the Church", of the Congregation for the Clergy, 20.07.2020

https://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/en/bollettino/pubblico/2020/07/20/200720a.html

Pastoral Conversion Part 3

Dear Friends:

For the last two weeks, my column here has been on the theme of pastoral conversion.  Some have asked what this has to do with them, because “they just want to go to mass and then go home.”  This week let’s get a bit more in the weeds to see the stakes that we all have in this.

The subject of the missionary and evangelizing action of the Church is always the People of God as a whole.  We know and the Code of Canon Law emphasizes that the parish is not identified as a building or a series of structures, but rather as a specific community of the faithful, under the guidance of a pastor.

Pope Francis recalled that the parish is the presence of the Church in a given territory, an environment for hearing God’s word, for growth in the Christian life, for dialogue, proclamation, charitable outreach, worship and celebration, and affirmed that it is a community of communities.

The Pope said further that the parish is not an outdated institution; precisely because it possesses great flexibility, it can assume quite different contours depending on the openness and missionary creativity of the pastor and the community and that it continues to be the Church living in the midst of the homes of her sons and daughters. This presumes that it really is in contact with the homes and the lives of its people and does not become a useless structure out of touch with people or a self-absorbed group made up of a chosen few.

In our discernment of pastoral conversion here at St Teresa’s, we will have to think about how we can be an even better sanctuary, open to all, called to reach out to everyone, without exception.  In that quest, we are guided to remember that the poor and excluded must always have a privileged place in the heart of the Church. Our discernment will give us an invitation to acknowledge the saving power at work in their lives and to put them at the center of the Church’s pilgrim way. We are called to find Christ in them, to lend our voice to their causes, but also to be their friends, to listen to them, to speak for them and to embrace the mysterious wisdom which God wishes to share with us through them.  This alone will be a challenging task!

To be successful with this part of our conversion, Pope Francis, stated that we must look with penetrating eyes at ourselves and ponder the mystery of our own being.  Surely these “penetrating eyes” will see things that must change … and we all know how much people love change!

But fear not … there are some cautions …

Pastoral conversion reminds pastors and parish leaders of the profound emotional and nostalgic bonds that exist within a Christian community, and that we ought not to forget that the faith of the People of God is interwoven with familial and communal memories. More pointedly, we are reminded that a sacred place can evoke important milestones in the life of past generations, where faces and occasions have influenced personal and familial journeys. And finally, to avoid trauma and hurt in the process of restructuring a parish or, at times, diocesan communities, it is imperative that it be carried out with flexibility and gradualism.

We will be challenged, in the spirit of true reform, not to be indecisive, but rather flexible and respectful, employing the necessary discernment entailed by historical processes, the passage of time and stages of development, assessment, correction, experimentation, and approvals ad experimentum.  And this process does not pertain to the clergy alone to carry out the transformation inspired by the Holy Spirit … this involves the entire People of God.

The Holy People of God are anointed with the grace of the Holy Spirit; therefore when we reflect, think, evaluate, discern, we must be very attentive to this anointing.  As you can clearly see, pastoral conversion involves all of us!

There will be more to follow on this.  For now, let’s pray this week on how we can be a more open and welcoming community of faith under the patronage of St Teresa of Avila.

Blessings! 

Fr Bob

Instruction "The pastoral conversion of the Parish community in the service of the evangelising mission of the Church", of the Congregation for the Clergy, 20.07.2020

https://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/en/bollettino/pubblico/2020/07/20/200720a.html