Corporal Works of Mercy Fall 2023 Homily Series: Feeding the Hungry

This weekend we begin our Fall preaching series … the corporal works of mercy.

In a very real way, it’s back to the basics. It reminds me of the story of the parish

that got the new pastor:

The entire congregation was so thrilled with him, he was young, handsome,

had a nice singing voice and could preach well. After the first weekend of

preaching, he really knocked their socks off … great message … great

delivery … super inspiring homily. Everybody was talking!

The next week, having done so well, there was great expectation. People

who had attended the week before even brought friends. As the sermon

time came, Father gave the very same sermon as the week before. It

confused people, but they seemingly were ok with it and just shrugged it off.

Then the next week, the same thing … different readings but the same

message – three weeks in a row!

This time though, at the end of the mass, one of the ushers stopped Father

and said that people had asked him on the way out, when the priest would

change the sermon because he gave the same message three weeks in a

row … to which the priest replied with a smile, “When we do something

about it and act on the message.”

Friends you may have that same feeling today, asking why are we listening to and

thinking about the same things, the corporal works of mercy … themes that we

have heard now for years … the answer for us is also the same: until we do

something about it.

You don’t need me to tell you that there are still hungry, thirsty, and naked in our

midst. There are still homeless and sick and prisoners needing a visit. In short,

there are still people here and now, and even out there and then who will need

our fulfilling the challenge of the Lord, who tells us yet again today: love your

neighbor as yourself.

For today … what about the hungry? The bulletin this week has a number of

interesting things to read on the topic, and even to develop a plan of action, but

the challenge I think for us is captured in the words of Pope Francis who said, “The

planet has enough food for all, but there seems to be a lack of willingness to share

it with everyone.”

Here at St Teresa’s and in the larger Summit community, we have incredibly

generous people who provide donations and items to our Loaves and Fishes, to

Grace and other local ministries that feed the hungry. But what about the

systemic challenges? We also have people here who, given their profession and

influence, may be able to do things on a larger scale, to help change systems that

may better help to feed the hungry. And there are always ways to help even

beyond our own borders. And for those who cannot give in any way, raising

awareness and praying are always great options – as the Gospel clearly notes.

But as the book title says, let’s lean in a bit on this topic … feeding the hungry is

almost always associated with entering into fellowship with one another. This is

not surprising, since eating itself is the most ordinary and fundamental way that

Jesus celebrates his fellowship with us. The Last Supper is the lasting testimony of

Jesus’ promise to eat one day with us all. And the significance of that testimony is

what we celebrate in the Eucharist every time we gather.

The intimate relationship between food and inclusion is seen in the life of the

Church.

• I remember as a student in Rome, the beautiful church of Santa Maria in Trastevere at Christmas time removes all the pews and invites the homeless and hungry to come for a Christmas meal – food and inclusion.

• We have seen several times Pope Francis speak passionately on behalf of the more than 800 million hungry people in the world today, and an estimated 2 billion people that suffer from micronutrient deficiencies. "The hungry ask us for dignity, not for charity." he said.

• Putting his money where his mouth is I remember vividly for his 80th birthday, the Pope invited homeless people to join him at the Vatican for his birthday celebration – foor and inclusion.

• You may have even experienced the reality at many soup kitchens that insist that volunteers not only prepare and serve a meal, but also that they eat it. breaking break with those whom they serve.

The familiar story of Lazarus rings loudly for us as we ponder how to respond in

love to feeding the hungry. No story hits harder than the one of the rich man who

wants only to be relieved of his eternal suffering. While we may think that the

line that Lazarus just desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man’s table,

we know that there is more to it than that. Remember that the rich man did not

maliciously withhold his crumbs from the hungry Lazarus … he simply did not

recognize Lazarus and his needs, in other words, he was not welcome to the

fellowship of Lazarus … the rich man gave him the food but not the fellowship.

Jesus asks that we offer both.

Every Sunday we gather at the table of the Lord to celebrate our redemption

through the body and blood of Christ. As we partake in that feast, we need also to

ask ourselves where Lazarus is when we gather. Lazarus is also at our gates here

in Summit, and somehow, we need to bring him in, to bring him closer to the

table, for his own good and for ours. Blessings!

RSM

Christ Resides in Our Homes Too!

Dear Friends –

Every so often someone publishes a story on the vocational crisis in the Church.

In fact, just recently La Croix wrote on the situation in France. They noted that only 88 Catholic priests are being ordained this year in France, the country once known as the Church's "eldest daughter". The figure is 34 fewer than in 2022 when 122 men were ordained to the presbyterate. The story continues that it is the first time in recent years that the Church in France has ordained fewer than 100 new priests in a year.

Closer to home, here in our Archdiocese, Cardinal Tobin ordained 4 men to the priesthood for service in our local Church. We surely congratulate these men and wish them well in their priestly ministry … but we have 211 parishes!!

I am currently reading Divine Renovation’s newest book entitled, Preaching on Purpose: A Divine Renovation Handbook for Communicating the Gospel Today. In preparing preachers, it gives a good amount of background of the Church today. It contains this eye-opening section that reads:

[In Canada, home of Divine Renovation] In the next decade, it is estimated that a third of all religious worship spaces across Canada (9,000 buildings) will be closed, the vast majority of them are Christian churches … [in the 1950’s] only 5 % of the population didn’t go to Mass. Today, only 5% of Quebec residents go to Mass. In half a century attendance at Mass declined from 95% to 5%.

These are startling and frightening statistics!

At 60-years old, I know that there is more behind me than in front of me in terms of priestly ministry. But I am very concerned about what will happen to our Church going forward for you and your children.

Stephen White helps to better understand the situation as he contextualizes the situation in his article, Vocational Discernment and the Priestly Vocation Crisis. Therein he notes that the universal call to holiness is just that; universal. Each one of us is called to holiness because each one of us is loved by God, who wants us to be happy.

Further, he notes that the universal call to holiness takes different forms in each of our lives. Some are called to holiness by way of the ministerial priesthood, some are called to be holy through marriage, some through religious life, and so on. Moreover, each vocation is not only a personal call from God to follow Him along the path that will lead us to holiness and happiness. Each vocation has a communal or ecclesial dimension as well.

White points out that vocational discernment is no less important to the vocation of marriage than it is to the priesthood, and not just when it comes to picking the right person to marry. He shares, “In my own case, I am utterly convinced that I was better prepared for my own vocation as a father and a husband because I spent a lot of time as a young man considering whether God wanted me to be a priest. And I’m better able to understand how my vocation both depends on, and supports, other vocations because of this.”

His article states the obvious, that the vocation to marriage is in a sorry state in this country. Young people today are marrying later, if at all. When they do marry, they marry less and less frequently in the Church. There are a million reasons, some good, some less so, for young people to postpone marriage. Unlike the process of discernment and formation for the priesthood, however, discernment and formation for marriage and family life mostly take place in the home. Increasingly, the home is not a reliable house of formation.

As a parish, I think that we can do more to help homes become better places of formation to promote vocations of every kind. After all, from the earliest times, the home has been called the “domestic Church” precisely because Christ resides there too!

Our patroness Saint Teresa frequently speaks of the importance of keeping good and holy company. She speaks of friends and even confessors who came into her life at different times and drew her either closer to or farther away from God. “I have learned what great advantage comes from good companionship,” she wrote, a lesson she learned through hard experience.

We are called to be good and holy company to one another. Our parish is a place where we come to be re-energized so that we can then take the Good News to the world, to all God’s people.

Wherever you are on your journey, please take a moment in these summer months to recommit to that Christian companionship … to bringing Christ back to our homes, our community, our society and our world. And of course, should you have ideas on how I or our parish can better help in that process, please never hesitate to reach out to share your constructive thoughts and ideas.

Blessings!

RSM

https://international.la-croix.com/news/religion/ordinations-to-catholic-priesthood-plummet-in-france/18035

https://www.thecatholicthing.org/2023/02/09/vocational-discernment-and-the-priestly-vocation-crisis/

Good to Great: Easter Vigil Homily 2023

You may know that I like bookstores. Every city I travel to, including New York City, I find that I spend an inordinate amount of time in them with no goal except to look around. I browse the shelves to see what seems to be the newest, the most popular, and the staff picks, but also what are the “good old faithful” ones that keep showing themselves and may even seem to be somewhat timeless.

Recently, on my browse, I came across again, one of those good old faithful ones … one that I read a long time ago, you may have heard of it or even read it yourself … that book entitled Good to Great written by influential management professor Jim Collins. It’s not new, it was released in 2001.

It is the story of how effective leaders can take a business that is already doing well and take it to the next level. I believe that is a dream for most of us.

· To not only do something that is good in quality but to do something that is exceptional.

· To not only be good at something but to be great at something as well.

That is a topic that gets my attention because I happen to believe that if we have the choice of building a good church or a great church, a good business or a great business, a good marriage or a great marriage then we would all choose doing something great, yes?

Reflecting on that book summarizes what we have celebrated here in these last days, and more importantly what we celebrate tonight … learning to move from good to great.

We heard clearly in the Sacred Scriptures from the book of Genesis that God created the heavens and the earth with the capstone of creation being man and woman … and God saw that it was good.

We started at good … but in reflecting on the life of Jesus, we are challenged to become great … to live our best lives … to use what we have been given not only to reach our best potential, but to contribute, a meaningful contribution with our time here on this earth … and not just to coast or float along day after day.

In his research, Collins found that successes resulted from three main factors:

1. disciplined people

2. disciplined thought

3. disciplined action

The word discipline comes from discipulus, the Latin word for pupil, which also provided the source of the word disciple. It seems to me that for us to get from good to great, the challenge is that we need to be all in, pupils of the Lord, A students, who are willing to form our thoughts and direct our actions in conformity to his.

To discipline our thoughts, we might:

1) Lead with questions, not answers – seeking to know more about Jesus whose resurrection we celebrate today, and not presume to have all the answers about God and faith.

2) Engage in dialogue and debate - that is, learn to better talk to and listen to one another with civility, especially those who are different from us.

3) Reflect on issues and failings without blame – that is work harder to respect and care for one another, even those who seem not to measure up to our standards, finding peace in the fact that God created them and sees them as good too.

To discipline our actions, we need to let go the idea that we are “better than everyone else” and fully embrace that every single one of us has been gifted by our God with personal empowerment, not only to get to know the Lord better but with the ability each in our own way to share that faith story with others as well.

While we might be tempted to think that it’s not something we can accomplish, we only must look to the Lord for his example. The Scriptures are filled with guidelines for us to make that big step from good to great:

* if you really want to be something then you must become nothing.

* If you want to go up in life then you must learn to come down.

* If you want more of God then there must be less of you.

This is the model we find in the lifestyle of Jesus. Paul said that Jesus, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made Himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.” The Bible makes it clear that Jesus came “down” into the world and not only did He come down, he came down from the very top.

* He was God, yet he became man and would suffer from much pain on the cross.

* He owned everything, yet while here on earth, He had no place to lay his head

* He was the King of Kings but He became a servant

* He was dead, but now he lives.

And the list goes on and on.

Tonight, our ritual will bring others, our brothers and sisters, our friends, to a deeper knowledge of Christ, in Baptism, in Confirmation and in receiving the Eucharist for the very first time … a ritual that is as old as the Church itself.

While we congratulate them and we encourage them, the greatest gift we can give to them is to be the greatest role models of faith for them inside this Church and outside too.

As we celebrate this night, while basking in the joy of Easter, let’s pledge to our God and to one another, that we will do our best to move from good to great in faith … not only today, but every day we have on this earth.

Happy Easter!

RSM