May the peace of Jesus Christ be with you this morning.
"What should we do?" The question put before John the Baptist by those he called to repentance is a question that men and women have been asking for centuries. According to Luke’s recollection, John cited the tax collector and the soldier. To the one he said just be honest, do the job you were called to fulfill. To the other he said don’t use your position to gain for yourself.
For the last several weeks, during the hours I have spent with many of you in the adoration of the Most Blessed Sacrament, particularly in the early morning hours when silence is strong, I have joined the chorus of centuries asking the Son of God the same question. The books I have been reading and the psalms and other scripture readings from the Breviary and the Mass have brought me to question. "What should I do for you, for this parish, for the Archdiocese of Washington and for any who seek to know the Lord in a more intimate way than is the current practice."
Quite frankly, let me tell you this: quiet and prayer before the Lord in the quiet of early morning hours is dangerous. Surely not because of any threat to my well-being but because freed from the ordinary distractions of the day I find it difficult not to listen to God’s voice in my heart.
So what does a Pastor say to God in quiet and what does he think God is saying in return? Well, let me go back to the question: What should I do for our parish?
From the notes that I write during those times of prayer these are the thoughts that seem to have come through loud and clear to me. I heard the words of John ... prepare the way of the Lord. Prepare the way of the Lord. What could this mean?
I felt my heart being tugged ... tugged away from the usual responses that I would have made to the question of what I should do. What I experience one morning was the genuine pain of several conversations with parishioners and non-parishioners who believe they have been hurt by the institutional church, some bishops, some pastors and some fellow Catholics.
What I realized is this: there is a large number of Catholics in our Washington DC community who are alienated from the Church over such issues as homosexuality, Catholics caught in invalid marriages, the role of women in our Church, adults now dealing with childhood abuse by priests. These are major issues. These are the hot button issues of our times. And there are more. All of this in hearts where enmity or indifference has pushed out love, affection and friendship.
Then the "what should we do" question seemed to explode. These are people of God. These area men and women who deep within their hearts and souls feel driven not from God but from their Church. And who is there, where is there in our Archdiocese a genuine reaching out to welcome them? These are men and women who were created by the same God that made me, the same God that made you. And where are they? Why are they not coming to our churches?
For me the answer to the question put before John for myself, and hopefully our parish, is that we have to be what Jesus was to people who seemed to be different. He was welcoming. He dined with those the official religion of his time deemed to be sinners.
As we come nearer to the birth of Jesus Christ, I honestly feel that we, as parishioners have to ask the question "What are to do to live out our baptismal promises?" I know this much for myself. These final days of preparing for the Lord will be a time of examination of my heart. I will be searching my soul to determine what I should do to bring those who are hurt, those who are alienated back to our Church, back to the Church that Jesus Christ gave to all of us. We are, all of us, sinners, are we not? Doesn’t it seem, then, that we have much to share with one another. We all rely on God’s graces, God’s gifts as the power that will allow us to be the source for all the alienated of the same goodness that God showers on us.
Let me close with these words of Zephaniah: The Lord is in your midst, ... in your midst is a mighty savior.... he will rejoice over you with gladness, and renew you in his love." If I believe these words, then I know that reaching out to others is what Jesus calls me and all of us to do. As St. Paul writes: Your kindness should be known to all.
"What should we do?" The question put before John the Baptist by those he called to repentance is a question that men and women have been asking for centuries. According to Luke’s recollection, John cited the tax collector and the soldier. To the one he said just be honest, do the job you were called to fulfill. To the other he said don’t use your position to gain for yourself.
For the last several weeks, during the hours I have spent with many of you in the adoration of the Most Blessed Sacrament, particularly in the early morning hours when silence is strong, I have joined the chorus of centuries asking the Son of God the same question. The books I have been reading and the psalms and other scripture readings from the Breviary and the Mass have brought me to question. "What should I do for you, for this parish, for the Archdiocese of Washington and for any who seek to know the Lord in a more intimate way than is the current practice."
Quite frankly, let me tell you this: quiet and prayer before the Lord in the quiet of early morning hours is dangerous. Surely not because of any threat to my well-being but because freed from the ordinary distractions of the day I find it difficult not to listen to God’s voice in my heart.
So what does a Pastor say to God in quiet and what does he think God is saying in return? Well, let me go back to the question: What should I do for our parish?
From the notes that I write during those times of prayer these are the thoughts that seem to have come through loud and clear to me. I heard the words of John ... prepare the way of the Lord. Prepare the way of the Lord. What could this mean?
I felt my heart being tugged ... tugged away from the usual responses that I would have made to the question of what I should do. What I experience one morning was the genuine pain of several conversations with parishioners and non-parishioners who believe they have been hurt by the institutional church, some bishops, some pastors and some fellow Catholics.
What I realized is this: there is a large number of Catholics in our Washington DC community who are alienated from the Church over such issues as homosexuality, Catholics caught in invalid marriages, the role of women in our Church, adults now dealing with childhood abuse by priests. These are major issues. These are the hot button issues of our times. And there are more. All of this in hearts where enmity or indifference has pushed out love, affection and friendship.
Then the "what should we do" question seemed to explode. These are people of God. These area men and women who deep within their hearts and souls feel driven not from God but from their Church. And who is there, where is there in our Archdiocese a genuine reaching out to welcome them? These are men and women who were created by the same God that made me, the same God that made you. And where are they? Why are they not coming to our churches?
For me the answer to the question put before John for myself, and hopefully our parish, is that we have to be what Jesus was to people who seemed to be different. He was welcoming. He dined with those the official religion of his time deemed to be sinners.
As we come nearer to the birth of Jesus Christ, I honestly feel that we, as parishioners have to ask the question "What are to do to live out our baptismal promises?" I know this much for myself. These final days of preparing for the Lord will be a time of examination of my heart. I will be searching my soul to determine what I should do to bring those who are hurt, those who are alienated back to our Church, back to the Church that Jesus Christ gave to all of us. We are, all of us, sinners, are we not? Doesn’t it seem, then, that we have much to share with one another. We all rely on God’s graces, God’s gifts as the power that will allow us to be the source for all the alienated of the same goodness that God showers on us.
Let me close with these words of Zephaniah: The Lord is in your midst, ... in your midst is a mighty savior.... he will rejoice over you with gladness, and renew you in his love." If I believe these words, then I know that reaching out to others is what Jesus calls me and all of us to do. As St. Paul writes: Your kindness should be known to all.
