Today, in a relatively quiet manner, we celebrate the 98th anniversary of the establishment of our parish. Originally the parish was a part of the Archdiocese of Baltimore as were all of the parishes in the District of Columbia, Maryland along with many other areas such as Arlington, Richmond and Wilmington, Delaware.
The theme easily attributable to the gospel of today’s liturgy wonderfully reflects the spirit of those men and women who joined together with the founding Pastor, Fr. Yingling, to begin a new experience of faith. It was a daring acceptance of a challenge to their faith.
The apostles asked the Lord to increase their faith so they could be more effective in the mission to follow him that they had accepted. Jesus’ response, however, must have surprised the growing number of followers. "If you have faith the size of a mustard seed ...." Imagine what they must have thought when he replied, as we heard it in Luke’s account, that a faith even that small could uproot a mulberry tree and replant it in the sea.
I would imagine that these working with Fr. Yingling must have asked him a similar question. "Do you believe we can make the parish succeed?" What must those people think today? Surely from their heavenly home they must be most proud of the success subsequent parishioners, including yourselves, have brought to their initial beginning.
Likewise their must have been great excitement in their hearts as they listened to the words of their new pastor who could easily use the insight of St. Paul’s words to Timothy: "Stir into flame the gift of God." Unfortunately that thought became a reality twice: this church that we are in today is the third edifice on this site. The first Pastor and his successor would have to remind the ashened faces and damaged spirits of the parishioners: "God did not give us a spirit of cowardice but rather of power and love ... [to] bear your spirit of hardship for the gospel with the strength that comes from God." And, I would point out, that this site was given to the Archbishop of Baltimore by a very generous woman ... the great aunt of our choir director, John Warman.
For us today the vision is real. The challenges today are a bit more. From an operating budget of few thousand dollars at the beginning to the almost two million dollar costs of a contemporary parish, we have grown. We continue to seek a fulfillment of their founding mission among us.
Our mission today is somewhat different. I believe we are called by God to follow his Son in way that becomes a sign to others that our faith has a special meaning for each of us. Just as we expect our own school to be truly "Catholic" in a world that challenges that vision, we, the parishioners, are expected to be a sign to others of a Catholicism that truly is the faith that Jesus instilled in the hearts of those who followed him.
Today our challenge , regardless of our age, is to "proclaim the greatness of the Lord" (Magnificat anima mea Dominum), as Mary said of herself when she was asked to accept a special invitation to follow God’s will for her, to become the mother of his Son. "Proclaim the greatness of the Lord": That should be our motto. The sentiment of those words should be the driving force that impels us to know our faith and to guard our faith.
As we draw closer to our centenary celebration in 2009, let us renew our faith, the faith so special and so strong in the lives of the founding parishioners. We give God thanks for their strength, the determination in passing on the faith on this holy ground where we stand today. As we recall this special moment, let us pray that we too may be looked upon by our successors in the years and century to come as parishioners who did all that we could to preserve the faith of our fathers and to entrust it to the children who will become the parishioners of the future.
