| VisionQuest Homily
Second Sunday in Ordinary Time
Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
I feel I’m speaking to you today with authority.
I say that because most of what I’m going to say are the words
I heard at the Vision Quest conference, spoken by Archbishop
James Weisgerber. I plan also to be faithful to the readings
that we just heard from Holy Scripture.
Elders must dream and the young must have new visions,
Archbishop Weisgerber began. Now is not the time to lose
nerve. We need to get going. We need to PUT
OUT INTO THE DEEP, as Jesus and his disciples did.
In our visioning for the future,
- Each parish is challenged to be a centre of
evangelisation.
- There is a critical need to become aware of the dignity
of our Baptism.
- Our diocese faces a growing shortage of priests.
- Our parishes are experiencing shifts in population,
especially from the rural areas to the city and even within
the city. We in Holy Cross parish are acutely aware
of this over the past two years, aren’t we?
However, the problem should not be defined by the shortage
of priests, Archbishop Weisgerber said. If we had 50
new priests, that would hold us back from a creative solution,
because we would likely say the problem is solved. So,
we can go back to the way we were.
Well, the way we were was the problem. We need to
go out into the deep, so we can discover how to be the relevant
Church we need to be today.
After Archbishop Weisgerber made the statement that we
don’t have a shortage of priests, Father Koep, in a smaller
group session stated, “We have too many priests.” Both
of them said similar things to make a point. And that
point is that the work flowing from our Baptism is the work
of all of us. Not just Father’s work, but my work, your
work, all of us together supporting one another in Jesus’ mission
of evangelisation and service.
The scene of today’s gospel, like last Sunday, is still
at the Baptism of Jesus. We heard in today’s gospel two
main points:
- Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of
the world, and
- Jesus is the servant of God.
- Lamb of God, Sacrificial Lamb, freedom from sin, Good
News – that’s Evangelisation
- Servant of God – that’s Service
By our Baptism, we are called to share in the Mission of
Jesus, which is a mission of evangelisation and service.
Christianity is about what God does for us and gives us.
This gift of God, then becomes task or work. The Church
is called to be the hope-filled presence of God, in a world
longing for peace. Jesus says, “I will be with you.”
He never abandons us. The work, then, is not about human ambition
or human spirit or power, but the power of the Holy Spirit.
Jesus also says >they rejected me, so they will reject
you...I send you out as sheep among wolves... Unless a seed
dies, it remains just a seed...Take up your cross and follow
me... These are echoes for us of today’s gospel: Here
is the Lamb of God – the sacrificed lamb. This is challenging,
painful stuff. It will challenge us like nothing else.
It is a word that lives at the centre of our lives.
What sense can we make of our trials today? Does
this mean that God has given up on us? Rather, isn’t this
a clear call from God to get moving. God is trying to
pull us out of ourselves to recreate, refashion us as a people.
To recreate us as God’s people.
To quote from the Prophet Isaiah in the first reading
today: “It is too small a thing that you should be my servant
to raise up [your tribe], I will give you as a light to the
nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”
Might we say it like this: “Go beyond Holy Cross Parish
at least to the ends of the city, let alone to the end of the
earth.”
What might that mean for us today or real soon? What
can we do?
In your work place and at home you have a variety of ways
of continuing your mission of evangelisation and service.
The examples I mention now are for your consideration on the
parish community level and beyond.
- The parish is currently in need of new members to
join the pastoral council in its mission of visioning, planning
and maintaining the evangelisation and service work of the
parish community. This mention is a tribute to the
dedication of those who serve in this capacity, and also
an appeal for the generosity of others, you perhaps.
- Vision Quest is an opportunity for dialogue on the
future of our Church in the parish and diocese.
- This week is the Prayer for Christian Unity Week,
with a district gathering for prayer of several Catholic
and Protestant parish communities. Here is an opportunity
for reaching out for unity.
The second reading today gives us two main points:
- Our holiness is rooted in a common call we received
at our Baptism.
- There is one Lord who is the source of our unity.
In conclusion, I would like to draw your attention to why
we have come here tonight.
- First of all, we are presented with, and invited
to take in, all this theological stuff, the words, signs
and actions, and try to make sense of it for our lives.
- Second, we are here to celebrate, to give thanks for
the excitement of Christ’s presence among us in his Spirit,
his word and his sacrament.
- Third, Christ, the Baptised one is present in us and
among us to support us in our Baptism mission of evangelisation
and service.
[End]
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