Happy St. Patrick's Day, everybody!
Fifth Sunday of Lent C
Pope Francis.
It’s going to take some getting used to, isn’t it?
We
don’t know too much about our new Holy Father just yet,
so
the whole world is eagerly watching his every move.
You’ve
already heard—of course—
that
as Cardinal Archbishop in Buenos Aires
he
led a rather simple life:
staying
in a small apartment; cooking his own meals;
riding
on buses and subways rather than in limousines.
He
was a “priest of the streets”:
a down-to-earth
shepherd living right amongst his poor flock.
In
fact, on his very first day as Supreme Pontiff,
he
stopped by the hotel in which he stayed before the Conclave
to pick
up his luggage and pay his own bill.
We
shouldn’t be too surprised, then,
at
the news out of Rome this morning:
it
seems that, for breakfast today,
Pope
Francis decided to stroll out of the Vatican
to
a neighborhood café and order an espresso.
When
he was done, the Pope asked the barista, “How much will it be?”
“That’ll
be 5 euro,” came the answer.
As
the Pope reached into his pocket for the money,
the
barista joked, “You know, we don’t get many Popes in here.”
Which
is when Pope Francis replied,
“And
at these prices, you won’t get many more, either!”
(OK…so
I made that story up…
…but
it sounds like it could happen, right?)
We
welcome the election of our new Pope
…and
it sure seems he’s the right man at the right time.
In
his native Argentina,
Pope
Francis showed a strong commitment
to the new evangelization—
to
revitalizing the Catholic faith among his people.
In
an interview published just about a year ago,
then-Cardinal
Bergoglio said
that
faith “is not a possession, but a mission.”
The
future Pope continued:
We
need to come out of ourselves
and
head for the [margins]*.
We
need to avoid the spiritual sickness
of
a Church that is wrapped up in its own world:
when
a Church becomes like this,
it
grows sick.
It
is true that going out onto the street
implies
the risk of accidents happening,
as
they would to any ordinary man or woman.
But
if the Church stays wrapped up in itself,
it
will age.
And
if I had to choose between
a
wounded Church that goes out onto the streets
and
a sick withdrawn Church,
I
would definitely choose the first one.
(Vatican Insider, 2/24/12)
Out
in the streets.
That’s
where our new Pope seems most comfortable.
And
that’s where Jesus seems right at home, too.
In
this Sunday’s familiar and dramatic gospel story,
we
find Jesus not sitting within the temple,
but
outside of it—in the surrounding area.
It
is there among the common people that he’s teaching,
first
by his words, and later—so powerfully—by his actions.
It
is there in the streets that Jesus
encounters
the adulterous woman and the murderous crowd—
both desperately in need of
healing and mercy.
Jesus
didn’t wait for the lost to find him;
he
went out to seek and find them.
So
far during this Year of Faith,
we’ve
undertaken a number of initiatives here in our parishes
and—praise
God—I believe we’re seeing them bear fruit.
We
distributed a thousand Year of Faith booklets
in November,
half
of them going to fallen away Catholics.
We’ve
strongly promoted the Sacrament of Penance;
not
only have we increased the availability of confession,
but
we’ve also seen more people taking advantage of it—
some
of them, after many, many years.
We’ve
got better than 50 people—some weeks, as many as 75—
participating
in the ten-part Catholicism series.
Fr.
Stitt’s virtual tour of the Vatican
brought
in about 150 folks 10 days ago,
and
I hope many will be taking part in today’s actual pilgrimage
to
St. Patrick’s Church in Hogansburg.
And—as
some of you have noted—
Mass
attendance appears to be up;
we even
seem to have more young people
in our
churches on Sundays.
But
the most encouraging thing I’ve noticed
is
not something I can mark on a calendar or a tally sheet;
it’s
a shift in attitude I’ve observed in so many of you.
More
and more often I hear you telling me stories
about
how you’ve reached out to someone
to
invite them back to the practice of the faith,
or
even to check out the Catholic Church for the first time.
I’m
seeing a new confidence, born of renewed conviction.
You’re
rediscovering the supreme good
of
knowing Christ Jesus as Lord,
and
you just can’t keep it to yourselves.
Our
Catholic faith—as our new Pope says—
“is
not a possession, but a mission”;
it
necessarily takes us out into the streets.
And
so this Sunday we’re announcing
our
next “big thing” for the Year of Faith:
on
Divine Mercy Sunday—the Sunday after Easter—
we
will be beginning the 40 Hours Eucharistic Devotion.
40
Hours was once very common
here
in Malone and across the North Country,
but
now—as far as we know—hasn’t taken place
anywhere
in the Diocese of Ogdensburg for several decades.
We
think it’s high time to dust off this venerable tradition.
Basically,
from early morning until midnight,
the
Blessed Sacrament will be exposed for adoration
and
various liturgies and devotions will be scheduled
for
a total duration of—you guessed it—40 hours.
(More
specific details can be found in this weekend’s bulletin insert.)
This
is about coming together to spend time with Jesus:
not
before a pretty statue or painting of him,
nor
contemplating noble ideas about him
in
our minds and hearts,
but
sitting attentively before his real presence in the Eucharist—
just
like those crowds did, gathered around Jesus in Jerusalem.
In
the weeks ahead we’ll be asking for volunteers
to
sign up and commit to an hour or two of adoration
during
the course of these two and a half days.
But
we’d miss the whole point if we stopped there.
And—to
be honest—it’s the “grand finale”
to which
I’m most looking forward.
On
Tuesday, April 9, after an evening Mass,
we’ll
be taking Jesus out into the streets:
we’ll
have a Eucharistic procession,
carrying
the Blessed Sacrament into and through our community.
With
candles and incense, prayers and songs,
we’ll
be making it clear that the Savior we worship
didn’t
come to stay locked up inside our pretty churches,
but
still desires to go out and touch a hurting world.
Can
you imagine the impression it’ll make
on
the people of this village—
not
to mention the truckers driving down Main Street—
to
see hundreds of Catholics
making
such a visible, public statement about their faith?
And
can you imagine the momentum it will generate
as
we continue through this Year of Faith—and beyond—
to
keep introducing our friends and neighbors to Christ,
to
keep helping the lost find their way back home?
Do
start making plans now—as much as you are able—
to
take part in the upcoming 40 Hours.
We
recall that, in ages past, God led his people
through
the mighty waters of the sea
and
then through the desert wasteland,
accompanying
them all along their long journey to freedom.
And
we know that Jesus, likewise, stayed very close
to
the sick, the sinner, and the poor,
announcing
to them the Good News of salvation.
It
is the very same Lord who walks with us today
and
stays near us still.
Let
us, then with our Holy Father, Pope Francis,
strain
forward to what lies ahead:
the
pursuit of life’s true goal,
our
upward calling in Christ.
Let’s
not hesitate to take this faith
out
into the streets.
*Original: "periphery"
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