Third Sunday of Easter A
Two
or three times a week,
Fr.
Tom and I are able to have breakfast together.
(For
some reason, it always seems more likely to happen
when
I’m making pancakes than when I making oatmeal…)
When
we have breakfast together,
we
almost always look through the funnies in the newspaper.
The
best ones get cut out a put up on our fridge.
Every
once in awhile, we come across one that’s not
funny.
You
can read all of the words, and the sentences make sense,
and
you recognize what’s going on in the pictures,
but
it just doesn’t click.
You
don’t get the joke.
This
is particularly frustrating
when
there’s a comic I find funny, but Fr Tom doesn’t get.
Of
course, if you have to explain it,
then
it definitely isn’t going to be funny!
You’ve got all the pieces,
You’ve got all the pieces,
but you can’t see where they’re going.
What’s missing is the big picture, the pattern,
how all the parts fit together. (cf. R. Barron)
Likewise,
yesterday morning we had our First Communion retreat
for
all those boys and girls who will be receiving the sacrament today.
And
as I’ve done with the First Communion class
wherever
I’ve been assigned for eight years now,
I
baked bread with them.
Picture it:
32 sets of 7- or 8-year-old hands
covered
with sticky dough!
As
we started, the kids could only see raw ingredients:
flour,
water, yeast.
They
had a hard time making the connection:
how
these things could become a loaf of fresh bread.
Again,
what was missing was the big picture, the pattern,
how
all the parts fit together.
Isn’t
that what we see happening
in
the gospel story we’ve just heard?
Two
disciples are walking away from Jerusalem
on
that first Easter day.
All
their lives, they’d read the scriptures, listened to their elders,
and
known the promise of a Savior, a Messiah.
They’d
witnessed Jesus’ miracles
and
heard his preaching in the countryside.
They’d
seen him welcomed and popular a week before on Palm Sunday.
They’d
now also seen him betrayed and rejected,
convicted
and crucified.
On
this, the third day since,
they’ve
even heard talk that he’s been raised from the dead.
But
they’re leaving town disappointed and discouraged.
Why? Because they don’t get it! It hasn’t clicked for them!
They’ve
got all the pieces, but can’t make them connect.
What’s
missing is the big picture, the pattern,
how
all the parts fit together.
Isn’t
that often the story of our lives of faith, too?
We’ve
read the Bible—or at least heard many of its stories.
We’ve
come to Mass and received the sacraments.
We’ve
gone to catechism classes and passed (most of us, anyway).
We
try to follow the rules—as best we know them and as best we can.
But
it takes something more than completing such a checklist.
All
those pieces have to fit together.
We
need to see the big picture.
and the big picture is a person —the
big picture is Jesus:
and the big picture is a person
Jesus,
truly risen from the dead;
Jesus,
just as he appeared to those two disciples heading to Emmaus;
Jesus,
not far away in heaven, but walking hidden right at our side;
Jesus,
in the breaking of the bread—
present
here, “Body, Blood, soul, and divinity” in the Eucharist
Jesus,
who is real for us,
and
really a part—the central part—of our
lives.
More
than a year ago,
our
Bishop set out to get a look at the “big picture.”
He
called together a committee.
He
met with priests and lay people across the Diocese of Ogdensburg.
He
prayed.
And
he listened.
He
wanted to make sure we’re on the right track.
He
wanted to find better ways to help people “get it.”
And
just before Easter,
based
upon all this hard work,
Bishop
LaValley announced three priorities and six goals
which
he’s hoping will help make things click
for
Catholics in the North Country—
ways
that will help more people get to know Jesus for themselves
and
so see the big picture.
They
all fit together pretty well,
if
you stop to give them some thought.
The
first priority: Vocations.
You
don’t need me to tell you
that
we don’t have as many priests as we used to.
The same is true with our religious sisters.
It’s
actually true these days with married couples, too.
We’re
loosing a sense that every single one of us is called by God,
and
not just a select few.
We
all have something to contribute,
we
all an essential role to play.
And
so Bishop has set two goals:
(1)
to set up an effective vocation awareness plan
for use in our parishes;
for use in our parishes;
(2)
to hold a diocesan vocations summit,
gathering
the faithful—especially our young people—
to think, talk, and pray about their calling.
A
second priority: Building up our parishes.
We
may not have as many priests as we used to,
but
we also don’t have as many people in the pews, either.
You
can’t expect to have one without the other.
Who
is missing? And why aren’t they
here?
Instead
of doing things the way we “always” have,
how
can we best provide for people’s spiritual needs today?
With
that in mind, Bishop has set two more goals:
(1)
to establish a new planning committee for the diocese,
to
set us on the right course for the future;
(2)
to take up a diocesan-wide census,
during
which a Catholic parishioner will visit every single house
in our 12,000 square mile diocese.
We
need to know who’s out there!
And
we can’t just sit here and hope they’ll come to us on their own.
A
third priority: Handing on the faith to
our youth,
especially in the context of family life.
especially in the context of family life.
Vocations
come from strong parishes;
parishes
are built up from strong families.
If
our families aren’t faith-filled,
then
how can we expect the rest of this to function as it should?
And
so Bishop set two final goals:
(1)
to establish strong youth ministry
in
key locations across the diocese;
(2)
to provide family catechesis for all 7 sacraments.
With
faith as with anything else in life,
we
don’t stop learning when we’re kids.
And
how can parents give their children
what
they don’t have for themselves?
Bishop
LaValley has spelled all of this out in more detail
in
a Pastoral Letter to the people of the diocese.
He
has sent a copy for each of your families.
If
you didn’t get one on the way in to church this morning,
then
be sure to get one on the way out.
But
please: only one per household
so that there’s enough to go around.
Take
the time to read it carefully.
Even
take some time to pray about it.
These
priorities and goals will be guiding the life and work
of
every parish in the diocese for some years to come.
They
come, of course, at a great time for us here in Malone
as
St. André’s Parish is about to be born.
Unlike
the bread I baked with the kids yesterday morning,
there’s
no clear, simple recipe for “cooking up” the Church.
And
what’s at stake is much more
than
a good laugh at the comics page.
Our
goal isn’t to be funny over breakfast;
it’s
to bring people to know Jesus Christ in his Church—
in particular,
to help them discover the Lord present here
in
the Holy Eucharist, in the breaking of the bread—
and
so to get to heaven!
But
while that goal is very serious,
it’s
one which ought to fill us with the most contagious joy.
If
you’ve really met Jesus, risen from the dead;
if
you can really see what his plan is and where it’s going;
if
the Catholic faith has clicked for you;
if
you get it and it’s changing your life—
how
could that not make you happy?!?
And
how could you ever keep it to yourself?!?
It’s
this “joy of the gospel,” as Pope Francis keeps reminding us,
which
has the power to change the world.
It’s
the same joy which sent Peter and the other Apostles out
in
the Church’s earliest days.
It’s
the joy which should fill every home, every parish,
and
every heart in the Diocese of Ogdensburg.
It’s
the joy Jesus wants to share with you and me
today
and every day.
We’ve
got all the necessary pieces
to
accomplish the mission Christ has left us
as Catholics here in the North Country.
Let's ask the Lord to bless our efforts
to give life to thee priorities and goals.
as Catholics here in the North Country.
Let's ask the Lord to bless our efforts
to give life to thee priorities and goals.
Let’s
ask the Lord to make our faith click.
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