Today, St Paul makes some bold statements in his letter to the Romans. Paul writes: “If we live, we live for the Lord, and if we die, we die for the Lord.” Do we really believe this? Do we really live out this reality that Paul is talking about? As this Vicar General of the Diocese, every day I hear about the different realities that exist in the different parishes of our Diocese. Some of our parishes do not have a resident priest, so they have a sacramental minister come for mass. Many parishes have a hard time finding a priest who will cover for masses when their priest is on vacation, even here in the Jackson metro area. Last week, for the All Souls Day masses, I not only had my three masses at St Jude, but I also had masses at three other locations where I have ministries. There realities of trying to live out our Catholic faith are not only difficult and challenging for the laity. They are difficult and challenging for us priests as well in the midst of our increased duties and the shortage of priests in the Church. As our world becomes more secular, the freedom to live out our faith and to attend mass might become something that will become more difficult and more of a challenge. So in light of today’s message from St Paul, what does it mean to live for Christ? What does it mean to make sacrifices for our faith? Those might be good questions we can ask ourselves.
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