In our reading from the letter to the Romans today, St Paul makes some very bold statements, as he emphatically states: “If we live, we live for the Lord, and if we die, we die for the Lord.” I wonder: as modern day disciples of Christ, do we really believe this statement? Do we really live that way? As the vicar general of the Diocese and as the pastor of a parish here in the Jackson area, I see the sacrifices we have to make for our faith. Some parishes here in the Jackson are not having daily Masses. Bishop Kopacz and I have to help out in celebrating Masses at different locations, even when we are stretched very thin ourselves. It is very difficult to find a priest to cover a Mass when we have other responsibilities that take us out of our parish for a weekend. I can tell you for since I sent to Spain in July of 2019, the only time I have been away from my parish for a weekend is due to Diocesan related responsibilities. We are having a hard getting some families back to Mass after the height of the pandemic has subsided. We priests and the parish staff are working very hard and doing the best that we can. So, how does all of this interplay with the statement that Paul makes today? How do we remind Catholics of their responsibilities and their obligations as disciples of Christ? As the 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. We might look back at these days when a parish has many different masses on a weekend as a luxury. We here at St Jude offer five different options for weekend Mass, six on the weekends we have Latin Mass, yet for some, that still does not accommodate their schedules and the other priorities they have in life. What does it mean to live for Christ? What does it mean to make sacrifices for our faith? I think we all have to ask ourselves those questions.
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