Today,
in the Catholic Church in the US, we celebrate Catechetical Sunday. We not only celebrate the beginning of our parish’s
religious education program for the school year, but we recognize the
commitment that our religious education teachers and that we as a parish make
in educating our children, our youth, and ourselves in the faith.
The
theme for Catechetical Sunday this year is “do this in memory of me,” which fits
so appropriately with the Year of the Eucharist that we are celebrating in the
Diocese of Jackson this year. As we
recognize the real presence of Christ that is with us in the Eucharist, we hear
Paul reflect upon his faith in a letter the he wrote to the faith community in
Philippi. Paul wrote this letter while
he was enduring house arrest in Rome, so it might amaze us how much joy and
fervor he has in his faith. While he
ponders his precarious situation with the Roman authorities, he expresses his desire
to magnify Christ in his body, whether he is here on earth, or whether he ends
up dying for the faith. Paul gives glory
to God for the way Christ lives in him, in the new life he has in Christ. Paul longs for the day when he will be
reunited with the Lord in God’s heavenly kingdom.
If
you recall, Paul had a very real encounter with Christ. He was going all over the countryside
persecuting the followers of the Way of Jesus when Christ literally knocked him
off his horse and blinded him with a bright ray of light. Christ called Paul to a very special mission,
which he accepted with courage and tenacity.
If all of us Christians could have the joy, commitment, and enthusiasm
that Paul had in his faith, there would be no limits to the ways we could bring
Christ’s message to the world.
Even though we live more
than two centuries after Christ’s birth, we also have a very real presence with
Christ in our lives as well. The
National Directory of Catechesis tells us that through the Eucharist, we have a
real experience with Christ – we come to know the paschal mystery of Christ’s
death and resurrection in a very intimate and experiential way. Through the Eucharist, we not only attain
knowledge of God, we also experience the living God in our lives.
Religious education for children,
youth, and adults is more important than it ever has been, especially since families
in our modern world are dealing with a lot of different issues. On many levels, family life itself is
disintegrating. Our faith is not being passed down to many of our youth and
children. And so many in our society are struggling with issues such as
domestic violence, abortion, drug and alcohol addictions, gang violence,
poverty, and unemployment. Our faith and our faith community help us overcome and endure what we face in life, which is why it is so
important for us to always educate ourselves in our faith. Growing and educating ourselves as
individuals and as a community help us along this life-long journey of
faith. Our theme this year for
Catechetical Sunday focuses the Eucharist, for when we grow in
our understanding of the Eucharist, we not only better understand it’s meaning when we
gather together around the table of the Lord, but also how it affects our lives
after we exit the doors of the church after mass. Our faith is not something that stands still
and remains stagnant in our lives. It is
like a plant; if it is not growing and developing and being nurtured, it will
wither up and die. We nurture our faith
by the Eucharist, by our religious education experiences, by the way we apply
our faith in our daily lives.
I have told you a lot of stories about
my missionary work down in the jungles of Ecuador. We had one mission site that served around 90
different villages throughout a vast river-system in that jungle. I’ve described to you how I would travel on
foot and by canoe for hours to get to any one of those villages. You can image how most of the people living in
the jungle rarely had the opportunity to go to mass. Well, here in Yazoo City, we are blessed with
a Catholic community that has been here for 160 years, with two parishes that were founded here that met the needs and the reality of the community. We are blessed with beautiful church buildings and resources at our disposal. Yet, I
will be very honest with you. If we
don’t fight for our faith, if we don’t make a commitment to our Catholic faith,
if we don’t nurture our children and ourselves in the faith, how long will we
be able to endure here in Yazoo City?
This is an alarming reality, but if we all work together, if we all make
a commitment to our faith and reflect in our community and our lives the real
presence of Christ that is with us, our faith will grow and develop and attract
others.
Today, Catechetical Sunday, is a good
place for us to look at the ways we want to grow in our faith this year. As we celebrate the Year of the Eucharist, as
we look forward to the new English translation of the Roman Missal that we will
get in November, as we kick off our religious education programs, we “do this
in memory of Christ,” in recognition of the presence of Christ who is here with
us on our journey.
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