I see a theme in common in the two
readings we have today. Paul talks about being a slave for
Christ, declaring himself in the beginning of his letter to the Romans to be an
apostle of Christ who brings his Good News to the Gentiles. Paul declares Jesus’ identity to be
born from God the Father and sanctified in holiness by the Holy Spirit. Yet, we know all to well that in the
first part of his life, Paul rejected the Gospel, and was instead a persecutor
of the followers of Jesus. He failed to
read the signs before his conversion.
In the Gospel today, Jesus also
bemoans those who fail to read the signs of the times that he brings him, name
the sign that he is the Son of God who is proclaiming God’s kingdom. We also have so many in the world
today who fail to read the signs before them. This past week, at our diocesan
convocation in Southaven, we were discussing the ambivalence many Catholic have
toward mass and the Eucharist. I am having the religious education
teachers now ask the children and youth about what mass they are attending on
the weekend, and in some of the classes, half of the students are not
attending, and I am assuming a proportionate number of their parents are not as
well. In our discussion of the Second
Vatican Council at our convocation, Bishop Trautman, the retired Bishop of
Erie, Pennsylvania, stated that everything we do in our parish should flow from
the Eucharist – our charitable work with the poor, our youth group, our senior
citizens ministry, our book clubs, our religious education program, our Knights
of Columbus group. None of those things
should exist on their own, but should be intrinsically connected to the
Eucharist we celebrate. The Eucharist is
a sign that Jesus gives us. I love a
quote by Woody Allen who once said – “90% of life is about showing up!” If our people are not showing up for the
Eucharist, what does that say about us as a parish? What does it say about how we respond to the signs
that Jesus gives us?
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