This weekend we celebrate is Catechetical Sunday, celebrating the new year in religious education in our parish. As I read through today’s Gospel, I thought about how sometimes we hear a comforting, “warm and fuzzy” Gospel reading, but that is not the case today. Today’s Gospel is probably very familiar to most of us, but it contains a challenging, “hard-hitting” message. And we hear this Gospel message in the midst of today’s theme for Catechetical Sunday – “Enlisting Witnesses for Jesus Christ.” Jesus tells the crowds today that if they wish to follow him, they must deny themselves, take up their cross, and follow him. His followers must lose their lives for his sake and for the sake of his Good News in order to save their lives. Yet, how do we implement such a daunting task in our lives in taking up Jesus’ cross? How do we become better witnesses for Christ in the midst of the reality of our world today?
In thinking of Christ’s cross, I thought of St Francis of Assisi, a man who was born in Italy back in the late 12th century. When he was a youth, he lived a very comfortable, affluent lifestyle, but it was a life that was not centered upon God. One day, he had a vision of Christ on the cross. Francis saw Christ calling out to him directly: “To be my follower, Francis, you need to deny yourself, take up your cross and follow me.” In front of his father and the bishop, Francis denied his family and his inheritance, as he told them that his true Father is his Father in heaven. He then devoted his life to reaching out to the poor and to seeing God in all of creation. Francis denied himself in the context of denying his family, since in the Mediterranean world of his day, his understanding of himself was tied very closely to community and family. We in the modern Western world most often see ourselves in terms of our self-reliance and individualism, but in the Mediterranean world, identity was integrally tied to family and community; they couldn’t perceive themselves outside the context of those close ties.
Throughout the Gospels, we see Jesus leaving his family and village to preach the Good News, traveling here and there, leaving the place to which he was born. Jesus tells us to deny ourselves, to see ourselves as members of his Father’s family, as members of our community of faith. We take up the cross and journey on the path of faith as true brothers and sisters in Christ.
Francis of Assisi rebelled about what he saw going on in the world of his day, so much of which was against the Gospel that Jesus’ preached. We are faced with the same situation in the world today. We see our society become more secular; we see so many people turn away from the Church. There is term called the “nones,” those who claim no religious affiliation at all, and who now make up almost 25% of our population.
But in the midst of the reality of our world, we are called to a new form of evangelization in our world, to see ourselves as missionary disciples, as witnesses for Christ’s Good News. Being a witness for Christ does not just mean going to a far away land as a missionaries. Right here in Pearl and in the Jackson metro area, our catechists and our teachers - and all of us as followers of Christ - are challenged by the pope and our bishops to be witnesses of Christ to the world. Having a strong program of religious education for our children, our youth, and our adults, is important to forming witnesses for Christ in the world.
I have really enjoyed the readings from the letter of James we have had these past few weeks; today, James gives us insight as to what it means to carry our cross and follow Jesus. James wants us to move our faith from our intellect into our hearts and minds, to move beyond thoughts and words into actions and an integrated lifestyle that reflects our faith. James gives us the example of a believer who wishes peace on his brother or sister, but does nothing to help him if he’s hungry or in need. We’re called to put faith into action as we carry our cross and grow in our personal relationship with Christ.
Today's Gospel story was a turning point for Peter and the disciples. Peter declared Jesus as the Christ, the Messiah, but he still envisioned the Messiah as a triumphant nationalistic leader, not a suffering servant. We can only understand Jesus as the Messiah by seeing him as the Son of God who suffered, died on the cross, and was resurrected. Otherwise, Jesus, who performed great miracles and healings, who taught and proclaimed the kingdom of God, would be nothing more than a great teacher and miracle worker.
We’re excited about the new year of religious education. It is going to be a lot of work, but we have a lot of wonderful activities ahead of us as well. We give thanks for all of our teachers and catechists who are going to journeying with us this year. We give thanks for all of the children, youth, and adults who will participate in our religious education programs. We are excited about the year ahead of us, and we want to ask for the Lord’s blessing as we celebrate Catechetical Sunday. We will now have a special blessing for our teachers and catechists, and we will have them make a special prayer of commitment after they receive their blessing:
Blessing and Prayer for Catechists:
O God, our Heavenly Father, you have
given us the gift of these catechists to be
heralds of the Gospel to our parish family.
We lift them up to you in thanksgiving
and intercede for them concerning their
hopes and needs.
May we be attentive to the presence
of your Word in them, a Word that lifts up
and affirms, calls forth and challenges, is
compassionate and consoles.
We pray that our parish family will always
be blessed with those who have responded to
the call to share in Christ’s prophetic mission
as catechists.
May we too be open to the
universal call to service that Christ addresses
to all of his disciples, contributing our gifts to
the communion of faith, the Church.
We ask this in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Prayer of commitment for teachers and catechists:
As we prepare to witness to your message with our teaching,
give us vision, imagination, inspiration, and enthusiasm
to reach the hearts and minds of our students.
May they hear in our classes what you want to tell them,
and may we tell them what you want them to hear.
Keep us faithful to the mission entrusted to us
and embrace us with your eternal love, the Holy Spirit.
We ask you this in Christ’s name. Amen.
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