10/10/2011 - Gone to Tupelo to the Convocation of the Diocese of Jackson

I am joining the other priests of our diocese this week at the biannual convocation.  This year we are traveling to St James the Greater Parish in Tupelo, in northeastern Mississippi.  Father Alfred McBride of the Norbertine priests will address our convocation on the spirituality and theology of the Eucharist, since our diocese is currently celebrating the Year of the Eucharist.  I am looking forward to hearing Father McBride's insights.  I will be a wonderful week for all of us.  I miss everyone in Yazoo City - looking forward to seeing you Friday when I return.

9/18/2011 – Homily for the 25th Sunday in Ordinary Time - Cycle A – Homily for Catechetical Sunday – Philippians 1:20-24, 27

       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.  

The Year of the Eucharist - Diocese of Jackson

         As I mentioned in an earlier post, this year we are observing the Year of the Eucharist in our Diocese of Jackson, Mississippi as declared by Bishop Joseph Latino.  Not only is our diocese having many events throughout the year, but each parish is having different events to commemorate and observe this year, which began on the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ on June 26, 2011. 

Right now I am reading the newest book by Father Ron Rolhesier, entitled Our One Great Act of Fidelity: Waiting for Christ in the Eucharist.  Father Rolheiser happens to be one of my favorite Catholic authors. He ends his book on the Eucharist with several of St Augustine's homilies on the Eucharist, linking us to the tradition of the early Church fathers and mothers.  So many of us Catholics take the Eucharist for granted, not recognizing all of the dimensions of Christ’s real presence in the Eucharist, not allowing the Eucharist to have a real affect on the way we live our lives.  There are a lot of good books and materials out there helping to catechize the faithful about the real presence in the Eucharist.  Our adult Sunday school class in Yazoo City will start going over Rolheiser’s book in a couple of weeks after we finish viewing Father Robert Barron’s DVD on the Eucharist.  

Celebrating the Year of the Eucharist in the Diocese of Jackson

     Starting this Sunday for four Sunday mornings in a row, we will watch a DVD about the Eucharist by Father Robert Barron, a priest in the Archdiocese of Chicago and one of the most popular theologians we have in our Church today.  Father Barron will address the Eucharist as the Sacred Banquet, as Sacrifice, and as the real presence of Christ in his Body and Blood.  The Year of the Eucharist that is being celebrated this year in the Diocese of Jackson came out of a question that Bishop Joseph Latino asked the priests council, wondering what we thought about the attitudes of the faithful in our diocese concerning the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist, about the general attitude of respect and dignity we give the Eucharist.  The Year of the Eucharist will continue until Corpus Christi Sunday in 2012.  We are very excited about celebrating this year in a special way.  I hope we have a big crowd joining us for the adult religious eduction classes these next four Sundays at the parish hall in Yazoo City at 9:15 am, as I know we will have a great discussion.