Sixth Sunday of Easter “More than Maintenance”
Sixth Sunday of Easter “More than Maintenance”
Church life often revolves around maintaining things. But Jesus wants us to do more. Pope Francis has emphasized this throughout his pontificate. From my experience, I would say in seminary I was trained to do maintenance. Seminary studies emphasized taking care of the faithful. Priests were to educate the young, visit the sick, bury the dead, make sure everyone received the sacraments. All of that is important, but those priorities don’t necessarily reach the unchurched.
Once there was a priest who was worried about a leaky church roof. He decided he needed to do something. Fundraising was needed. He decided to try a special collection on Memorial Day weekend. The priest was training a new organist that same weekend. The musician came to the sacristy before Mass to see what she should play for the offertory. She said, “I never played many Catholic services.” He said, “Let’s make it easy. Just play something patriotic.”
The sermon started, which was really a fund-raising appeal to fix the leaky roof. The pastor came to the dramatic conclusion saying, “Now, I know you want to support this appeal. Let’s show how committed we are. Everyone who can drop $100 in the offertory collection next week please stand up. Nobody moved. The irritated Pastor yelled, “Come on wake up and support this offering.” The organist had been dozing at the keyboard. She heard the words wake up and offertory. She immediately began to play the national anthem. Everyone stood. The collection the next Sunday was a great success. The organist also had a permanent job.
Our church can be about maintenance. If any of us has ever been to Rome we can’t help but be impressed by all the buildings the church owns, but they are very hard to maintain. Usually, there is scaffolding up various sights where restoration is taking place. Tuck pointing is being done. Statues are being repaired. Priceless paintings are being cleaned. The amount of money that must be raised from throughout the world to keep everything repaired is hard to count. Practical people would point out that this is the patrimony of the church. Others would ask, “Is this what the church is, a museum that preserves the past?”
We can fall into this trap on a personal level. We can reach a certain level of spiritual maturity. We can do the minimum. We can avoid situations which can lead us to commit our favorite sins. We can make sure that our children have the religious training they need. We can involve ourselves in spiritual activities that are safe and don’t challenge us to grow. We take care of our little part of the Kingdom. But is all that being faithful to Jesus?
We read stories of the early church in the Acts of the Apostles today. The deacon, Phillip, in his zeal, travels to Samaria where he begins to preach. As we know, the Samaritans were the enemies of the Jews. Yet, there goes Phillip, with all his enthusiasm, to preach to them. Peter and John stay in Jerusalem. We get the impression that they were content to deal with the little community of Jewish Christians that were there. When they hear that the faith has been accepted in Samaria, they go to see what the Holy Spirit was doing. And they bless the success Phillip was having.
Three things win the Samaritans over. The first is the story of Jesus Christ, especially the news about the Resurrection. The second thing is the healing that the ministry of the Apostles brought to hurting people. The last thing was the sheer joy of those who had converted to Christianity. New life, healing, joy, are all things that are appealing to people of every age, but the question remains, “whose responsibility is it to bring these things to a waiting world?”
The answer is that we are. Jesus didn’t say to us, “Maintain what I have given you.” He gave us all the great commission. “Go out to all the world and preach the good news.” The question we should ask every day isn’t whether I have avoided sin today, but have I enlarged the kingdom of Jesus today. When we ask that our faith becomes dynamic. Who hasn’t heard about Jesus? Who are the broken people in my life that need hope. Is my joy apparent to those I meet? Jesus needs disciples that can stand up to be counted. Hopefully, we want to be those disciples.
Reflection Questions:
Am I in a holding pattern spiritually? How do I know?
How do I know that I am growing as a Christian? What does it mean for me to be a disciple?
Dear Parishioners,
This is a graduation week for many students. Our Seton 8th grade students will be walking this Tuesday. Alleman High School will be having its graduation next Sunday. Public High Schools, colleges and other institutions will also be having ceremonies. I congratulate all graduates.
We are reminded on graduation day of the many sacrifices that have been made through the years to keep our Catholic schools open. We can remember the orders of religious sisters who dedicated their lives to Catholic education. We also remember the many lay faculty that have spent their career in Catholic educational institutions. They could make more money elsewhere, but they chose to remain in Catholic schools.
I attended St. Meinrad College and school of Theology in Indiana and Creighton University for graduate schools. I received a great education. I realize that the teachers I had personally donated to my schooling. I learned, by talking to several of them, that they considered their vocation a call from God. And that is why they remained in Catholic institutions.
May is time to thank those who have educated us. We might drop a note to some of our teachers this month. Who are the ones that changed our lives? Correspondence like this means a lot to those who have given their lives to educate young people. We pray that others will be willing to do the same.
May Our Lady Seat of Wisdom pray for us,
Fr. Mark