Let us ask our Blessed Mother to help us to become servants of God by becoming a parish of adorers so that we can become a “Family of Love

Seventeenth Sunday After Pentecost. Sunday September 23, 2012 Extraordinary Form.

We continue in our first reading with St. Paul’s letter to the Ephesians. Today, he continues to tell us to conform ourselves to the Holy Spirit especially in our care for one another. We are again to be concern with one another’s salvation; we are to, as Our Blessed Lord tells us, we are to in light of our total love of God, we are to love our neighbor as ourself.

St. Paul today is speaking to us literally in chains, a parishioner of love he has for his parishioners, for us, as he continues in his exhortation to all of us to practice Christian Charity; especially, within the household of God. Charity as you know is more than just being good, more than just being kind to one another; it is all of these things of course, but more much more, spiritually and eternally more.

St. Paul, better yet the Holy Spirit through St. Paul, is reminding us that belonging to the Catholic Church, belonging to this Parish family is more than just belonging to an organization; it is literally to be a member of one Body, the Mystical Body of Christ Himself. Each one of us is a living cell that is dependent on one another and a living cell that must work to keep the other alive if it is to stay a living cell.

The past few weeks we have been discussing that we do this by ourselves becoming more and more healthy, robust, holy members of the Body of Christ, by becoming more and more united to the Head of the Mystical Body, Jesus Christ Himself. Also by, as we have said, by not just walking with the Holy Spirit but conforming ourselves to the Spirit which is the Soul of the Mystical Body and the animating principal of Life for all of It’s members.

In the truth faith No one can be an island unto himself or herself; we live and breath together or we become a sick cell and eventually die and are sloughed (sluffed) off of the Body of Christ. It can never be said enough, we must be our brothers keeper we are responsible for the eternal welfare of each member of Body; especially with each member of this particular part of the Mystical Body of Christ, St. Patrick’s Parish family.

At the end of our life we will be question about this. We will be judged by how well, or not, we performed the Spiritual and Corporal Works of Mercy. We will be questioned primarily in light of the Spiritual Works of mercy, which are to be the end, the goal, and the reason for the Corporal Works of mercy-again the Spiritual Works of Mercy are primary.

One of the things I always make a point of doing as I prepare couples for marriage or when I baptize a baby, I always remind the engaged couple or the parents of the newly baptized baby of their primary duty to one another and to their children. I tell them that I guarantee, “infallibly”, that when they die and stand before Jesus Christ Himself, that He will ask them two questions of them, for sure. And when He does they can tell Jesus, “oh yeah! I remember Father Lange telling us that You would ask us these questions Jesus!”

Jesus will first of all ask them as a married couple, “What did you do to help your spouse get to heaven?”

And then Jesus will ask them, “What did you do to help get MY CHILD or My CHILDREN to heaven?” He won’t say, “What did you do to get your children to heaven, but MY CHILDREN to heaven?!!!”

However, in addition to these two questions, the Holy Spirit over this past few weeks of listening and studying St. Paul and his letter to the Ephesians, the Holy Spirit has revealed to me a question that each member of this parish family and that every member of every parish family is going to be asked as well. I guarantee, “infallibly,” that in light of the Spiritual Works of Mercy, Jesus is going to ask each one of us, when we stand before Him, He is going to ask us, “What did you do to help the members of your parish family to get to heaven?” (repeat).

We as members of this parish family, and so as members of the mystical body of Christ, have a great responsibility to all of the members of the Body of Christ; but especially, those within this household of faith, which is the members of the Body of Christ in our midst, this wonderful Parish Family. This is the calling, the vocation of each one of us.

We are called, chosen to be holy…and to be Holy means to Love the Lord God with all our whole heart, soul, mind and strength; and then because of this love of God to love our neighbor has ourselves. We can’t love our neighbor with our loving God first and foremost; however, if we say we love God but don’t love our neighbor then as St. John says we are liars. And we can’t love our neighbor if we don’t care for his corporal needs but especially and primarily for his or her eternal salvation, by carrying out the Spiritual and Corporal works of mercy toward him for the good of not only his body, but his eternal soul. And so, the following may sound harsh, but it is the Gospel truth! We don’t love God really, if we aren’t solicitous for the eternal welfare of each member of this, THIS PARISH FAMILY.

Again, if all the members of this parish family realized this vital truth, then we wouldn’t have to worry about having enough money to not only make budget but far surpass it; we could do as they do in Kansas and provide a free Catholic education for any child who so desired it; we would never have to worry about enough volunteers, we would have to worry about having enough going on to keep everyone busy; and each member of the parish family would used their talents for the common good of this parish family and its members, they would speak, act and think always with the intention of what is the best for my parish family and for the salvation of the souls of Its members.

And this care and solicitude for the eternal welfare of souls would extend beyond the parish family; we would become more and more an evangelizing parish family. We would take our faith, our love of God and one another, out into our community and our world. And we would lead souls to faith in Christ and so to faith in the fullness of His Mystical body on earth, The One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church under the Vicar of Christ, the Holy Father. .

Speaking of the Holy Father; a few days ago Pope Benedict spoke to New Bishops and called them to faithful service to God and to his people in order that the new evangelization called for by Vatican II and continued by Blessed John Paul II, Benedict, and of course the Holy Spirit Himself, would be realized. They are words that all of us, not just the bishops and priests need to put into effect in our lives. Benedict said:

“In fact, evangelization is not the work of some specialists, but of the whole People of God, under the guidance of Pastors. Every member of the faithful, in and with the ecclesial community, must feel responsible for the proclamation and witness of the Gospel.” Why does the Holy Father say this? In order that souls may be saved through a loving encounter with the God Who is Love.

He said that for this to happen, “Faith calls for credible witnesses, who trust in the Lord and entrust themselves to Him to be "living sign of the presence of the Risen One in the world" (Apostolic Letter Porta fidei, 15). Our Holy Father said that:
The bishop, who should be the first witness of the faith, accompanies the journey of believers offering the example of a life lived in confident abandonment to God. Hence, in order to be an authoritative teacher and herald of the faith, he must live in the Lord's presence, as a man of God.

We too must do the same. The bishop is to be like the Pope a servant of the servant of the people of God. So too must we, especially within the household of our parish family, we must be servants of one another for our corporal, but again most especially for our spiritual and eternal good.

We must every more fully to the Lord and to service of Him, and entrust ourselves totally to His Mercy and abandon ourselves totally with great trust to His Holy Will which is, “Love and Mercy Itself.” Pope Benedict said, “In fact, one cannot be at the service of men without first being at the service of God.”
Speaking again to the bishops but with words that can be direct to us, Benedict continued:

May your personal commitment to holiness be seen every day in assimilation of the Word of God in prayer and nourished by the Eucharist, to draw from this twofold table the vital lymph for the ministry. May charity drive you to be close to your priests, with that paternal love that is able to support, encourage and forgive; they are your first and precious collaborators in taking God to men and men to God. Likewise, the charity of the Good Shepherd will make you attentive to the poor and the suffering, to sustain and console them, as well as to orient those who have lost the meaning of life. Be particularly close to families, to parents, helping them to be the first educators of the faith of their children; to youngsters and youth, so that they are able to build their life on the solid rock of friendship with Christ. Have special care for seminarians, being concerned that they be formed humanly, spiritually, theologically and pastorally, so that the communities can have mature and joyful pastors and sure guides in the faith.

Let us ask our Blessed Mother to help us to become servants of God by becoming a parish
of adorers so that we can become a “Family of Love,” who members live out their service of adoration of God by giving themselves in service, a service of love, to the members of this Parish and flowing out to our community and world all for the Love of God and for the love and salvation of souls. Amen.