Friar’s Corner: Christ’s Mission is possible!

Isaiah 35:1-6a, 10; Psalm 146:6-10; James 5:7-10; Matthew 11:2-11

If you are new to these readings and new to our Faith, things may seem confusing or amazing. We are more than halfway through Advent. Our celebration and remembrance of Christ’s birth is only 10 days away. For me, my greatest joy is that Jesus is still with us. he did go back to heaven in his glorified body at the Ascension. For some, he is gone from us. That is “fake news.” For others, Jesus promised, “I am with you always, even to the end of the world,” Matthew 28:20c. He also told us, “Come to me, all you who are weary and overburdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light,” Matthew 11:28-30.

When we look at the facts in our four gospels and our nearly two thousand years of Catholic tradition, Jesus is still daily present in spiritual ways all over the world and his loving power flows through his sacraments and our prayer lives to us. In the prayer Jesus taught us, he said “Give us this day our daily bread,” Matthew 6:11 and in Luke 11:3. This is only one way of Jesus’ ongoing daily presence for us all over the world each day. Continued amazing grace, he is our “daily bread, his own Body and Blood,” an ongoing miracle of his love for us on our earthly journey.

Jesus’ Country Club

I believe the Holy Spirit continues to show us images of his spiritual reality today. I was thinking this week about people who join a country club for its benefits, often playing gulf. When you join, you pay a membership fee for a year or so, that entitles you to the benefits of that organization as long as you are paid up.

When we are baptized, we join Jesus’ Country Club; we become members of his elite family. It is not just a physical thing but a great worldwide organization. We don’t have to pay a yearly membership fee. Jesus paid the bill by his death on the cross. He gives us a “paid up credit card.” Everything is paid in the sacraments and our prayer life. The parish will not send you a bill for the sacraments.

Amazing channels of divine power

The first one we usually receive is Reconciliation. We all sin by not doing God’s will completely. We bring those sins or mistakes to Jesus in Reconciliation and ask Jesus to forgive us. He does forgive our past sins. He deletes our sin file in his computer or cleans us up in his washing machine and we are all clean. In the Eucharistic Liturgy or Mass, we receive the greatest power sacrament. We learn how to live our new life in the scriptures and receive Jesus as our “daily bread.” We are then sent out into the world to help and serve others.

Confirmation gives us various gifts or ministries by which we are empowered to serve others. Marriage gives us a friend to be our best friend in life and help us get to heaven. Married couples also create and raise children for God’s kingdom. The sacrament gives us divine help to live a new way of life. For some, Ordination trains and empowers men to follow Jesus and be his shepherds, serving a particular group of Catholics. He serves and guides his flock in various ways as Jesus did. The Anointing of the Sick is a sacrament to bring healing and growth. These are amazing channels of divine power to help us on our way to eternal happiness in heaven if we take advantage of receiving these divine powers.

Offerings keep the doors open

You can come back and say, I got married in a particular parish and there was a certain charge. You were not paying for the sacrament of marriage. You were paying for the use of the church building etc., which helps the parish pay its ongoing expenses. You are also asked to give an offering for the organist, servers and priest.

We take up a collection at weekend Masses to help pay for various bills like candles, bread and wine, salaries, insurance, light, heat and so on. Those are offerings to keep the doors open and pay for expenses. These are normal operating expenses. The pope does not send the parish a monthly check to pay the bills from the Vatican. If it is your parish, you help pay for the buildings and services.

The Messiah and his ministries

The readings this weekend give us some insights into who the Messiah would be and what work he would provide for us. We call this his “Good News.” Isaiah 35 tells us God comes to save us. He will heal blindness, the deaf will hear, the lame will leap for joy and the tongue of the mute will sing. He will also raise the dead and feed to hungry. Psalm 146 recounts similar things.

As we read the ministry of Jesus in the gospels, we see him doing these wonderful things. Reflecting on these wonderful stories about Jesus, we are moved to a deeper faith and love. We want to become friends of Jesus. He then trains and empowers us with his sacraments to be his friends on mission to stand against this world of darkness and confusion. He sends us out to bring his love and goodness to a hurting world. We are Jesus’ friends, ambassadors and evangelists. We are sent to bring God’s good news into the world. We do not fear. The Holy Spirit gradually lifts the veil of unknowing from our minds and enlightens us for our part in Christ’s mission of the love, peace and joy as members of his kingdom family of God.

Have an exciting and joyful week getting closer to Jesus as his friend, student, ambassador and evangelist, empowered on a mission for him.

Blessings,

+  Father Bob Hilzfbhilz@gmail.com

(© 2019 Father Bob Hilz, TOR)