5th Sunday Homily- MISSION!

Mission and salvation, salvation and mission...these have been at the root of who we are as Church.

At the Second Vatican Council, the priesthood of the baptized, the people of God, the universal call to holiness was phrases used and expressed.  These were not new ideas, but they were part of the original treasure of our Christian faith, that had over the centuries, been neglected.

All people are called to be holy.  Meaning all people are called to be the good persons that we are created as; created in God’s own image.  This is our salvation.

Holy people are those who live compassion, mercy, justice, people who love.

These are the women and men, old and young, married, single, celibate, who express kindness to all people; who are willing to give of themselves for the good of others; who are willing and desiring to help end needless sufferings of others.

These are the volunteers who teach, who pack and deliver food, who mentor; who walk with those even as those persons come to the end of their lives.

Now the church, the community of believers, are not necessarily holier than anyone else, per se, but we are called to be be especially more vigilant in our holiness.  

We are called to be more conscious of our actions so that they express to the rest of the world, we model to the rest of the world what being truly human is about.  This is our mission; the mission of all the baptized!

We see this reflected in our gospel passage.  See Jesus isn’t calling these men only to be priests, or bishops…  

He is calling them as disciples to mission; to evangelize to all people and attract them to God, in Christ, through the Holy Spirit, so that they can be the good persons they are.

Eventually these men and all the other disciples live our their mission, drawing more people into believing in the way of Jesus Christ.

Not through coercion or force, nor through legislation, but through the example of their lives, through their living out the faith, the call of Jesus Christ.

We carry on that same mission to this day.

This is why we have Youth Ministry in our Church.

This is why we have Faith Formation and Catechetics in our Church.

This is why we form and support peoples of our diverse cultures.

This is why we form lay persons in theology and spirituality

This is why we seek out men to be deacons and priests.

It’s all about mission.  We do not do this for ourselves….we do it for the good of the world.  We do it so that we the baptized are capable for this mission for the salvation of all the world.  We serve.

CSA, Catholic Services Appeal, our annual appeal funds those efforts within our diocese so that we as Catholics can fully serve the good of all.

CSA provides the support so that we can continue to build up a Vibrant and Visible Youth Ministry in our parishes, in all parishes, to enliven Northern Nevada.

CSA supports our High Desert Catholics, which helps to connect us throughout our vast diocese, and demonstrate how we live our mission.

And there are many more reasons.

Each family who has been registered was to have received an envelope this week in the mail containing a CSA pledge card, prayer card and brochure explaining the CSA.

For those who are new to our diocese, each parish is assessed an amount based on a formula.  Our assessment this year is over $173,000. Now I know we can make this, because we do so in excess each year.  Anything that is received over the assessed amount is rebated 100% to the parish.

In past years, this rebate has been placed into the building fund, so for example, that was over $70,000 last year.  This wonderful

This year, our rebate will also be placed into the building fund, 90% of it.

The other 10% will be tithed to a parish in our diocese who struggles to even meet their monthly expenses.  There are many parishes in our rural counties who struggle to maintain their mission, struggle to provide to their own community what they need so as to continue their mission.  $7000 for our parish means a whole lot more for another parish.

So what I am asking all of us to do is participate to the best of our ability.  I would really like our participation levels to increase this year.

I would like all of us to begin to reconsider our own personal mission to this faith; and not with money only but to consider how we are going to participate in the mission and life of Our Lady of Snows.