16th Sunday Life of a Disciple

It's amazing how parents can interpret and can know the needs of their babies and kids; especially the babies who have not developed the capacity to speak. They know what the expressions and sounds mean; diaper change, hunger, attention, get me away from this strange guy dressed very weirdly who is pouring water over my head…. 

I think back to when my nieces and nephews were babies, I would hold them, give them attention, be the fun uncle. but then they do something that I didn’t know what it meant, so I looked to my sibling with terror, and they are like “it's fine, it's just gas.”  That intuition about needs comes with the relationship. Parents spend a lot of time clearly with their children, attentive to them, and they learn to read the signs. There is also a degree of trial and error too, that's part of learning to be a parent.  It works both ways, the child begins to learn how to interpret facial expressions and tones, and knows if Mom and Dad are serious, or just playing around.

Relationships matter. The stronger the relationship, the more people are in tune with those in their lives, and more able to respond to their needs. Spouses develop this; becoming attuned to each other, to anticipate each other’s needs. The desire to help, the desire to fulfill becomes part of this.

It can be amazing and healing when a person experiences this level of relationship, this level of caring.

We also know that these relationships take a lot of time and effort; they do not happen overnight. Creating a sense of belonging means there is a lot of time that must be spent, a lot of listening and risk taking. In church circles we call this “Accompaniment”.  

A purpose and role of church and parish is to foster those relationships; to foster a stable and safe place for people to come; to be served and to serve the needs of others. To provide a safe place to encounter God, and develop that primary relationship.

This is rooted of course in our faith in Jesus, and his Good News. That Good news, that Gospel, that the Father, the omnipotent God, the creator of all, heaven and earth, the visible and invisible, does indeed desire a covenantal relationship with all of us. Through this relationship our deepest needs are fulfilled; our need for meaning, purpose, our desire for life and love.

The Hebrew Scriptures, especially the Prophets, pronounce this time and again. Those beautiful words from Jeremiah of God speaking to a people lost, because those give the responsibility to demonstrate, to help foster that care they had forsook it. God never gave up or forsook us.

Jesus exemplifies this to the end.

This gospel is amazing on two different levels. Jesus first cares for his disciples who have come back from Mission. They are excited and they are tired. Jesus sees them needing to come away, to retreat a bit, and be renewed.  Jesus also sees a people who have been touched by the work of those same disciples, these people want and need more; so much that they stalk them to their retreat. It shows just how hungry, how much in need they are.

Here is the essence of Church; here is the essence of Parish; here is what it means to be Catholic. We, the disciples, renewed in Christ, come to be seen by Christ; to have our needs met; so that we can go and meet the needs of those others.

Here others who are touched by our work can come, and find healing too.  As parish, we are in relationship. We need to spend that time getting to know one another, we accompany each other. We need to be together to learn from each other, to watch and learn from each other; we need to hear, listen and be with each other. We cannot assume that we know what each other wants; we have to build up those relationships.  This is more than a 50 minute gathering at mass once a week. Parish life involves more. Eucharist anchors us in Christ, but then we also gather for the fun times, the prayerful times, the service times, the times to learn.  This is Youth Ministry, Young Ministry, the Women’s Auxiliary, the Knights, the ladies who knit the blankets for Baptisms; Religious Education, those who helped with the food on Tuesdays, those who come for Adoration, etc.  I was talking with another pastor and he was speaking of his concern and frustration as people in his parish were not involved and were not caring about what was going on. His sense was that they only wanted to come to Mass, get Jesus, get a bulletin and be done with it. The relationship was too narrow.

In a wonderful article by Dr. Leonard DeLorenzo, who will be coming to the Reno Conference in January; he wrote that too often parishioners love to say to others what they need to do, but not willing to involve themselves, not willing to be a part of the life of parish.

Here we are as Parish and still coming through the Covid break. People still are returning back to mass. What will they return to? The same old way?

We as a Pastoral Team talk, we talk about you! Well, we compare notes. We try to listen to what is going on in the lives of people of this community, this parish. There are needs. People still hurt. People feel alienated from others; people search for meaning, for community, for a safe place, however that can be defined. People are being misled by other messages. This from our very young to those who have seen a lot of calendar changes. This is not only our own people, but so many others in the wider community.

I honestly believe that with the Grace of God, with the wisdom that comes from our faith, we can be a source of healing for so many. It means we all need to be a bigger part of this life; it means spending time with others, trial and error, give and take; patience, humility, and love.  And clearly it also means spending time with the Person of Christ through prayer, meditation, contemplation, and especially in Word and Sacrament.  It means us bring our own needs and giving them to Jesus; and let ourselves rest in his grace for a few moment.