Homily for the 29th
Sunday in Ordinary Time
18 October 2015
18 October 2015
Today, throughout our entire Diocese of
Pittsburgh, all priests and deacons will stand before their Communities of
Faith and with one accord echo a proposal for all parishes to follow
faithfully. On Mission For The Church
Alive! throughout the six counties of the Diocese is our concerted effort
to fulfill the mandate of Jesus proclaimed in the Gospel. As the disciples of
the Lord Jesus we must be concerned beyond our own desire and wants so that our
Parish Family of Resurrection will become conscious of what is happening
throughout our entire Diocese.
Bishop Zubik has chosen this weekend –
when we celebrate World Mission Sunday – to ask us to speak to you, which is not
coincidental. On this Sunday, we are forced to answer the same question posed
by Jesus to James and John: Can you drink the cup? Hopefully we will be as
zealous as the Sons of Zebedee in our answer of “yes.” However, to be a parish On Mission For The Church Alive!, to be
a community willing to drink the cup, we must become aware and willing to form
a new understanding of what it means to be disciples of Christ in light of the
call of the New Evangelization and Pope Francis’ invitation to be a Church of
service rather than topics.
This Diocesan Mission stems from the
heart of the Bishop and his call for us to awaken the Faith within the
individuals, families, institutions, schools and parishes within Allegheny,
Beaver, Butler, Greene, Lawrence and Washington Counties. As one of the 200
parishes of the Diocese of Pittsburgh, and as the parish which bears the title
of the pivotal event of the Life of Jesus, our willingness to drink His cup is
essential for us to be a family alive in the newness of life brought about by
the Resurrection of Christ.
In his book, Can You Drink the Cup?, Henri Nouwen, the great spiritual author of
the Twentieth Century, gives us three motions to contemplate Christ’s cup:
holding, lifting and drinking. In holding the cup, Nouwen reflects that we hold
a cup of sorrows and a cup of joy; in lifting the cup, it is a cup of blessing
that we lift to life; in drinking the cup, we consume from the cup of salvation
to the bottom. This cup of Christ, which James and John had the audacity to
presume to drink from, is the same cup that you and I not only drink from as
well, but also profess as we gather each week as the Body of Christ. It is this
same cup that we hold and lift as we go out to serve our brothers and sisters
as the presence of the Risen Lord. In his book, Nouwen reminds us that this cup
that we hold, lift and drink from is an entrance into and participation in the
life of Christ. It is this cup from which we are nourished to be On Mission For The Church Alive!
In his first pastoral letter to our
Diocese, The Church Alive!, Bishop
Zubik names five areas where we – as individuals and as a parish community –
need to focus on to be renewed and alive in the Faith: evangelization,
stewardship, formation, catechesis and Eucharist. These five areas are the
ingredients of the Essence of Christ found in that cup which we hold, lift and
drink from – this Cup of Sorrow, this Cup of Joy, this Cup of Blessing . . .
the Cup of Salvation. Evangelization, stewardship, formation and catechesis are
not only found in the Body of Christ that is living, but of Christ, Himself,
since they all flow from and return to our celebration of the Eucharist, which
is the source and summit of our Faith, as the Second Vatican Council teaches
us.
To drink the cup means that we
evangelize, that we go out and spread the Gospel, the Good News that Christ has
died, Christ is risen, and that Christ will come again. To drink the cup means
that we become good stewards of the gifts of time, talent and treasure that the
Lord has given to us. To drink the cup means that we are people who are formed
in the Faith, allowing that faith in Jesus Christ to guide all of our thoughts,
words and actions. To drink the cup means we are a people who learn, love and
live Jesus by coming to know Him through His Church. To drink the cup means
that we are a people of and centered in the Eucharist, and that our celebration
of the Most Blessed Sacrament is that which transforms our lives to be that
reflection of the presence of Christ.
What, then, does this mean for us as the
Resurrection Parish Family? This is a question that we must be willing to look
at, discuss, and answer through our participation in On Mission For The Church Alive! However, this is a question that
we have been pondering through our participation in the Beechview-Brookline
Catholic Collaborative. For more than a year, we have been gathering with the
four other parishes in our cluster to understand and further define our role in
the community, and how, together, the parishes of Brookline and Beechview can
cultivate a Church that is truly alive in Christ through the way we not only
minister to the parishioners of our own faith communities, but all of the
people in our neighborhoods. To that end, I would like to remind you of our
Inter-Parish Assemblies being held [tomorrow / today] from 2:00 – 4:00 PM at
Saint Pius X Parish in Brookline and on Wednesday from 7:00 – 9:00 PM at Saint
Pamphilus Parish in Beechview. Your participation in these assemblies is
important not only because we want to hear your feedback, but also that you
have the opportunity to hear first-hand the information presented. If we want
Resurrection to be a parish alive in Christ and on fire with the Holy Spirit,
then we need to be able to take a step back and not only come to understand our
place in a changing community, but also to have the opportunity to further
define our role within the Body of Christ.
Ultimately, to be an individual, a
family, a parish, or a diocese this is On
Mission For The Church Alive!, we must be that individual, family, parish
and diocese that is willing to drink of the cup that Christ offers. Yes, it
will contain both joys and sorrows, but the cup we hold, lift and drink from
nourishes and sustains us so that as we consume from the Cup of Salvation, we
will be those people who enter fully into the evangelical mission of the
Church. We, as a parish family, are this day being invited by Bishop Zubik to
drink to the bottom from the cup Christ offers us by being a parish family that
is alive in Jesus Christ, His Spirit, and the mission we are called to.
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Enjoy the journey . . .
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