READING 1:
Nehemiah 8:2-4a, 5-6, 8-10 Psalm
19 READING 2: 1 Corinthians 12:12-14, 27 GOSPEL: Luke 1:1-4, 4:14 -21
Today we have an interesting combination of readings. Nehemiah proclaims the great joy we celebrate on the day of the Lord. Paul acknowledges our differences within the faith community and says we are different parts of the same body. And Jesus reads his mission statement from the Old Testament Book of Isaiah. I’d like to suggest we might express a unified message in one word. It is our custom to celebrate baptisms during the Mass. As a part of that we begin by asking the parents to share what they would ask for their child. Just think about it, imagine you are standing at the door to the church and everyone has turned toward you. You have your young child in your arms. You look up and see the altar and the cross. What is the one thing you would ask God and the faith community for that child if you could bring it about? Good health? Peace? Prosperity? Success? (However you define it) What would it be? Of course this is scripted and our parents answer, “Eternal life.” But when you think about it, anything else would seem short sighted. There is a word that describes what the journey to the fulfillment of that significant wish of the parents will mean. It is the same word that would assure our children will fulfill their parents wish. The word is integrity. Let me tell you what I am talking about. By integrity I mean wholeness. You know, that this child would be a whole person; a well integrated human being. You say what you mean and you mean what you say and you run your life according to Christian values. This is the way to eternal life; this is the gift we as a community offer our children. The babies we baptize here are looking to us to be their models of integrity. I was at a Christmas cocktail party and a guest said, “You are Coach Meyer’s pastor, aren’t you?” I admit that I was proud to say yes and tacked on also Coach Donovan, Coach Wise and Coach McMahon. I am proud to be associated with all of you. Then the gentleman said, “Well, it’s the New Year and all the sins of the past year are forgiven. So, how about telling the coach to forgive the player he had to kick off the team so our defense could get a better chance in Glendale .” I had to laugh. But, you know, it has been done before. Coaches have reinstated top players before bowl games; Universities have held up releasing the grades until after the big game. I just laughed though. I said that I knew the coach just well enough to believe he was a man of integrity and our defense would be just fine without that player. Wow! And were they? My friends, it seems to me that those who are gathered here into the one body of Christ differ in many ways. But whether we are parents, single, married, divorced, separated, widowed, male or female, we strengthen our children’s integrity by sharing three things with them. First, do our young people know what you do all day Are you working at home, making sales calls, counseling clients, doing volunteer work, seeing patients, serving customers? ? Do your children know that? How does it fulfill you? What do you do with your day? Second, how do you do it? Do you have special gifts that you get to use in your endeavors? What’s the talent you bring to it; what’s the knowledge, what’s the expertise? Is your day stressful or difficult? How did this day fit into your life? And, finally, most essentially, and most critical of all: How does your Catholic faith enter into your daily endeavors? This is important; Afterall, how do we expect our young people to understand the value of practicing our faith if they don’t know how it makes sense in our lives? It’s like, if you are never going to write anything more than a text message, why study sentence structure? Speak at home about the Catholic faith based decisions you make every day of your life. You are living your faith or you wouldn’t be here; but don’t assume they see it already. Talk about the challenges you face in an unscrupulous world. If our teenagers don’t know that your faith is important to you every day they will think it is irrelevant. Confirm your Catholic faith for them. Start when they are young enough to listen and learn. If we want our babies to grow into lives that will fulfill our best wishes, we need to be pro-active. And it is not that tough to do. Just let our young people know what we do, how we do it and how our Catholic faith is a big part of our success. Our young people are aglow at Confirmation; they look beautiful. Something good is happening. It is actually more significant than being at National Championships, believe it. It is our hopes being fulfilled. Be optimistic! Enjoy the good news! Fr. Jeff McGowan |
