Cycle B 8th Ordinary
1. The Catholic Parishes have been working for 13 years with a program called Re-Membering. This is the 3rd time I have been here at Sacred Heart. And I must report, that progress has been SLOW.
But you know…this struggle of CALLING out to the Hurt, Alienated Or stray…has been going on for a LONG, LONG time. 3-4 thousand years to be more exact. I can’t say its harder now than its ever been before, But for sure I can say it’s ALWAYS been HARD WORK.
The PANGS for someone who has strayed are GREAT. But in finding that 1 lost sheep, there has always been GREAT JOY and that’s what keeps a person going.
2. Recall the Gospel stories: Prodigal Son/Father, Lost Sheep and the Lost Coin. You cannot find better stories to relay the ATTITUDE and ACTIONS of a God (And ours Also) who seeks the Lost.
Bishop St. Augustine around 300 wrote a sermon that went like this. They say, “…If I Am straying, if I am lost, why do you want me?” You are Straying, that is why I wish to recall you. You have been lost, that is why I wish to find you. “But I wish to stray,” they say; “I wish to be lost.” “So you wish to stray and be lost? How much better that I do Not also wish this.” This also MUST BE OUR ATTITUDE.
3, The problem of in-activity is serious. At Blessed Sacrament on any given weekend it runs 50% absent. At Sacred Heart is it any better?
4. Our readings reflect this AGE OLD problem. God we believe, has always called people back to FAITHFULNESS. Hosea lived in the 700’s BC. His prophecy pivots around his unfortunate marriage to Gomer. His message was influenced by painful experiences he underwent in his marriage.
Gomer, became an ADULTERESS. In Hosea, she symbolizes faithless Israel. And just as Hosea could NOT give up his wife, even when she played the Harlot, so Yahweh could not RENOUNCE Israel, to whom He has been Betrothed. God would chastise, but it would be the chastisement of a jealous lover longing to bring back His beloved to the fresh and pure joy of their first love.
The Hosea passage is quite beautiful in the way it casts the relationship of the LORD and ISRAEL as that between BRIDEGROOM and BRIDE. The Lord, by taking her into the desert, will help her to understand who the bridegroom is. Help her to realize the great gifts that come with this covenant which are Care, Faithfulness, Justice and Togetherness forever.
5. The Gospel picks up on Jesus as the BRIDEGROOM of the CHURCH. The Gospels remind us as we encounter Jesus, the one who is faithful, Caring, Just, and will give his life for the bride, wants his bride the church, to come to know him. He brings also into this deep loving relationship the same the Gift of permanence of the Bridegroom in Hosea.
6. Bishops when ordained, as did Bishop Nickless, promise 8 things to his predecessors. One of which is to SEEK THE LOST. Re-membering is one prophetic attempt in this diocese to bring people Back to an active faith life.
7. This program begs an answer as to why we want them.
#1 We believe God wants that DEEP personal relationship with them. As lived out in our Liturgy and Sacraments.
#2 They and our Communities miss out on their Prayer.
#3 The mission of the church in action is also poorer in their absence.
Our Catholic Faith is either the MOST important thing in life or Really it’s the LEAST important. The in-active I think lean to the Idea of it being the LEAST.
8. To close, St. Augustine also said in his Homily, that one of the problems of NEGLECT to the in-active is that at the same time it might also kill the strong. He said, ” Should I neglect the straying and lost, the strong one will also take delight in straying and in being lost.”
Sometimes it is very hard to come to church on Sundays and days of Obligation, Go to Confession, pay support, stay caught up on the teachings, and to follow its rules and laws. With other options such as Family, work and play, sometimes Church is last thing we want to do.
So we encourage you to stay strong and remain true to the faith. Because our Catholic Faith is really the MOST IMPORTANT.
As St. Augustine said, “I shall recall the straying, I shall seek the lost. Whether they wish it or not, I shall do it.” To neglect these little lambs of God, these prodigal brothers and sisters of ours, flies in the face of Faith.
-They are your family, siblings, neighbors, friends.
-Because of A Hurt, a Teaching, a marriage problem.
-They need for what ever reason an invitation
-They need us to take them by the hand.
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