Dear Parishioners:
Today's Gospel has the very challenging words of Christ
(Mark 10: 21-23 ) "Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said, "You
lack one thing; go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor, and you
will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me." When he heard this,
he was shocked and went away grieving, for he had many possessions. Then Jesus
looked around and said to his disciples, "How hard it will be for those
who have wealth to enter the
Perhaps it is also hard for us to follow these words in our life. A prominent spiritual writer Fr. Ron Rolheiser O.M.I. has written a book "The Holy Longing". He gives us a different set of ideas that pertain to our own spirituality today. There are four universal pillars of spiritual life. Private prayer/private morality; commitment to social justice; mellowness of heart & spirit; & community. 1. Personal prayer is at the heart of the growing flame of love for God. When we read the spiritual classics, all of these wisdom people lived extended periods of private prayer with God. This communion with God illumines us, confronts us with our false self and lifts up our true self, Jesus. 2. Social Justice is at the heart of the gospels and epistles. One out of every ten lines of the New Testament deals directly with the physically poor and God's call to respond to the human need around us. 3. Mellowness of heart.
Ron Rolheiser writes: "We fuel our lamp of faith in three ways: through prayer that is private and communal, through practicing social justice and love for the poor, and through having those things in our lives (good friendships, wine-drinking, creativity and healthy leisure) that help keep the soul mellow and grateful."
Liberation theologian Gutierrez writes: our task as Christians is to transform the world through love and justice. But we will not succeed in this if our actions issue forth from anger or guilt. Only one kind of person transforms the world spiritually, someone with a grateful heart. 4. Community as the place of true worship. Jesus teaches us that God calls us not as individuals alone, but as community. How we relate to each other is just as important as how we relate to God. This may be the most difficult Pillar for us to follow. We want God but we don't want or need the church, some say. Church congregations will always disappoint us. We have high expectations of the other members, and when you are human, act out, say something hurtful to me, I may think of giving up on this congregation. I am amazed at how a person can be part of a congregation for a long time and then it seems, one small thing can be the straw the breaks the camels back.
How many of us have come to St. Cecilia from another congregation, where we felt hurt and we left? Why does Jesus emphasize the community? Not because the community is supposed to be perfect, but because in this community, in which everyone has committed themselves to walk the way of Jesus, we find our homework. And there is someone in this congregation who is your homework. Maybe I am your homework. In this community, we find the place to practice love and forgiveness. In our Church community, we have an opportunity to extend the welcome and friendly support to others that we would never have met otherwise. In fact, the people who went to the recent Liturgy workshop came back with the message Parishes need to be places of welcome and we can only be that when we get to know others beyond the usual circle of friends.
God Bless!
Fr.