After the service a parishioner thanked the minister for the wonderful sermon. "I found it so helpful," she said. The minister replied, "I hope it will notprove as helpful as the last sermon you heard." "Why, what do you mean?" asked the astonished woman. "Well," said the minister, "that sermon lasted you three months."
We may smile at that unless it strikes too close to home and our faith commitment. So why is it necessary for Pope Benedict to call a synod of the world's Catholic bishops to promote a new evangelization in the church?
The great news is that the approximately 1.196 billion Catholics in the world are celebrating a YEAR OF FAITH starting this October. Wow! Amazing things will happen. I know in our Archdiocese of Regina there are liturgical celebrations to kick off the event.
I take it seriously when that many people gather to pray for a common cause. Not to leave out other churches; this October's events coincide with the 50th Anniversary of Vatican II, which attempted to rejuvenate the church as well as bring about a greater Christian unity among all the faithful.
I had trouble getting excited about this 50 year anniversary and "new evangelization" until I realized that this is what I have been trying to communicate in PAUSE FOR REFLECTION. In the simplest of terms I will try to explain the challenges to us of the bishops' meeting October 7 to 28.
The new call for you and me this October and in the coming year will be to grasp our Faith, to pray for Faith, to rediscover our Faith so that we can take the love of Jesus to our families, our fellow Christians and the world.
In an article last May Fr. Ron Rolheiser identified a New Evangelization target as the many "who believe that they know and understand Christianity, but no longer practise it in a meaningful way." In a way they are saying of the church, "I know what it is. I've tried it. And it's not for me."
Recently I was working on my computer when the key board and the mouse became unresponsive. A message flashed: KEYBOARD FAILURE. My computer was not going to accomplish anything until that FAILURE was looked after.
In our church we have countless members who are like that keyboard. They have become non-responsive to God's call to go out and spread the good news to all. We have a KEYBOARD FAILURE in our churches.
What is our call within the Church today? How we can learn to recognize what Jesus is asking us to do? Let us begin this year of faith in serious prayer and discernment.
Watch for my next article entitled The Faith hook and moving mountains. Its opening line is, "Faith can move mountains, but don't be surprised if God hands you a shovel!"
