Gathering of CSSR Priests
Pope Francis’ visit to the States and the impact on the people at that time was great.
Gospel Jn.15: 1-17:
I am the vine ; you are the branches. You cannot produce anything unless you remain with me.
You have to love one another as I have loved you. There is no love greater than sacrificing one’s life for one’s friend. My commandment: Love one another.
There is no more a beautiful description of a disciple of Christ than this. We have to remain in Him and carry that love that He pours into our lives to those around us.
Once travelling by train--meeting a young man who asked me “ What is the essential feature of Christianity? How is it different from other religions?”
So many might have put this question to us. Jesus has summed up his teaching: Loving God with all your heart and loving your neighbor…
At the Last Supper, he showed this love more deeply by washing the feet of his disciples and asking them to do the same.
It is in reflecting this love that we become his disciples.
Cardinal Casper in his book on Christian Leadership asks priests to reflect this love of Christ.
Harvard University has a practice of publishing some of the famous lectures given at the Business School. In one of their recent books” Managing Yourself’, there is an interesting lecture . It is a talk on humility. According to him, those who are humble have a high self-esteem. They know who they are and they feel good about themselves. So they have a high esteem of others. Humility is not a self-deprecating behavior but the esteem with which you regard others.
He asks the students to learn from ordinary people. The lecturer notes further:
“I have concluded further that the metric by which God will assess my life is not dollars but the individual people whose lives I have touched. Don’t worry about the level of individual prominence you have achieved; worry about the individuals you have helped to become better people.”(Clayton M. Christensen.)
Change in the World
The world around us is changing fast with the IT revolution and globalization.
Thomas Friedman’s The World is Flat. “ I have to tell my children that if they don’t study well, the Indians would take their jobs.
Perception of priesthood is also changing. We expect people to come to us. Now, we have to go them.
Holy Father insists on going to the peripheries.
The Church is a Field Hospital.
How shall we make the changes?
John Allen in one of his recent books, “ The Future Church” speaks of the ten new challenges we are going to face:
A world Church, Evangelical Catholicism, Islam, the new Demography, Expanding lay roles, the Bio-tech revolution, Globalization, Ecology, Multipolarism and Pentecostalism
Laity
Courtesy
The Church should focus on going to the people, taking care of their needs instead of waiting for them to come to us. Pope Francis has often spoken about the need to be accompanying the people.
In the Western Church, especially in the American Church, lay people are working in many ministries. According to a 2005 data, there were 30,000 lay ministers of which 80% are women. The presence would be much larger by now.
Our attitude to the laity should also be undergoing change.
We are often seen as arrogant and without any respect for the laity. This is especially seen among many parish priests.
We think of our sacramental ordination as a sign of superiority and not seeing it as an opportunity for service, for helping people to fall in love with Jesus Christ.
Cardinal Dolan—given a reception at the Mount.
His book, The Priests of the Third Millennium-- Chapter on courtesy.
Our attitudes should change.
Platinum Rule
Face book Finance officer Sheryl Sandburg’s book “ Option B” after the death of her husband.
She mentions practicing the platinum rule “ Do to others what they want to be done for them.”
We have to ask ourselves what Christ has asked the apostles : “What do you say who I am ”
Who is Christ to us?
If Christ is the Lord of our lives, our attitudes and our interactions would definitely be different.
We will become more compassionate and understanding.
I have to mention here the book of the Holy Father, Mercy.
“that is what God’s mercy is like: a great light of love and tenderness because God forgives not with a decree, but with a caress.’(p.xx)
The church does not exist to condemn people but to bring about an encounter with the visceral love of God’s mercy.
I often say that in order for this to happen , it is necessary to go out from the church and the parishes, to go outside and look for people where they live…(72)
Eucharist as the anchor of our life
Our strength , our energy comes from the Eucharist.
Celebration of the eucharis should be a transforming experience for us.
A young American Journalist once wrote, I have many differences with the church, but I would never leave the Church; it is where I experience the Eucharist.
Bishop Sheen has often spoken about his sermons being written in front of the Eucharist.
Our preaching should reflect this love, this intimacy we have with Jesus. People want to know how Jesus becomes present in their lives.
Preaching
Homiletic abuse---Holy Father speaks about the kind of preaching engaged in by many priests.
The movie: The Dead poets’ Society—poetry should be dripping like honey…experiencing the poetry.
So too love should be dripping like honey from us…
Thomas Merton: “ My lord, God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me…I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone
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