NB: this homily was given on the parish's "Affirmation of Membership" Sunday, when we urge all parishioners to register and sign up for ministries.
In
today’s second reading we hear from St Paul’s second letter to Timothy. Timothy was a Bishop, and apparently very
close to Paul. In his two letters to
Timothy, St Paul is continually exhorting, prodding, encouraging, urging,
pushing Timothy to be forceful and faithful in preaching the Gospel. So today we hear: “stir into flame the
gift of God that you have through the imposition of my hands. For God did not give us a spirit of cowardice but rather of power and love and self-control.
The
fact that St Paul finds it necessary to continually prod Timothy has lead some Scripture
scholars to speculate that Timothy was not an ideal disciple and assistant. No one is sure exactly what Timothy’s problem
was. Perhaps Timothy was committed to
the Gospel, but lacked ambition. Maybe
he was just a teeny bit lazy. Maybe he
was not a self-starter the way Paul was.
Maybe he was more of a go with the flow kind of guy and not attracted to
working hard all the time. Could
be. If so, then I could identify with Timothy,
and perhaps a few of you could too.
Or
perhaps Timothy was committed to the Gospel, but rather timid: he did not like
upsetting people, did not like rocking the boat and causing upset and
consternation, he wanted people to like him, and he did not want to incur
people’s hatred and persecution. So this
is why Paul keeps exhorting Timothy to boldness and to action and insists on
the cost of proclaiming the Gospel and the need to bear our share of sufferings with Christ. If this is true about Timothy, then again I
could identify with him, and perhaps a few of you could too.
Or
perhaps Timothy was committed to the Gospel, but had a hard time setting and
keeping his priorities straight, forever distracted by the gnat-like cloud
of many things to do, distractions and
demands on his time and energy, forever being taken away by things of lesser
account and not focusing his energy and time on what was really important. So St Paul keeps calling Timothy back to the
main task at hand, that is, preaching the Gospel, and not getting bogged down
by meetings and fund-raisers and charity breakfasts and filling our forms and thousands of other
demands on his time and energy. If so,
then I could identify with Timothy, and perhaps a few of you could too.
In
today’s reading St. Paul urges: “I remind you,
to stir into flame the gift of God that you have through the imposition of my
hands. For God did not give us a
spirit of cowardice but rather of power and love and self-control. “
Like St. Timothy, brothers and
sisters, most of us need that reminder, we need to stir into flame the gift of
God that we received at our Baptism and Confirmation. We did not receive a spirit of cowardice, but
rather of power and love and self-control.
Power: not in the sense
the world understands power, as being able to be in control and to push my will
onto others, but rather the kind of power Jesus showed us, the power to serve
and to give ourselves away in love.
Love: not in the sense the world understands love,
as a feeling, an emotional state you fall into, as something that takes control
of us; but rather the kind of love Jesus showed us; the love that is a
decision, a commitment, an act of will that does something and produces fruit
in service, in care, in compassion, in forgiveness, in truth-telling, in love.
Self-control: not in the
sense the world understand self-control as repressing yourself and denial, but
rather the kind of self-control Jesus showed us, the self-control that is the
discipline to be true to your most authentic and deepest self, to the you God
created you to be, to be thoroughly and completely integrated and authentic.
“I remind you,
to stir into flame the gift of God that you have through the imposition of my
hands. For God did not give us a
spirit of cowardice but rather of power and love and self-control. “
Now here comes the opportunity to put this all into practice. Please take out from the packets in the pew
racks one of the AFFIRMATION OF MEMBERSHIP cards that looks like this (hold up card). The white sheet is for all
families, including singles and grad students.
There is a blue ½ sheet form for undergraduate students. There
is a place for you to commit, to affirm your membership in St. Austin Catholic
Parish. We ask every family to fill one
out, and we will get to that in a minute.
Right now I want to point out the back of the form. I urge you to become involved in the life of
your parish if you are not already doing so.
Stir into flame the gift of God you received at your baptism. Don’t let laziness, or timidity, or busyness
get in the way. For God did not give us a spirit of cowardice but rather of
power and love and self-control.
Can you commit to being an usher, lector or Eucharistic Minister? Gentlemen, have you considered joining the
Knights of Columbus? Maybe your spouse
belongs to another Christian denomination; then perhaps you as a couple would
like to work for healing of the wounds in the body of Christ by participating
in the Ecumenical Relations group? Do
you know something about real-estate, or land use, or engineering or
maintenance? We need more people on the
parish Properties Committee, especially as we now face some daunting buildings
challenges. That committee is not even listed
on here, but you can write it in. Or
perhaps God is calling you to work in charity or social justice ministry,
helping others directly in all the various ways you see at the bottom right
hand corner of this page. There are many
ways to get involved.
To help you, there are beautiful brochures in the pews explaining our
various ministries.
Our Gospel today rather bluntly and starkly reminds us of our obligation
to participate, to get involved, to be part of the solution.
When you have done all you have been
commanded,
say, 'We are unprofitable servants; we have done [only] what we were obliged to do.'"
say, 'We are unprofitable servants; we have done [only] what we were obliged to do.'"
So I ask every family to complete the family information in
the first section, allowing us to keep our information up to date.
Fill in the rest as appropriate. If you have NO changes - or if you updated
recently online - just check the correct box in the middle of the page.
On the back affirm your current participation in ministries,
and indicate those you would like to explore.
If you would like to review the ministries and pray over it, then feel
free to take home the Parish Ministries Guide.
Family members’ names can be entered in the space to the left of each
ministry listed.
When you are done please place your complete form in the
baskets that will be passed after the offertory collection. If you want more time you can return the form
next week, or drop it off at the church office any time, or mail it to us.
Thank you for your cooperation. Please return the pens and folder to the end
of the pews. Thanks.
Thank you for being part of, and committing to, St Austin’s
Parish Community. God bless!
No comments:
Post a Comment