In today’s
Gospel some Greeks – that is, Gentiles like almost all of us – come to the
Apostle Philip and say “We would like to
see Jesus.” Well, in the Gospel of
John seeing is always MORE than physical sight.
When these Gentiles ask to see Jesus they are asking for something much
deeper than a mere sighting. They want
to understand, to grasp, to “get it” about Jesus. in the sense of “Oh, now I see!”.
And this is because Jesus shows us what our life here is really all
about.
We all know we
are here in this life only a short time.
And we know instinctively that life has a meaning, a purpose, that my
life has value. We sense deep inside us
that my life matters: that I have some work to do; someone to become. I am not here just for consumption, not just
for pleasure or a great time, not just to make money and accumulate a bunch of
stuff that I must leave to others, not just fill up space until I die.
But knowing
what my life IS truly all
about is not easy to discern; to “see” as St. John would say.
We have
however the example of a truly authentic life – a life completely lived way
beyond any petty selfishness, way beyond any confining or restricting attachment
to things, way beyond fear: a life of
nobility , of authenticity, of love. I
am speaking of course of Jesus.
To “see” Jesus
is to really understand – to comprehend – to grasp, or better to be grasped by
the beauty and authenticity of His life that empowers us to be authentic
Children of God.
What a
blessing it is to truly see Jesus! To
follow Him gives us balance, a center, meaning and purpose. To follow Jesus gives our lives dignity,
grace and spiritual beauty. It fills our
hearts with love and casts out fear.
What a blessing it is to truly see Jesus.
Not that
following Jesus is easy. It is often
difficult. Most truly worthwhile things
usually are. To see and follow Jesus
requires sacrifice.
We as a parish
for over a month have been involved in a campaign – the Faithful To Our Mission
campaign. I am here to urge and
encourage your participation in this effort to be Faithful To Our Mission.
Hopefully you know
what this campaign is about, what we need and want to do. You received a letter from me, and a
beautiful brochure, there are FAQ pages in the racks around the church and
church offices, so I won’t rehearse all of that again.
Rather I want
to ask for your participation in this campaign.
First, I ask for your prayers. Prayer does not change God. Prayer changes us. We need to pray for our parish, that we will
truly be faithful to our mission. This
is so important. Pray for our parish
daily. Pray for our campaign. With prayer we are bound to succeed. Without prayer we will fail. So pray!
Second:
Our mission is to evangelize, to help others to see Jesus. They are looking, they are searching. They are in our workplaces, our supermarkets,
our neighborhoods, our own homes. People
restless, searching, seeking deeper meaning in their life. How can they see Jesus if we do not reflect
Him?
We must show
Jesus forth in our lives: in our words, in our purchases, in our work,
in our recreation, in our compassion, in our speech, in our generosity, in our
voting, in our daily life every day all day.
We are how other see Jesus. That
is how we fulfill our mission. And in
reflecting Jesus ourselves we also come to see Him more clearly.
And thirdly, I
am asking for your generous financial support of our Faithful To Our Mission
capital campaign.
This is where we practically and concretely move our mission
as a parish forward. I ask EVERY
parishioner to please participate – no matter the amount. As long as your gift represents a genuine
sacrifice, and therefore a real commitment to our mission as a parish, the
amount is secondary.
For myself my
financial commitment is $2,000.00 over three years. For me that is a sacrificial commitment. For someone else it may be $200, and for
another it may be $200,000. I wish! But regardless of the size, every gift is
important. Because this is a parish-wide
activity.
We soon will
be celebrating the Triduum – Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter. And I know from past experience that we will
do it well. Am I right? But the vastly greater and more important
part has already been done by God. There
is no greater sacrifice than what God has given you in His Son Jesus on the
Cross. We respond by giving of our
treasure and of our selves.
This is a
parish wide effort. St. Austin needs all parishioners to participate
in this campaign to ensure success! Our
campaign Volunteers were unable to reach some of you, and others have not yet
had a chance to respond. Everybody is so
busy.
So to give
everyone the opportunity to participate in our campaign, today is our Commitment Weekend, an in-pew
appeal. I ask that everyone to please pass down the blue folders at the end of the
pews and take a pledge card and envelope out for your family. Even if you have already completed a pledge
card, please take one. Our collection
will be a visual show of your support. University & College students, I urge
you to join us.
·
In
section one of the card, please provide your contact
information.
·
In
section two, please indicate a gift which, over three
years, would be a meaningful sacrifice for your family in support of St. Austin
Catholic Parish. If you have already made a pledge, please mark the first box
indicating this.
·
This will allow us to confirm our records for
your family.
o
I would ask you to also consider increasing your commitment in
recognition of the importance of this campaign and in hopes of reaching our
goal. This is so important to our parish
moving forward. As I mentioned earlier,
I have made a commitment of $2,000.00, but Now I am going to INCREASE that by
$500 to $2,500. I want to challenge all
of you who have made a commitment likewise to increase your pledge to be a
truly sacrificial gift. Join me in
making sure the Faithful To Our Mission campaign is a success!
o
There
is a blue box on the back of the card with some suggested gift
amounts if your family would like to review those.
o
There is also a box you can check if you are unable to make a financial
pledge but can pledge to pray for the success of our capital campaign and
renovation project. Everyone is urged to pray for our parish and this campaign.
·
On
the back of the card, in section three, please indicate how you
want to provide your pledge.
o
You can contribute via cash or check, credit
card or bank account draft, or gifts of securities.
o
Instructions for credit card and bank drafts
are provided on the card. If we have any questions about your information,
someone from the office will contact you next week.
o
Please be sure to seal your pledge card in an
envelope if you include any banking information.
·
Finally,
in section four, please note how often you would like to
receive pledge reminders and how your family would like
to be acknowledged for your gift.
In a few
minutes, we will pass our pledge cards to the center aisle, and the ushers will
collect and bring them forward for a blessing.
Your response
to the Faithful to Our Mission
Capital Campaign has been impressive. With more than two million dollars pledged, we are on the cusp of obtaining the one million dollar challenge gift!
However, the fact remains we have not yet reached the
challenge gift goal of two point two
five million dollars nor have we reached our overall goal of four million dollars. We want to achieve that goal today, and we
can!
We are blessed
with a really good parish here at St. Austin’s – not perfect – but still
something special. This community has a
mission. As we soon go into Holy Week we
will focus on the great saving mysteries of our faith. May the celebration of Holy Week empower us
to ever greater efforts to be Faithful To Our Mission – and so ever better to
SEE and to FOLLOW Jesus! God bless! THANK YOU!
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