Third Sunday of Ordinary Time Cycle B Called By Name Sunday

 Third Sunday of Ordinary Time    Cycle B    Called By Name Sunday

In the Gospel we just heard, Jesus calls Simon (also known as Peter), his brother Andrew, and John and his brother James, to come follow Him.  They became Apostles.  This is appropriately therefore “Called By Name Sunday” when we focus on the call to vocations, especially to vocations to the priesthood, permanent diaconate, and religious life as a religious Sister or Brother. 

This is really important, because we cannot do Church in the way we know it without people responding generously to the Lord’s call to serve the Church as priests, deacons, sisters and brothers. 

The Paulist Fathers, who have staffed this parish for over a century, have had a few men from St Austin’s respond to the Lord’s call to be a Paulist priest, but none for a very, very, VERY long time.  In the nearly 14 years that I have been here at St. Austin, we have had ZERO vocations from this parish. 

That is just not sustainable.  Next week I will be in New York City at a meeting of the Paulist General Council, and we will have to decide what foundations we need to withdraw from, because we simply do not have the manpower to staff all the commitments we currently have.  St. Austin’s, I am happy to say, is NOT on that list, at least for now.

Many religious communities and dioceses face the same reality.  For many diocese a solution has been to import priests from other countries, from the Philippines, India, Latin America and Africa.  This does help make concrete and real the sense that we all belong to a universal church, essentially the same throughout the world.   But it would be better if we could provide for ourselves the priests that we need.

 It is not clear to anyone why we have such a shortage of clergy in this country.  Certainly, the discipline of celibacy, and the very negative repercussions of the clergy sexual abuse scandal, play a large part in this.  But I suspect these are more surface issues, and that there is more that underlies these reasons.

And yet, having been an ordained priest for 45 years, I can truly say that I have been immensely blessed and truly happy as a priest.  And I hope that as you think about the Paulist priests you have known over the years at St. Austin’s, the Bob Scotts, the Stephen Bells, the Rene Constanzas, the Dick Sparks, the Bob Carys and the Rich Andres and Paolo Puccinis, the great majority of them seemed to you fulfilled and happy. 

Certainly, we all have our bad days and down times.  As Americans we cherish our God given right to complain and criticize.  But I hope that in the preaching, in the presiding, in the interactions you have had with Paulist priests, you have seen men with a sense of purpose, mission, and even contentment. 

For me it has been a truly wonderful life.  So, I am perplexed that more men are not drawn to this life of mission and significance.   A priestly vocation really does have great meaning and deep satisfaction.  I hope that shows.

So here is what I am asking you to do.   PRAY.  Pray for vocations to the priesthood, diaconate and religious life.  The situation in the world is not getting better.  It is getting darker.  One of the few bright spots is Pope Francis.  We need priests and religious who can proclaim in action as well as word the Joy of the Gospel.

Secondly, there are cards either in your pew or in the foyer where you can write the name of someone who you think would make a good priest, either diocesan or as a Paulist.  Put down that name and as much information as you have, and put it in the collection basket this week or next, or mail it in.   Bishop Joe will contact that person.

Third, if you know of someone who would make a good Paulist or diocesan priest, mention it to that young man.  You may be God’s instrument to help that man begin thinking about a priestly vocation.  And that would be a wonderful gift to the Church.

The Church of the future in this country will not be what it has been in the past.  That is pretty obvious.  Things are changing much faster than most of us realize.   Those who bravely answer the call of the Lord to follow Him in service to the church as priests, deacons and religious will be in for quite an adventure.  You will NOT be bored.

God bless. 

Epiphany 2024

Epiphany   January 7, 2024   St Austin Church

“Where is the newborn King of the Jews?  We saw his star at its rising and have come to do him homage.”  Thus inquire the Magi; who were sort of a mix of astronomers and astrologers.  They were the men of science of their day, and today we give them their due. 

Through their study of the stars these Magi came to seek for the Christ Child. 

Well, people today are still studying the stars, and some are still being moved to ask deeper questions, just like the Magi did some two millennia ago. 

Have any of you been following the discoveries of the James Webb Telescope?   Have you seen any of the spectacular images that have been produced by this remarkable scientific achievement?

I have this gorgeous image of what is called a ghost galaxy.  It is really beautiful.  Sorry it is not larger.  But as the Magi were moved by the appearance of a star, so we too can be moved to wonder, and awe, and even be invited to recognize something real    beyond the physical.

Some people mistakenly believe that science and religion are antithetical, that they oppose each other.  But that is not at all true.  Rather, science and religion each have a different object of study, with different methodologies, but each join in a search for the truth.

And as they both have the same objective goal - to learn the truth - they sometimes come close to each other’s approach, but do not cross over to the other’s proper domain.  Or at least they shouldn’t. 

Unfortunately, way too often religion and theology have wandered over into the realm of science: for example the condemnation by the Church’s doctrinal arm, the Holy Office, in 1616 of Copernicus’ theory that the sun, not the earth, is the center of the solar system.  C. was correct.

And science has repaid the insult by making statements on matters that properly are religious, such as the ultimate destiny of the human person, or on the existence or non-existence of God. 

None-the-less, study of science can be a powerful reinforcement of religious belief, or even an inducement to come to a sense of awe and  wonder, that leads to spirituality and to religion. 

The gorgeous, mind-blowing, incredible images that are now coming from the James Webb Telescope for example, both entice and challenge us to yearn for an explanation beyond the purely physical / and mechanical / to seek a reason for the incredible scope, the amazing beauty, the intricacy and delicacy that demands a meaning and a significance for such splendor. 

Scientific study cannot produce religious faith, nor can faith produce scientific knowledge.  But the study of both, with the goal of seeking truth, entices and spurs on the seeking of the other.  Two different paths to truth, and truth is one.  Isaac Newton for example, wrote much more on theology than he did on mathematics and science.  Although, his science was much better than his theology. 

Like for the Magi in our Gospel today, study of the natural world can lead us to seek for the Christ.

Other human endeavors can do this as well.  Those who serve others in need, in soup kitchens, in the St Vincent de Paul Society or Thursday Outreach, or Habitat for Humanity, or in any other charitable way, not infrequently find something deeply religious in the gratitude and acceptance of the people they serve, and especially in the religious significance of service.

THREE                THREE                THREE                January 7, 2024

 Normal human relationships, especially in families and communities, can spark and hint at the presence of something greater in life, that entices and pulls us onwards to a religious sense, or even to a religious experience.

Teachers, medical people, parents, police officers and social workers, anyone who works with other people, can find in their service to others a glimpse of that star that leads to the Christ.

And I suppose the ways to be called to seek the transcendent are as numerous as the people on earth.  But for everyone it requires an openness and receptivity to that call.

Today as we remember and celebrate the Magi, and honor their journey of exploration and discovery of the Christ child, we are called, challenged, to get up off our metaphysical behinds, and get on the journey to seek the Daystar, the true light of the world, which is the Christ. 

Happy Epiphany!