After a two week break to say goodbye to Father Paul Lesupati and to welcome Fathers Daniel McGrath and Pius Nwiyi, I would like to return to what I started a few weeks ago, namely unpacking our mission statement, which, as a reminder, is on the inside cover of our bulletin each week. Having reflected on the word “mission”, I would like for us to focus on the following words that begin to describe this mission: “to build a fervent community of intentional and dedicated missionary disciples of the Risen Lord.”
Perhaps we can start with the word “build”. The use of this verb can be a little confusing, as though the goal of having a fervent community of missionary disciples is the sole product of our efforts. As Christians, we can appreciate theologically that this is not the case, for it is the Lord who ultimately does the building. I am reminded of this every time I pray the following words from Psalm 127: “Unless the LORD builds the house, those who build it labor in vain.” (Ps 127:1) This should give us some comfort, knowing ultimately that it will be the Lord who brings about the growth.
At the same time, our efforts matter. We can do (or not do) things that can prevent or slow the Lord from doing His work of building us up, and there are things that we can do that allow His building to come about more quickly. So as we consider this aspect of the mission, we are called to have faith in the Lord and His desire (which is far greater than ours) to build us up into a fervent community, while at the same time to have the commitment to following the divine architect’s plan for building this community by obeying His plan and working diligently at the task in which He has asked us to cooperate.
In the series on praying the Mass, I hope this point came across more than once. When we come to Mass, the Lord does something remarkable every time. We hear God speaking to us in the Word of God, and He becomes present – Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity, in the Eucharist. And yet, we sometimes just drift through Mass, walking away feeling dissatisfied, unaffected by what has taken place. When the liturgy is celebrated properly and reverently, there is nothing lacking in what the Lord gives to us, but the fruitfulness depends on a variety of things, including our attention and willingness to actually pray intentionally during Mass. It also helps when we have good music, a beautiful church, good preaching, etc., as those elements can also assist us to be more open to experiencing the beauty and power of the Mass. But if we just show up, unwilling to engage, we will likely be disappointed because we are not willing to put in the effort to let the Mass transform us.
This is true with regards to living the mission of building a community of fervent disciples. We all must be willing to be invested far more than just showing up to Mass and putting our donation into the collection. Those can and do contribute to the mission, but there is much more to it. So much more! And we will continue exploring that next week!
Father Alford