Recently I passed a church building of a Christian community…
and the blinking neon sign outside read…
“New and Improved Worship Service”!
Then…just the other day…I passed another one, which advertised…
“Holy Communion…Sunday August 12th at 10:00”!
I was struck quite deeply by how much we as Catholics often take for granted…
and how grateful we must be for all the blessings we have received.
When we come to Holy Mass…
we hopefully are not looking for anything “new and improved.”
We are sustained by the same Eucharist
that has sustained princes and paupers…
popes and peasants…
saints and repentant sinners…
for more than 2,000 years!
And what a blessing…an honor…a singular privilege…
that we can enter deeply into our relationship with Jesus in Holy Communion
not just on occasional Sundays…
not even just on Sundays…
but every day of the year…in the Holy Mass!
Should I be ashamed to rejoice in the abundant blessings of our Lord?
Do the blessings we have received mean that we are somehow “better”
than our Protestant brothers and sisters?
Does this mean that those churches I passed
have nothing good to offer their members?
Certainly not!
Other Christian communities…though separated from the Catholic Church…
do in fact contain much goodness.
We certainly have no right to put down other Christians…
nor should we be afraid to embrace the fullness of our own faith!
It is not pride that inspires us as Catholic Christian people…
but gratitude…
and a deep commitment to loving our God and living our faith.
Listen to the words of Jesus Himself in today’s Holy Gospel…
“To the one entrusted with much, much will be required,
and still more will be required of the one entrusted with more.”
Every human person has been given the precious gift of life…
and made in God’s image and likeness.
We are given the gift of becoming a child of God through the waters of Baptism.
So of every human person is demanded something:
to honor God the creator and the sustainer of all life…
and to cherish all human life.
[PAUSE]
Every Christian has been entrusted with much:
with the teachings and wisdom of Christ.
So of every Christian much is demanded:
to seek always the truth of Christ…and strive to live in that truth always.
[PAUSE]
We who are members of the Holy Catholic Church…
founded by Jesus Christ on the rock of Saint Peter…
have been entrusted with more.
And so of us much more is being demanded.
We have the unique vocation to live the fullness of the Catholic faith…
and to do so authentically and joyfully…
so as to bring all whom we meet ever closer to Christ.
The unique blessings we have received
each bring with them a unique responsibility.
Christ is truly, substantially, and personally present with us
in the Eucharist…
in the consecration at Holy Mass…
and in the blessed Sacrament within the Tabernacle.
The Lord truly abides with us and desires us to rest in his presence.
In gratitude for the incredible gift of the Eucharistic presence of Jesus…
we come and pray before the Tabernacle…
and in Eucharistic Adoration.
Can we not take even five minutes before or after Mass…
to pause…gaze in the direction of the Tabernacle…and pray quietly?
From the lips of Christ Himself…
from the wisdom of the Apostles…
from the eloquent sermons of the Early Church Fathers…
from the inspiration of the saints and theologians…
and from the constant teaching of the popes and bishops of the Church…
we have received the truth on which our lives are to be grounded.
Rooted in this constant tradition of the Church…
in her beautiful and varied spirituality…
we blossom into faithful servants and handmaids of the Lord.
So it is our duty to seek always the truth of God…
and to embrace with our lives and our hearts…
all that He and the Church asks of us.
From us who have been given so very much…
infinitely more than we deserve…
From us who are blessed to be the people chosen by God to be His very own…
From us is demanded so much more.
So we embrace our high calling as Catholic Christians…
that when at last even our lives are demanded of us…
we shall not be caught off guard…
but instead may be found prepared…
the lamps of our souls burning brightly with the truth and love of Christ.
Thus we await the Master’s return with eager anticipation…
praying that when He comes we may be found pleasing in His sight.
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