As many of you know, two Sundays ago
Saint Michael’s hosted the third annual diocesan Eucharistic Procession
to commemorate Respect Life Month.
Everyone who came and prayed experienced a real “labor of love.”
The walk was a mile and a half.
We were on our feet for well over an hour.
Our voices were worn out from praying and singing
and our bodies were spent from walking and standing and kneeling.
As Catholics, we are a people who pray with our whole bodies…
and in our procession many devoted people…
from this parish and around the diocese…
labored to walk and pray…
because they love Jesus and they love life…
and wanted to show by their public witness…
just how deep their love is.
We give thanks to God for the splendor of that day…
and for the lessons we learned as we walked and prayed.
As we carried our Lord present in the Blessed Sacrament through the streets…
we were reminded of how important it is to witness publicly to our faith…
to take Jesus whom we adore and receive in the Eucharist “into the streets.”
We are called to bring Christ to the men and women in our lives…wherever we go.
In our procession we experienced the power and the beauty of prayer…
particularly the prayers of the Church…
and the power of hundreds of people praying together.
The Church in her wisdom has for 2,000 years
given us just what we need to nourish our spiritual lives.
During the procession we adored the Lord present in the Eucharist…
and stopped to celebrate Benediction…
a ritual prayer that has nourished the Church for centuries.
We are so blessed in this parish to have Eucharistic Adoration
every Thursday night from 6:00 to 9:00.
The Rosary is prayed at 8:30.
Whenever I am able, I offer Benediction at 8:45.
To rest in the Lord’s presence and pray…
to share with Jesus the cares and joys of our life…
is an extraordinary moment of grace.
I encourage you to come visit Jesus on a Thursday night…
and to pray to Him for all that you need.
You will not regret having sacrificed the time for prayer.
Finally, our prayer and Bishop Murry’s inspiring homily
strengthened our love for life
and our resolve to pray and work
so that all people may one day respect the dignity of human life.
Our procession was a serious experience of faith and prayer.
As Catholic people we depend on
the truth of the teaching of Christ and the Church…
the holiness and beauty of authentic worship…
and our own deeply personal relationship with Jesus Christ…
in order to understand who we are
and in order to face the challenges of life.
Our faith gives us identity and purpose…
makes us feel at home…
and is the rock on which we build our lives.
The faith which is at the foundation of our lives is not of our own design.
We did not invent the Sacred Liturgy.
We did not write the Creed or make up the teachings of the Church.
We do not create for ourselves the faith we celebrate.
Our faith is a gift to be received with humility, and to be lived with courage.
As people of faith…
we recognize that our Christian life is not meant to be a cause for boasting.
It is easy for us to make a checklist of religious observances…
and then to think that because we have done them…
we can feel good about ourselves.
We can say…
“I say my prayers…
I go to Mass on Sundays and Holy Days…I fast on Fridays of Lent
I am good to others…I don’t commit the big sins…
I don’t steal and I’ve never cheated on my wife.
I’m a good Catholic.”
It is easy for us to say:
“Look at what I have done.
I am an Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion
I am a Lector.
Look at me!”
We can also begin to think like the Pharisee in today’s Gospel…
“Thank God I am not like the rest of humanity…
Thank God I’m not a terrible sinner like everyone else…
I pay my tithes and perform the fasts.”
The Pharisee made of his religious observance a reason to boast about himself!
He compared himself to others and took pride that he appeared to be doing better.
The message of the Scriptures today is that
the standard by which we strive to live in our journey of faith…
is not comparison with another
but the plan God has for us!
We have to examine our lives not in terms of what another is doing or not doing
but in terms of what God asks of us!
What is more…we cannot simply presume…
that because we have fulfilled certain obligations or ministries…
that our commitment to God and the Church is complete.
The Christian faith is a lifetime commitment…
a journey that never ends…
a relationship that continually deepens until it is perfected in heaven.
This journey…this relationship…is one that is best lived with great humility.
This is the lesson we learn from the tax collector in today’s Gospel story…
the man who recognized his sinfulness and did not boast about his life.
He did not even raise his eyes to heaven.
Instead, he acknowledged his place before God
and prayed “O God, be merciful to me a sinner.”
Jesus tells us that it was he who went home justified…
it was he whose prayer was pleasing to the Lord.
A life lived with humility pleases God.
In all things, the humble person places himself into the hands of God.
The true, humble Christian
recognizes that everything we have comes from God
receives the gift of faith humbly from the Lord and His Church
and does not recreate it in his own image
admits his sinfulness and complete dependency on God’s grace
for the strength to do better.
As people of faith…
we rejoice in the faith that has been passed on to us by our ancestors…
the faith which stands as the foundation and core of who we are.
Our faith is Eucharistic…it is hierarchical…it is Christ-centered…it is pro-life…
It is grounded in truth and tradition…
It is the greatest gift we have ever received.
We make that faith the center of our entire life…
striving always to live it with love and courage
to live it with humility…
to share it with others every moment of every day
until we are at last united with one another and with God
in the eternal glory of heaven!
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