Will you let the Gospel transform you in 2011?

This is a letter I wrote for the January 9th parish bulletin

Dear Friends,

This year, so far at least, I have not sat down to write my New Year's resolutions. I still might do that. Although I don't have any resolutions for 2011, I think I kind of have a “theme.” This theme has been on my mind since about the middle of December. This theme is, “The Power of the Gospel to Transform Us.”

Transformation can be mysterious.  It can be wonderful.  It can be scary.  But it’s something that every of us needs.  The alternative is stagnation. 

Saint Augustine

When we read the Confessions of St. Augustine, we read the dramatic story about an intelligent young man - a hard-working young man with a heart that yearned for truth.  He experienced a dramatic transformation when he finally opened his heart to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. In his quest for truth, he explored a number of different exotic teachings before accepting the truth of the Gospel. But only the Gospel of Jesus touched him to his core.  Only the Gospel of Jesus made his heart blossom and his intellect bear fruit. 

When we read or listen to the Gospels, we encounter many stories about how people were changed. Some people were sick. When Jesus entered their lives they were healed. Other people were pursuing a career. Peter, Andrew, James and John were fishing. When Jesus said to them, “Come, follow me,” they dropped their nets and followed him. From that moment onward their lives were changed. Matthew, the tax collector, was sitting at his table, collecting taxes when Jesus said to him, “Come, follow me.” He immediately dropped what he was doing and followed Jesus.

In the cases of Augustine and of these disciples, the moment of conversion was only the beginning. The process of transformation only began with their positive response to the invitation. The process of transformation continued for years. Sometimes the change was dramatic. Sometimes because of human weakness there may have been reversals. But always there was change.

You and me, none of us are “done.” All of us are in need of transformation.

The Gospels are not just any other book. I am firmly convinced that the Gospels have power. The Gospels have power to change you and me as individuals. The Gospels have power to change us as a parish community.  There is a force, a dynamism in the Gospels that we need to let flow through us, over us and around us; we need to become immersed in its energy, its power, its direction, its forcefulness. We need to cast off fear. We need to throw off our doubts. We need to allow Jesus, Our Lord and Our God, be the Lord and God of our hearts. Because it is He who is the power in the Gospels who transforms you and me, who transforms us as a community.

Peace,

Father Liam 

Gospelizing

Sometimes ya just gotta rely on the ol' Anglo-Saxon for things to make sense for ya.

This is a recent bulletin article that appeared in a slightly different form.  

When many Catholics hear the word “Evangelize” in English, they think of the time someone approached them and asked, “Have you been saved,” or, “Have you accepted Jesus as your Savior?”  Others might know that Evangelization is an important part of the work of the Catholic Church, but that it’s mostly the work of the priests.  For many Catholics, the word “Evangelization” just makes their eyes glaze over. 

Sometimes it helps to translate a word with Latin or Greek origin into good old Anglo-Saxon.  “Evangelization” comes from a Greek word meaning “Good News.”  If you wanted to translate it into Anglo-Saxon-style English, it would come out something like “Gospelizing.”  But that sounds like such an odd word.  “Giving the Gospel to others,” or even better, “Giving the Good News to others” is probably a good definition.   When someone accepts the Good New we give them, it changes them.  It transforms them. 

Evangelization is one of the main responsibilities of a pastor.  I have to make sure that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is faithfully proclaimed and explained in my own homilies and in those of Father Jorge and Father Jim.  I have to see that it is being proclaimed and taught in our parish school and in our religious education program.  I have to see that the Gospel is proclaimed for adults through RCIA and programs like Renew.  Many, many people are actively evangelizing others in this parish, including and very importantly the parents who teach their little ones how to pray, tell them stories about Jesus, Mary and the saints, and most importantly bring them to Mass on weekends. 

Evangelization is a life-long process.  The more we open our hearts to the Gospel, the more it transforms us.  As an adult, as a priest and as pastor, I have a responsibility to make sure that I receive evangelization.  That’s why I make a yearly retreat, make sure I spend time with Holy Scripture and other spiritual reading.  I am evangelized by the friars I live with and by my spiritual director.  I am evangelized by you, the parishioners, who also give me the Gospel, the Good News.   All of us, as baptized Christians, have the duty to evangelize, to give the Good News to each other. 

I have been your pastor for only 2 months now.  As I told you in my first homily, during my first few months, “I intend to observe, participate, ask a lot of questions and strive to understand the way things work in the parish.”  That is still where I am and will be for quite a while.  One thing that is becoming clearer to me is that we as a parish community and I as pastor need to re-evangelize our brother and sister Catholics who no longer worship with us.  From 2004 to 2008, Mass attendance in the churches of Staten Island has decreased 17.2%.  That’s close to 1 out of 5 of our brothers and sisters who seem to have chosen not to position themselves where they can receive the Gospel message.  In love and compassion we need to figure out how to reach out to them.  Praying for them is extremely important, but we also need to consider concrete steps to win them back. 

Father Liam