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From Archbishop Donoghue|
Vigil Mass and Ground-breaking Ceremony |
[See Georgia Bulletin account]
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15th Sunday of the Year Dear Friends in Christ, I want to thank Father Harrison, for asking me, on your behalf, to come and celebrate Mass today, and to take part in the special ground-breaking service. At this Mass, and in all our prayers today, I hope you will join with me in thanking God for the rich blessing He has given us through the leadership of this parish. There have been so many people who have worked together, in all phases of planning this project, that it becomes a practical necessity to recognize and thank them as one - but I believe that the Lord is most pleased with us when we do work as one, and when we stand before Him as one. Today, we are here to do that - to stand united before the Lord, and to look with a single mind, and with renewed enthusiasm in our hearts, towards the completion of this new building, and to the enjoyment of the blessings that it will house in our midst. In a very real sense, when we engage in this kind of holy work, or in any of the many works which are available to us because of our involvement in parish life, we are not far from exercising that same compassion, which our Lord praises in today’s Gospel. In a very real sense, we are playing the part of the Good Samaritan - the one person who because of feeling - feeling in the heart - was moved to stop and help the poor unfortunate who had been robbed and left naked on the roadside. The Samaritan was not studying to be a saint - and neither were the other two - the Levite and the Priest - who also came by that day, but ignored the poor man and went on their way. St. Luke specifically says that these men “happened to be going down the same road” that day - and this is an important point. We often worry, especially when we prepare to confess, that we are perhaps not doing enough on our own to be involved in the works of mercy. And this is probably true for the greatest number of us. But here, we have the very definite - and comforting - suggestion of Christ, that if we proceed through our lives at a normal pace, conscientiously involved in the activities that are a part of normal life, then the instances for us to be good - to be charitable - will be there as we proceed. It is a part of the Providence of God, that He gives us the instances whereby to gain grace, and effect the salvation of our souls. I think that this is part of what Christ is saying to us in this morning’s Gospel. Another teaching of the Lord’s on this subject, occurs when He says that we will always have the poor with us. We tend to interpret this with cynicism - some of us do - almost as a statement of resigned fact - in other words, that we can’t do anything about it - the poor will always be around. But perhaps what Christ is saying is that if we consecrate ourselves to Him and to God, if we receive the Sacraments, if we profess to believe the Gospel, and what He teaches us in the Gospel, then there will be many opportunities for us to put into practice what we say we believe. In this sense, then, the poor should be welcome to us - for every poor person treated with compassion, is that man in the Gospel, waylaid and abandoned at the side of the road - and we have the chance to be the Good Samaritan ourselves - to stop our journey, to give this poor person our concern, our time, and even the two silver coins in our pocket, if that is what they need, in order to be rescued. Sometimes the circumstances are not so extreme - sometimes the poverty exists right here among us, in a spiritual, or even a purely physical sense. Here at St. Catherine’s, we are growing - our children are growing - we need new shelter, and new space, to house and to form this vibrant life that God has brought into being out here in Kennesaw. And so , as good followers of Christ, we don the Samaritan’s garb - we give our knowledge , our spiritual support - and yes, the silver in our pockets, so that the people ,and especially the young people, may be taken care of, may know that we care for them - may have a place to bring their joys and their sorrows, that their sorrow may be comforted, and their joys expressed and shared. Let us always remember, as we work together for the life of our parish, and as we work as individual souls, to try and keep safe our salvation in the eyes of God, that we can never want for the occasions to do good - they are always there. But what we can lack, and what we often do lack, is that same love which Christ had for us - which the Good Samaritan had for the poor robbed and beaten man - that same love which is compassion, or as some would say, our Faith in action. Today, let us use the occasion of this groundbreaking, to break open a passage in any wall which we have built around our hearts - to bring down any barrier which stands in the way of our supporting and furthering the good causes of this parish and the life of the Universal Church - so that we may realize that the great joy we can bring to others through our charity and generosity, is the very same joy which God will bring to us, when we stand before Him, as we all will, to render an account of what we have done for the sake of His Son, and His Son’s love for all mankind. Dear friends, when Christ put the question to the lawyers, as to who was the good neighbor, only one response was possible - the Good Samaritan, who acted with immediate and spontaneous compassion. May we all hear, and take to heart, and obey faithfully the command the Lord then gives: “Now go - and do you likewise.” + |