When
I was a little boy I loved Saturdays.
Saturday meant that it was time to be with my dad. I would wake up early and watch him shave,
eat breakfast, drink his coffee, yawn. When
he sipped his coffee, I sipped my juice.
When he yawned, I yawned. When he
rubbed his face, I did the same. My eyes
were always fixed on him waiting for his next move. After breakfast it was time to carry wood to
our basement so we could heat the house.
I watched him stack wood in a wheelbarrow. I stacked wood in my red wagon, log after
log, just like my dad. I would pull my
wagon next to him, step by step. My eyes
never left him. We didn’t always talk a
whole lot. But we communicated: my eyes watching,
observing, seeing. To me there was
something special about my dad. He was
different. And I wanted to be just like
him.
In
the first reading today, Moses is asking his people to observe the decrees
which the Lord had given them. He
promises them that if they do so, then they will have life and receive all the
blessings that God desires to give them.
But more importantly, Moses knew that other people were watching,
observing, seeing. If Moses’ people
could live the way in which the Lord had asked them, then others would see that
they were special; that they were different.
As
I have made my way through Maynardville and Rutledge these past few days I have
noticed that people are watching me.
They are wondering who the new guy is, and they are even more intrigued when they see me in my
collar. But I come from a small town and
am used to the way small towns operate. Change
always attracts attention. But there is
no doubt in my mind that the people of these two towns, who have been watching
me, have also been noticing you all, too.
As you’ve grown as a community, as you’ve started filling this store
front, they’ve been watching, observing, seeing. Perhaps they are saying to themselves: those
people seem different, and they seem to have something special.
A
number of years ago I was involved in prison ministry in eastern Kentucky. The men who came to the mass we offered each
week were inspiration to me. They helped
me grow as a person of faith far more than I could ever have helped them. Though there were at most 20 who attended the
mass, they sang like 100s gathered together.
They always welcomed me and anyone who came to visit. And they never wanted to leave. During the Eucharistic prayer they would drop
to their knees down on the hard concrete. And they were faithful, hardly ever
missing mass during the week. The guards would walk by and simply catch a
glimpse of what we were doing. If I
looked out the door and made eye-contact with them, they would turn quickly
away as if they were going about their business. But they were interested. We even started attracting many non-Catholic
Christians and even a Muslim came to our mass.
After a number of weeks I asked the Muslim man why he continued to join
us. He said very simply: you Catholics are different. There is something special about you.
When
people look upon this group of Catholics, what is it that they see? Now certainly I am no expert here, only being
part of the community for a short time.
But as I have followed you all on Fr. Steve’s blog, as I have talked
with Br. Craig and Br. Joe, and what I have seen with my own eyes, there is
something special about this community.
There is something different. For
in just one short year so many miracles have happened:
Strangers
are being welcomed
The
hungry are being fed.
The
naked are being clothed.
The
lost are being found.
The
faithful are gathering.
The
people are rejoicing.
There
is something special here.
There
is something different.
Hopefully
what people see in this community continues to look more and more like the true
religion that Saint James refers to in his epistle. And we should expect nothing less from our
Catholic faith. For it has the ability, more than any other institution or
religion, to be transformative.
For
we have a history of 2000 years
We
have a promise made by Christ to Peter to protect his Church
We
have the promise of the Holy Spirit to guide us.
We
the promise that we’ll never be alone as long as that light glows near the
tabernacle
We
are different.
We
are special.
And
if we live our faith people will be attracted to what they see.
But
here is the catch: Jesus warns us today
in the gospel that we are to never take advantage of these gifts. The gifts are made present to us, but we have
to allow them to transform our lives. And
that choice is ours. Jesus desires to
help our hearts heal, our faith grow, our fear disappear, our hungers be
satisfied. He desires to transform our
entire being. And in transforming our
lives we will transform our families, our towns, our country, and the
world. Much, like you all have being
doing here in this beautiful area of eastern Tennessee.
Therefore,
it is truly an honor for me to be part of the wonderful work that is already
being done in these communities. I could
not have asked for a better mission to serve in for my first assignment. It is an honor to work alongside Fr. Steve,
Br. Joe, Br. Craig and Godfrey. It is an
honor to serve with you all. I look
forward to growing with you all, to sharing my faith and learning from yours,
and to seeing the works that God will continue to accomplish in this area.
Let
us remember that the people are watching, seeing, observing: We are
special. We are different. And for this, we can only give glory to God.
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