The Sixth Sunday of Ordinary Time, C February 17, 2019
Fr. Albert Introduction to St. John’s St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette
“Blessed are you when people hate you… woe to you when all speak well of you.” Well, if that’s the case, I hope you’ve all heard terrible things about me!… I mean, who doesn’t want to be liked? But I if I have to pick between a good reputation with you and the blessedness of heaven, sorry, but I’ll pick heaven every time.
Now, what is Jesus saying here? Surely, he doesn’t really want a first-time pastor to be hated by the people of his parish, right? Right. What Jesus is saying is important, so we need to understand the context to get it. Jesus is the New Moses. When he compares these blessings and curses, his Jewish audience recognizes a reference to the story of Moses proclaiming the blessings and curses of the covenant on Sinai mountain. And that covenant was fairly straightforward. Be faithful to God and you will be blessed with good things in this life. Be unfaithful and you will be cursed with losing things in this life.
What Jesus is doing is flipping everything around, not because money and food and laughter are evil, but because he wants to emphasize how much more important eternal life is. As in everything he does, Jesus is pointing us to the paradox of the crucifixion. This is the center of our redemption, it is the key to our faith, and nothing we do as Catholics should stray from it, but more on that later.
For now, allow me a little more introduction. I am Fr. Albert, your new pastor. It is my first time as a pastor and I have been looking forward to this day for a long time. Thank you all for your welcome, for your prayers, and for not hating me just yet! Please continue to pray for me as I will pray and sacrifice for you. As your pastor, I promise to give myself to you and I promise not to give myself to you.
From a spiritual perspective, being your pastor means I have what the Church calls cura animorum, Latin for “the care of souls.” In a very real, spiritual sense, you are spiritual children to me and I am meant to be a spiritual father. Like any good Father, that means I will live here with my spiritual family. It means I will pray with and for them. It means I will give you my time and energy and bring all of my best skills in serving the needs of this parish. Like any human father, it also means I will bring my worst faults and I will make mistakes. Please show me the patience and mercy all Christians are asked to show to each other. I ask you to pray for me at least twice as much as you criticize me. Yes, that means I know I will be criticized and that I will probably deserve it at least some of the time.
I want you to get to know me as I get to know you. That will mean interacting with each other at least a little outside of Mass. At Mass, I will be formal and focused on the divine sacrifice – ritual and liturgy are supposed to be that way – but that does not mean I am distant and unfriendly. Come to confession often, available Saturdays and before every daily mass. Come to events at the parish other than Mass. I want to do your baptisms, your weddings, your funerals. I am busy, but I want to be busy with appointments, with working on your annulments, with spiritual guidance. Let’s play games together, hunt and fish together, eat together. We are a spiritual family and I intend to give myself to that.
Like most Catholic realities, however, there is a paradox here. Even as I strive to give myself, I will strive not to give just myself to you. Ultimately, what you really need from me is Jesus Christ. It is not the Gospel of Fr. Albert. I don’t want to create the cult of Fr. Albert. It’s not about my personality, charisma, talents, or preferences. I am meant to be laid down, given over to you to bring you to Jesus Christ, not to myself. That is why Jesus says, “woe to you when all speak well of you, for their ancestors treated the false prophets in the same way.” I do not want to be a false prophet.
Often enough, thanks be to God, a genuine, faithful pastor is loved by his parish. Yet, there will be times when some of you, maybe most of you, will resent or dislike something I do, not because I have done it poorly, but because it is a part of the Gospel that is difficult. By God’s grace, I hope to be faithful to the Gospel for your benefit, even if that means losing some of your earthly affection for a while. Still, I will strive not to be an obstacle, to bring the joy of Gospel as well as it’s challenges. I know this parish wants Jesus Christ, so I am not afraid.
In that context, then, let me address one of the big questions everyone has. Will Fr. Albert change things in our parish? Eventually, yes, because, well change is inevitable. Time is change. And change does not always mean that what was done before was bad or worthless. Growth is change. Perhaps some of what will change was good at the time, but now needs to grow in another direction. Sometimes a new perspective is what is needed. I am a different person than previous pastors, so I will see and think of things they did not. The reverse is probably true as well.
I will not, however, change the truth of the Gospel. I will rely on the Church’s guidance. So, if the change is something significant, I will try to show how it is based on what the Church teaches and asks us to do rather than my individual opinion. When it’s not a matter of Church teaching and Church law, I will provide reasons why I think it’s the best direction. My decisions as pastor will be guided by prayer and advice.
Above all, what is our mission at St. John the Evangelist in Jeanerette? The same as the mission of the whole Catholic Church; To love God and our neighbor. Our mission is salvation and holiness. You know this. You want it. I’m just saying up front that I intend to make this our primary point of reference. When we react to each other and to what happens here, let’s look back to that. Yes, it means carrying the cross. It means death to self. But it also means grace and the power of the Holy Spirit and the resurrection.
“Blessed are they who hope in the Lord… they are like a tree planted near running water” that bears fruit even in times of drought. St. John the Evangelist Parish is an old and mighty tree. With the Eucharist and Scripture, we have our running water. We still have fruit left to bear, so let’s drink deeply the waters of the Gospel together and bear the only fruit that really matters: The Kingdom of God, the joy of eternal life.
Beautiful homily as usual!