Homily - 33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time

Readings: Isaiah 56:1,6-7, Acts 13:46-49, Matthew 28:16-20

Dear friends, this weekend in all parishes, campus ministries across our Diocese, we celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Catholic faith being lived and proclaimed in Eastern North Carolina! We have different scripture readings; special prayers and we are using white vestments.

It is always humbling to become part of someone’s story. On the day of our baptism, we are immersed into a love story and intimate relationship with the Triune God- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We live out this relationship with the Holy Trinity as members of the Body of Christ in communion with the Church. And like those first disciples, we take to heart every day the charging words of Jesus who said, “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.” (Matt. 25:19-20)

Many of us are gathered here today because our parents/guardians heard those words and took them to heart much like their parents did as well. We are here because we heard, and we believe as we embrace this mandate and go forth to proclaim the joy of the Gospel and invite others into a relationship with God and the Church, we trust in the reassuring words of Jesus who said, “I am with you always, until the end of the age.”

For 100 years, the clergy, religious, and faithful of this local Church of Raleigh have desired to live in relationship with God and each other by living the virtues of faith, hope, and love. For all these years we have been “God’s great family,” and in proclaiming the Word, celebrating the sacraments, and serving the needs of others, we have made Jesus present to the world.

Our Lord Jesus Christ calls us to this mission. We receive his mandate again today in the Gospel. The Church exists to evangelize, and the Church is all of us. For so long, people have thought the Church’s mission is only a responsibility of the clergy and religious, or “Church professionals” working in parishes and chanceries. But Jesus’s words today are clear.

When Saint Pope John Paul II came to the United States in 1987, he said: “The work of evangelization is not over. On earth it will never be over. … The duty of carrying forward this work rests on the whole Church and on every member of the Church.” That means you, and me. Every one of us is called to evangelize — to be a missionary disciple, as our Holy Father Pope Francis likes to say.

You will agree with me, today’s culture is highly secularized, and it is being aggressively de-Christianized. The sense of sacred and transcendent is being lost. We are living in a time of dangerous confusion about the true meaning of human life and human freedom. But as we know —this world will not be saved by politics or technology or by all our efforts to define our own concepts of existence. Only Jesus- no other name under heaven can save us. Jesus is the way that leads to the truth and to eternal life with the father.

As our Bishop Lius Zarama wrote in his letter for this occasion; “Let us rededicate ourselves to reaching out in love to those who used to come to Church but are unable to now due to physical limitations; to those who have become lukewarm in their faith or have alienated themselves from the Church and especially to those who cannot defend or protect themselves, most especially the unborn”.                                     

Every anniversary is an intersection of the past and future. The challenge, of course, is that the future is hidden from our eyes. We can never predict the future, and we really have no idea what the world, our nation, our Church or our Diocese will be like in the years to come. So, much of the future is beyond our control. A prayer composed in honor of St. Oscar Romero said it so well and can be use as a source of inspiration. “We plant the seeds that one day will grow……We water seeds already planted, knowing that they hold future promise……We may never see the end results, but that is the difference between the master builder and the worker. We are workers, not master builders; ministers, not messiahs. We are prophets of a future not our own.”                                             



Finally, I invite you to discover the rich history of our Diocese and purchase your copy of the Centennial Book- It is a great addition to your coffee table or a gift for your family and friends this holiday season. May we continue to love God, love others and make disciples.