Homily for the 7 th Sunday of Ordinary Time Year C Put Out into the Deep - Week 2 Page 1 Welcome to the second week of our series, Put Out into the Deep. Last week, we spoke of the invitation Jesus offered to Peter (and to each of us!) to put out into the deep, challenging each of us to go beyond our comfort level in sharing the Good News of the Gospel. Last week, we asked you to think about that: how you can share blessings with those you know, by praying with them and inviting them here to encounter Christ with them here. We also talked about how that same call binds us together as a Christian community. This week, Jesus gets personal. Jesus mentions specific people in our lives, not by name but by category: those who hate us, those who curse and mistreat us, those who hurt and steal from us. And THEN, Jesus goes on to say that we are to treat them with love, to return God s love rather than tit for tat. A cry far different than we hear to stand up, take control, minimize any threats. Let me be perfectly clear. Jesus is not saying we let anybody beat us up and take everything that s ours. No. Jesus seeks a radical break with how everyone else acts, calling us to shift focus, determine how you can share the blessings you have received even with those who challenge you most.
Homily for the 7 th Sunday of Ordinary Time Year C Put Out into the Deep - Week 2 Page 2 And that s one of the reasons community is so important. Last week, we shared that the primary focus of our community must be in reaching out beyond ourselves, and we need to support one another to live up to the call Jesus makes even more radical today. That support comes from the Body of Christ, spiritual support in the Eucharist and fraternal support in the presence of one another. It s why our coming together is an essential part of the community God calls us to be. It s in that light then that I need to share with you the challenge we face as a community. In the interest of transparency, I want to highlight, actually I don t want to at all but I NEED to highlight where we are as a community financially. Succinctly: we don t have sustainable, consistent, weekly giving to support basic weekly expenses. This was true of each parish well before the call came to come together as a pastorate. In the past, when we we ve gotten in a pinch, angels have come forward, those who give consistently every week and then also give beyond that with one-time significant gift.
Homily for the 7 th Sunday of Ordinary Time Year C Put Out into the Deep - Week 2 Page 3 But what those generous few have done unintentionally is obscure the fact that many don t give for the mission. Each parish still has some money for capital, the buildings. This money, which for Saint Mary s came from the sale of Saint Francis church building and rectory is what allowed Saint Mary s to address urgent needs. For Holy Family, this money came from reserves and from the Embracing Our Mission campaign allowing us to finish our lower level and make needed changes to infrastructure. But the money we need to serve our mission, that which comes from offertory, has been insufficient over the past 8 years while our expenses have increased significantly. This resulted in our drawing drastically from our reserves. Part of that increase in expenses comes from shifting focus. In budgeting, I had hoped to serve the mission, seeking to provide increased services, that we might be more relevant and helpful in reaching out to those not yet here, making Church matter. I had hoped that people would come, appreciate what we were doing and give, most especially to support and increase the mission.
Homily for the 7 th Sunday of Ordinary Time Year C Put Out into the Deep - Week 2 Page 4 Unfortunately, that way of serving the mission is not sustainable and we re struggling financially. We need to live within our means and, even with the best of intentions, limit what we offer, because it is, at least right now, beyond us. We d be willing to hear from you about ways to improve HOW we do the mission or WHAT steps we take. What cannot change, though, is THAT we do the mission given to us by Jesus Christ, and, I hope that we can do that TOGETHER. By now, you will have read the numbers in the update of Church Matters and you see the urgent needs pressing on us. Like any good leader, any father or mother in family setting I have to make tough decisions based on what s coming in from offertory. We ve already cut 3 full time staff members. In March we ll begin reducing all full-time employees to a 32 hour work week to cut back salaries and personnel expenses 20%. Myself included. In fact, I, along with my senior leadership team and two other employees, have already done this voluntarily since the beginning of February. More than that, we re going to have to limit the use of facilities for meetings and groups.
Homily for the 7 th Sunday of Ordinary Time Year C Put Out into the Deep - Week 2 Page 5 We re re-evaluating expenses continuously, looking for additional cuts that can move us forward with the mission. This isn t a threat to make you give more. It s a simple, if painful, exercise that many of you have already done in your own homes and with your own families. I remember well when my Mom and Dad sat the four of us down and told us that my Dad had lost his job. It was a somber meeting and tough couple of months followed. Things we had taken for granted became luxuries we could no longer afford. Things were tight but we stuck together, each of us doing a part. As my Dad said, We re family. We ll get through it. It s the same for us. We re a family. We ll get through it. As we grow a sustained offertory we ll be able to grow into the community God calls us to be. Practically, it means that things are going to be tight, like any family living within the means we have, even as we push forward to focus on our mission and set out into the deep.
Homily for the 7 th Sunday of Ordinary Time Year C Put Out into the Deep - Week 2 Page 6 The goal, the dream, the vision God has placed on my heart, however long it takes, is to become a community that, while providing every service and opportunity needed to build disciples of those already here, is focused laser-like on the other, on the one not here, on the marginalized. These are not just some nameless, faceless few. These are people we know our own family and friends who desperately need God. They are our children and grandchildren, our friends and our neighbors, our spouses and partners. They are the next generation, who if we cannot help them connect, will not know Christ and His Church. I was blessed by the grace of watching this connection made, and really through no effort of my own. One of our young people in high school at the time, raised without faith, was invited to come to our community by a friend of his whom he worked with in his after-school job invited him. He started coming here with this friend and encountered Christ. Now, even as he balances a full time job with a full course load of college classes, he is still coming
Homily for the 7 th Sunday of Ordinary Time Year C Put Out into the Deep - Week 2 Page 7 because he experienced Jesus Christ, supported by what and who he finds here. That s what God asks of each of us. I dream of a community that has a phenomenal weekend experience with the best music, the most well-fed ministers, and the latest technology so that we can share the message of Jesus Christ with one another, with all who come and are so irresistibly attractive that people not yet here are getting word that Jesus Christ is active and alive, ready to encounter them. I want a community with numerous opportunities for formation: for children, families, adults teaching Jesus Christ to all in profound ways while still being relevant and practical. I want a community that focuses on meeting the needs of God s people rather than keeping buildings open, on serving others rather than making ourselves comfortable. I hope for a community who believe so strongly in what we re doing, that they invite others. I pray for a community willing to support this mission financially and with hearts focused, laser-like, on those who are struggling, open especially to welcoming our family and friends to encounter Christ.
Homily for the 7 th Sunday of Ordinary Time Year C Put Out into the Deep - Week 2 Page 8 And I will never stop asking for anything and everything that can help that. Because even declining offertory cannot detract us from the mission God gives us. God invites us into be a part of his big huge work. The Almighty Maker of the heavens and the earth, Creator of the heights of the sky and the depths of the ocean, this God invites us to be part of the mission of drawing people close. As I said last week, I have never been more excited to be a priest or to serve a community, never been more sure of my faith or my vocation, even as I never been more challenged by obstacles and difficulties. God has called us, called me and you to this exciting adventure. God doesn t call the strong or the powerful; he calls us and equips us to do what needs to be done. Five loaves and two fish were enough for five thousand. Let us take what we have and offer it to the Lord. God takes what we offer and multiplies it for others and also for us. Put out into the deep and lower your nets for a catch.