We (I have help with this) welcome all of you who signed up during the weekend. For those of you who are new, this blog attempts to show the development of the weekend homily from early in the week, until the time it is actually delivered.
Some of you know about a book titled “Rebuilt.” I read it over Christmas, and it has many, many good insights and practical ideas. We are applying many of them to our vision of what we want Sacred Heart to be. One of the ideas I received more skeptically was “series preaching.” It is very typical in Protestant churches to tackle a theme over several weekends. Mostly, I thought it would take the preacher away from the actual gospel of the Mass—and we Catholics are certainly a people of the Lectionary.
As it happens, though, I find myself preaching a series, inadvertently at the beginning of the year, but consciously now. I have been preaching on the same topic since we started 2014: Discipleship. We (thankfully, I am not alone in this) are developing a new vision for our Faith community, one that wants to make Faith matter, by making and growing disciples (in my opinion, the main point in “Rebuilt.”) When you set yourself on a topic (I now realize that I may have been preaching in “series” all my ministerial life), suddenly everything seems to relate to it. Every gospel, every weekend, seems to bring a new layer of understanding. Last weekend, we reflected that to be a disciple implies becoming a “sign of contradiction.” The Church is often a sign of contradiction in society, and as disciples, we are called to be signs of contradiction to our beloved ones, in our families, at work, in our faith community. In other words, the opposite of “peace for peace’s sake.” Some took the message to heart and became signs of contradiction to me after Mass this weekend!
This Sunday’s gospel speaks about a new demand to the disciple: the call to be salt of the world. Jesus told this to his disciples, and he is telling us today. The individual who wants to be a disciple embraces this task of bringing flavor to the world, to shake our realities, and to instill everything we do, every relationship we hold, with new joy and enthusiasm. It is, for one thing, so different than the mentality “us against them” that you hear often as the mantra of many Catholic evangelization efforts today. To be salt of the world is not a moral judgment of the world, but an attempt to engage the world with optimism, recognizing the good that is already “out there” (and yes, a faith that matters happens mainly out there).
A wise man who was directing a retreat I was attending told us that the goal of the Church is “to praise God by transforming the world.” We praise God by embracing this additional call: Be the Salt of the Earth.
See you around Thursday?
From the Pastor's Digital Desk 
Love it! There is a lot of good out there.
I like the idea of engaging the world with optimism. It fits in with one of my favorite sayings “Joy is the unmistakable sign of the Spirit.” But optimism isn’t easy after watching the evening news, too much CNN, etc. We need each others’ support.
From the D.R: 👍👍
I’ve been doing some reading in preparation for the upcoming Synod. In an introduction written by Bishop Donald Hying, he says that disciples are ordinary people who have experienced the love, forgiveness, presence, consolation and challenge of God poured out through Jesus Christ in the Holy Spirit. They find God and the mission of his Kingdom to be the fundamental purpose of their lives. He goes on to say that disciples instinctively evangelize. Others intuitively sense that such a person lives from a very different center of meaning and purpose than secular society. They witness by example, are both courageous and articulate in their proclamation of Jesus and the difference He has made in their lives. They pray freely, do volunteer work, witness to how the Lord has worked in their daily experience, all the while actively cultivating a discipleship response in those around them. Powerful stuff!
Witnessing by example is a whole lot better than by word where we run the risk of sounding preachy or holier than thou. Of course, then we really have to do it…
Wow! Sandy. I am not there yet but I so want to be. Thanks for sharing!
Actually ,the NEWS is the best place ,sometimes , to form our contradictions to what is right and/or wrong in the world today . Just don’t use it as our only compass . Thank you , Father Ricardo , for this BLOG !
Having a theme unites the teaching for me. Some pastors preach at; you seem to teach to us. Thanks.
if this comment goes through I will continue later. previous message did not . Marian Barootian
Sorry, Marian. I am still finding out how this works, and there were some comments pending. Your two comments are now published.
Thank you Father Ricardo . Now I’m happy !