22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time ©
INTRO: I have mentioned this before…..My parents moved us kids to a new home and new grade school right as I was starting my 6th grade! For me it was disappointing and frightening…………the thought of leaving all my old friends and now needing to make NEW ONES!!!
Also, it was a super-large school…..multiple classrooms for each grade (it was the late 60’s) and I discovered that my twin would no longer be in my classroom!!! I could always rely upon my twin for someone to be with!
I explained this to my mom: “Who will I talk to?” Her answer to me was so Catholic”……….
“FIND THE ONE WHO HAS BEEN LEFT ALONE
AND MAKE THEIR DAY!”
My mom was being a parent and who knows what causes a parent to say what they say at any given moment, BUT, those words were GREAT for me…… I am still friends with that guy to this very day!
In our church world………… In our following Christ by imitating His Gospel today…………… we heard CHRIST say:
“FIND THE ONE WHO HAS BEEN LEFT ALONE AND MAKE THEIR DAY!”
Or…. He said……………Invite to your “circle”, to your dinner table, to your clique,
The poor,
The crippled,
The lame, and
The blind.
• I am presuming he meant PEOPLE YOU DO NOT KNOW!!
• I am presuming he meant EVANGELIZE.
• I am presuming he meant, get out of your comfort zone that is so easy in which to remain, and bring to your life (and this will take guts/courage) a new friend, a brother or sister in CHRIST.
This is what WELCOMING does in a church community: Finding the one who has been left alone.
Doing just what my mom said is,
US becoming INTENTIONAL DISCIPLES!
It is where the church should be going.
JESUS CHRIST wanted his followers to BE NOT AFRAID in talking to others you may not know and MAKE THEIR DAY.
We can be HURRIED UP CATHOLICS, even at Mass, let’s get in and get out… (Certainly NOT HERE AT IHM)
But Christ calls us to re-think that: In the words of my mom
“FIND THE ONE WHO HAS BEEN LEFT ALONE AND MAKE THEIR DAY!”
CONCLUSION:
Our Mass attendance can grow when the spirit of friendliness in each of us grows, while we are here and while we are “on the go”.
The real presence of Jesus Christ does influence us each time we go to communion. Today, hear Him say:
“FIND THE ONE WHO HAS BEEN LEFT ALONE AND MAKE THEIR DAY!”