Sunday 11th cycle A. ordinary time, June 11-12 / 05 (6g, 10g)

My dear brothers and Sisters in Christ,

In last Thursday’s paper, in the world section, there was an article titled: Cash Crisis May Force Churches to Close. The article was written in Britain. It said: the cash crisis in the Church of England may force some worshippers to meet in their own homes instead of churches and prompt a drastic cut in the number of clergy.’ The article suggested that there are not many people who are going to the church, and that has caused a shortage of money. Thus the church did not have enough finance to maintain the church, and to support the clergy. (The Dominion Post, Thursday June 9, 2005) Not too far from England, last month in the Tablet issue, there is an article under the name: “Parish Practice, a fatherless future requires new skills.’ it was written by Christine Dodd. It said: ‘it is a new era for the parishioners of St. Aidan’s. The resident parish priest is retiring and the bishop has already told them that, in the foreseeable future, they and the neighbouring parish would be sharing the ministry of a priest. Things would never be the same again. It was a time of mixed emotions. On the one hand there was sadness that a much loved priest would no longer be there to minister to their needs, and on the other a down-to-earth determination not to let the parish die and, consequently, a new attitude to the way the parish operated. In the diocese of Hallam many parishes have already faced, or are about to face, this situation. The number of parishes sharing a priest has increased dramatically over the past couple of years, leaving congregations to consider how they can adapt or renew their structures, and help people cope with what may be a different vision of church. In practical terms, what can be done to change what many see as a crisis into an opportunity? (Tablet 7 May 2005)

My dear brothers and sisters, these are the real situations that the church is facing and church people like us must not panic but must come together and find a way to deal with our situations. So is the church in crisis? Perhaps not, but these real situation might concern us. Our concern with the church issues today could be a link with what Jesus was concerned about in his own time. In the Gospel today we heard: ‘when Jesus saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.’ What made Jesus feel compassion for them? John Reilly in his book gives a good explanation on the point of the compassion of Jesus, he noted: the compassion of Jesus for the people is at the heart of his mission. He feels deeply their need for genuine teaching and healing from God.’ that is exactly what happened at the time of Jesus. People were showing that they have no direction in their lives? Their lives were so mireable. They felt lost. They had lost the meaning of how to live to the fullness of their lives. That is why when they heard Jesus preaching, and healing, they were drawn to him. With him, they found their lives loving and peaceful.

Look at our church today. Why are there many people, young and old who are not interested in coming to the church? Why are they so interested in involving themselves with many other activities, and spending several hours with them, but they do not care to come to the church?

When Jesus saw the crowds before him. He knew that they needed guidance and care. So Jesus summoned his disciples, gave them instructions and sent them on a mission. He told them what they were to do, entrusting his message to them, ‘the reign of God is at hand!’ tell people that. Jesus sent his disciples with his words and examples to go together and build the reign of God. Today in the same way, Jesus is also sending each one of us on the mission of the Church. For we are all baptised in Christ, and our priority is to proclaim the good news to our brothers and sisters. The mission for the Church today is no less urgent than at any other time in her history.

The disciples were very happy to be sent out, and the people were also very happy to accept the disciples and the good news that they were proclaiming: ‘the reign of God is at hand’. In the same way, if we are proud to claim that we have faith in Jesus, and if we know that we are receiving many blessings from coming to daily and weekly Eucharist, then our task is to proclaim it and let people know how great the Lord is when we come to him.

So today we are being sent to: first and most importantly is to go back to our family, where we can invite people to come to the church. From our baptism, we are reminded that God loves us. We remember that we are obliged to keep the teaching of God. We are called to go forward and in achieve our tasks for our salvation.

How could we fulfil our mission? We are doing it by constantly inviting people to the Sunday mass, and by praying for them. We pray that they might be inspired by God, touched by God and that they might open their hearts and return to God again.
Praying is our second mission today. We pray for more vocations to the priesthood and religious life. And we also pray for the Church itself that she will always live and bear great fruit for God. May our Lord Jesus who sent us to the mission always be with us and bless our works. Amen.