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3rd Sunday
of Lent, Cycle C
Terranuova Hermitage
March 3, 2013
3 Reflections at the Changing of the Guard
By (Rev. Msgr.) Nicholas P. Amato
Our Church Today
This past Thursday
we saw that Pope Benedict’s resignation became effective.
The Pope’s resignation
got enormous attention because he is the first Pope to resign since the year
1415 – 598 years ago. It is an historic
decision and the Cardinals of the Church will now meet to elect a new
Pope.
Sadly, other issues
have also arisen in our universal Church over the past weeks. Most of us are all aware of the news reports.
I can sense from the
parishes that I visit to celebrate Mass and lead retreats that there is an
uneasiness and upset among our people. The advice I have received is to reflect
more on these matters and I have chosen this weekend to do so.
Three reflections
come immediately to mind.
1. Examine the Priesthood
The first reflection
is that it seems timely to examine the Catholic priesthood.
I have been a priest
for almost 43 years and like any profession or job being a priest has its ups
and downs, but I would add quickly that by and large I find it to be a very
fulfilling vocation.
I love and care
about the Church and the priesthood. And
I also believe that we need to examine the entire structure of priesthood.
We need to be
mindful of what our 2,000 year-old history can tells us and also what the times
we are now in have to tell us. We need
to review both the personal and the ministerial expectations of priests, as
well as the entire structure of ordained priesthood.
We as a Church this needs
to be done prayerfully and reflectively, but also openly and with the
participation of all Catholics. This would
be a healthy and needed experience for our Church and I believe the results be
good.
2. Collaborate with All
A second area of reflection
is that we as Church need to engage all the baptized, women and men in the
mission of the Church.
We need to respect
of the faith, education, insight, and talent of so many women and men within
our Church. We need to invite and
welcome all God’s people to participate in every dimension of mission and
ministry that is possible.
We have a very rich
heritage of spirituality in our Catholic Church. Just look at people like Francis of Assisi
and Mother Teresa, at Ignatius of Loyola and Theresa of Avila, and even today
at Father Richard Rohr and Sister Joan Chittester.
There is so much
spiritual depth and richness that has been passed down through the centuries
and continues to bubble to the surface today.
If we could more effectively connect an open participation of more and
more women and men in our mission and ministry with this rich spiritual energy,
we would truly set the Holy Spirit free!
In place of fear and
mistrust, we need bondedness and trust.
With this collaborative effort, we will emerge from the present and make
the Lord Jesus more present in our world than ever before.
3. Be Positive and Accepting
A third reflection
is that we need to be positive and accepting.
The gardener in
today’s gospel parable persuades the owner of the orchard to give the fig tree
one more year to produce some figs. The
gardener, of course, is Jesus – giving a second chance to all of us, in fact,
giving repeated second chances to all of us.
He does this because
he understands and accepts our humanity.
This story connects with Jesus’ approach and practice throughout the
gospels.
Jesus is always
associating and having dinner with those looked down upon as sinners in his
day. Yet, he respects, welcomes, and
includes these folks, and never puts down, shuns, or excludes them.
I firmly believe and
try to live it and preach it, that we as a Church need to take this
approach. We need to be positive and
accepting of humanity at all its levels.
We can welcome with
open arms into our community all folks who wish to follow Jesus. We can rest assured that they and we will
grow more fully in the way of Jesus by being accepted, welcomed and included
rather than by being rejected, judged and excluded.
The latter approach
does no one any good and quite honestly is not in sync with the Gospel. The accepting and positive approach, on the
other hand, is the way for doing the
Lord’s work.
Conclusion
Well, these are a
few thoughts from one person at this challenging time.
I share them
prayerfully and humbly, and with conviction.
