Bishop Longley on the New Evangelization

Excellency, Most Reverend Bernard Longley, Archbishop of Birmingham (Great Britain-England and Wales)

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The New Evangelization is not a strategy or program, but an invitation to an encounter and life-long relationship with Jesus Christ and his Church. It involves fallingin love with the person of Jesus Christ and his bride, the Catholic Church. This encounter with Christ takes place in and through the Church so as not to foster afalse dichotomy between spirituality and religion. Encounters with Christ in the Church help the faithful to understand the need for salvation and forgiveness from sin. Following the initial encounter with Christ, the faithful desire to spend time with the beloved in prayer, sacrament and to contemplate the face of God (Novo Millennio Ineunte).

Hence, the Synod Fathers might propose a lifelong accompaniment of each Catholic on their journey of faith modeled on Christ's walk with the two disciples on the Road to Emmaus. The faithful need the continued work of systematic, comprehensive and lifelong catechesis. Evangelization and catechesis should help the faithful know, understand, live and share the faith. A catechesis for youth and adults that is age-appropriate and presented in an appealing and apologetic manner that answers the genuine questions of those participating in their formation would enhance the New Evangelization. This basic presentation of the fundamentals of our faith, as found in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, in an attractive and appealing manner, for example at World Youth Day, will help to revive aconfidence in the faith and a greater ability to share it with others.

Fostering some practical initiatives would assist the New Evangelization and catechesis: Lectio Divina, teaching prayer, making the Sacred Scriptures and the Sacrament of Penance more readily available (perhaps through offering the Sacrament at new times and on aconsistent basis during Lent or Advent), pilgrimages, sharing the stories of the saints and martyrs, and making known the excellent work and ministry undertaken by Catholic institutions and apostolates.

We discussed presenting the Sacraments in anew light aimed at reaching contemporary society. The preparation for individual sacraments should model the catechumenate and allow for personal encounters with Christ and the proclamation of the kerygma. Small Christian communities can help to connect people to one another, allowing for prayer and reflection on the Scriptures.

We encourage the Synod Fathers to pray for a New Pentecost for the whole Church and to better understand the ways in which the Holy Spirit is working in the Church and lives of Catholics and other Christians. We stressed the importance of Liturgy well-celebrated and homilies that inspire and share the faith in a compelling manner. This will require formation for the clergy in liturgy, homiletics, and the New Evangelization since they are formators for the new evangelizers.

In order to be effective evangelists, the laity needs better preparation for evangelization. This should include doctrine, helping evangelists share the faith, perhaps through a wider use of images, suitable for the people they serve, some of whom may be illiterate; humility, acquiring the ability to articulate one's story of faith and testimony of Christ.

Our group would wish to encourage bishops, priests and permanent deacons to know the lives of the people they serve in amore personal way. The bishop is an evangelist who leads by example and shares with all the baptized the blessings of being called to evangelization. His ministry must have the characteristics of the shepherd (ad intra) and the fisherman (ad extra). Ongoing formation for clergy on the New Evangelization and methods for evangelization in the diocese and parish are needed.

The family is a privileged center for the new evangelization. Catholic families are in great need of regular support and direct assistance from the Church and parish to become witnesses to the faith. Continuing inculturation of the gospel could bring together the life of Christ with the life and culture of all people. The inculturation of the Gospel involves becoming more of a welcoming Church to immigrants and those in need.

We also considered the contribution of Religious and the witness of consecrated life, the establishment of catechists as astable ministry within the Church, the need for post-sacramental catechesis, especially following Confirmation, the wisdom of consulting our Canon Lawyers when formulating diocesan policy, the particular needs of the Deaf Community, and the management of natural resources in times of conflict or warfare.

Sermon -- 5 Pentecost 2012

5 Pentecost 2012

Readings: http://www.lectionarypage.net/YearB_RCL/Pentecost/BProp8_RCL.html

Today we continue with our readings from the books of Samuel. We see David at the moment of Saul's death. David was very close to King Saul. He knew him intimately He knew he was corrupt. He used to play his harp and sing songs to him when the King could not sleep, when he was quite mad on those difficult nights.

At a point Saul tried to kill David. Jonathan, Saul's son and the presumptive heir to the throne, saved David's life. David had a chance to kill Saul when Saul was pursuing him with murderous intentions. David chose not to kill Saul because God had anointed him as king.

Now Saul and Jonathan, his dear friend, are killed in battle. And what is David's reaction? He could have sung this song:

Oh, that corrupt old Saul is gone. Good riddance.

I've won. Thank God. How great I am.

Corruption got its just deserts.

Sermon -- Trinity Sunday 2012

Trinity 2012 Readings: http://www.lectionarypage.net/YearB_RCL/Pentecost/BTrinity_RCL.html

We probably have all seen Rublev's icon of the Trinity. It depicts our Patron, the Trinity, as three angels, the angels that visited our father Abraham near the oaks of Mamre. (The minister circulates a large copy of the icon and mentions it is on the church blog)

In his picture, Rublev shows us what we know about this Holy One who Isaiah has seen in his vision that was read to us. We know about this Holy One primarily through Jesus. As scripture has told us “Jesus is the image of the unseen God.”

So the Christian tradition boldly claims to have some knowledge about this mysterious figure – that Rudolf Otto calls the “mysterium tremendum et fascians"  - this scary but fascinating mystery. All of our knowledge of God comes from Jesus.

Rublev depicts our three Patrons in his picture as sitting in a circle. On the right, the Holy Spirit has a garment of the clear blue of the sky, wrapped over with a robe of a fragile green. The Spirit of creation moves in sky and water, breathes in heaven and earth. All living things owe their freshness to his touch.

Sermon 7 Easter 2012

7 Easter 12 Readings: http://www.lectionarypage.net/YearB_RCL/Easter/BEaster7_RCL.html

Next week of course is the feast of Pentecost. This last week we celebrated the Ascension. The Ascension has become characterized as a feast day which is not widely marked. Somehow we don't know quite what to make of it these days. Does it make sense that Jesus was taken up into heaven? Why did he end his earthly ministry in this way?

Pentecost and Ascension are closely related. Jesus said, unless I go, I cannot send the Spirit (John 16.7). Why is this the case?

I think it is best explained by seeing Jesus as the New Adam. The New Adam did life right. Jesus did it correctly. The first Adam messed it up. He didn't do it right. He turned away from God. He became distracted by his own dreams and visions of grandeur. As the evil one told him, “You can be like God.” And he actually believed this. He wanted to run things his own way.

The new Adam, Jesus, on the other hand, went about doing things the way God wanted them done. He listened closely to the Father. He constantly relied on the guidance of the Holy Spirit. He said, “I dont do anything unless I see the Father doing it.” He could see what the Father was up to. The Father was up to healing. The Father was up to teaching and guiding his children. The Father was up to finding lost sheep and carrying them home. The Father was up to extending his kingdom and his rule. So the new Adam, Jesus, went about doing this – thinking about God first and not about a personal agenda, if he could imagine one. The devil wanted him to.

Sermon 4 Easter 12

4 Easter 12

Readings: http://www.lectionarypage.net/YearB_RCL/Easter/BEaster4_RCL.html

“I am the Good Shepherd. I am the Bread of Life. I am the Living Bread. I am the Light of the World. I am the Gate.” These are some of the “I am” sayings of Jesus. Today is Good Shepherd Sunday. “I am the Good Shepherd,” Jesus says.

We have no idea however how bone jarring these expressions were in Jesus' time. Jesus was using the sacred words “I am” to describe himself – the very name of God revealed to the the Hebrews through Moses at the Burning Bush. These words (I am) were so sacred to them that they would not even speak them, not even pronounce them. The Hebrew name of “Yahweh” never passed their lips.

So when Jesus called himself “I am” their very bones were jarred. Consider this exchange from John

Chapter 8. Jesus is speaking to the Jewish leaders:

"Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad." The Jews therefore said to Him, "You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?" Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am." Therefore they picked up stones to throw at Him; but Jesus hid Himself, and went out of the temple.”

We have no real equivalent today. For me, sometimes when I hear the Spanish name “Jesus” (Heysus) spoken I am bit shaken. This is the name of Jesus. It is a perfectly good Spanish name and parents who name their child “Jesus” do that child great honor. But still, to me, it is sometimes hard to hear this name used.

2 Easter 2012

2 Easter 12

Readings: http://www.lectionarypage.net/YearB_RCL/Easter/BEaster2_RCL.html

We meet Thomas again today. Some people say poor Thomas gets a bad rap. We don’t call Peter “Denying Peter.” So why does Thomas get stuck with his moniker, “Doubting Thomas?” But we have met Thomas before. Most of us live in his world, the world of doubt. Doubt is very familiar to us. We have been disappointed before. Why should we believe? Why should we trust? When we have trusted and believed, we have been disappointed. We have been let down. With Thomas we say, “I won't ... unless...” Unless this. Unless that... We join Thomas. We are doubters.

The disciples were surprised when Jesus cursed the fig tree that had no fruit. They were surprised that the fig tree withered. But Jesus wasn't. He lived in a different realm, on a different plan. He said, “If you have faith like a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain 'Be lifted up and cast into the sea,' and it will be thrown into the sea.” (Matt. 21.19-21)

The socialist reading from Acts today sometimes throws us off. “They shared all that had in common and no one was needy among them.” Clearly the early Church holds out an ideal that is difficult for us to strive toward: one of radical sharing and caring for one another. We do, however, share generously with the church and those we know who are in need.

Easter Sermon 2012

Easter 2012

Readings: http://www.lectionarypage.net/YearB_RCL/Easter/BEasterPrin_RCL.html

As we arrive at Easter morning and run with Peter and John to the empty tomb, we have to think about the events which have preceded this moment. As Peter and John look into the empty tomb their minds are filled with the memories of these recent events.

Peter and John remember how just a week a ago Jesus came into the city seated on a donkey, the way the prophet said the Messiah would come. He enters the city during the week of the Jewish Passover. The day that Jesus comes is the very day that people will pick out their pascal lamb to be sacrificed later in the week. It is like the day that the family goes out pick a Christmas tree in our culture. The Jewish families are out anticipating the holiday and into town comes Jesus. They hail him as King. The deep irony is that, as they pick out the pascal lamb for their family festival, they are also choosing the true Pascal Lamb, Jesus. All this happened last week on Palm Sunday.

As the Jewish family prepares for their holiday, they do spring cleaning. Every bit of leaven in the house must be found and thrown out. Why? Because during their holiday they eat only unleavened bread to remind them of their ancestors' journey out of Egypt, out of slavery. The leaven symbolized the oppression of slavery of in Egypt. So they get rid of all the leaven, every crumb, every drop. On the day of the feast they eat unleavened bread only. They will be purified.

Holy Thursday Sermon 2012

Holy Thursday 2012

Readings:http://www.lectionarypage.net/YearABC_RCL/HolyWk/MaundyTh_RCL.html

“You are my friends if you do what I command you. 15 No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide; so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. 17 This I command you, to love one another.” John 15.14-17

Mediterranean cultures have stricter rules than we do about how to behave socially. You can see this in the Middle Eastern world today. This was true in Jesus' time, even more so than today. Jews could not eat a meal with Gentiles. Women and men ate separately.

While there were these strict divisions, once you were in, you were in. To invite someone to eat with you made them like one of the family. So these kinds of gestures were taken very seriously and meant very much.

This is also true about what Jesus does tonight in our Gospel lesson: washing the feet of his disciples. Gestures were taken much more seriously than they are today. As a rule we don't preform lots of serious social gestures. Shaking hands or kissing someone on the cheek are expressions we commonly make and these gestures do have a lot of meaning. But we just don't have as many as people did in Jesus' time. We salute the flag and throw the first pitch at baseball games but, if you think about it, there are not too many examples like this.

Sermons Plus

Copies of selected Fr. Jay sermons will be available in this category.

Sermons Plus will include special instructions as well.

“Why Should I Listen to the Passion According to John?”

Sung by the Village Voices

Friday, April 6, 2012 7 pm

Trinity Church Rensselaerville

During the holiday seasons, like Easter, we like to feel joyous and happy. It is a time for family and friends and celebration. The celebration of Easter in our culture has waned rather strongly in recent years.

For children, it is a time for the Easter Bunny, egg hunts and chocolate. For adults though, as religious belief has diminished, the meaning of Easter has become lost.

One way to look at it in secular fashion is that, as we celebrate the changing of the seasons at the winter solstice in the festival of Christmas, we can take special joy in the coming of spring at Easter. It is a time for the renewal of life.

In fact some would say that the Christian festivals are really just an adaptation of earlier pagan festivals whose purpose was to rejoice in the annual earth cycles.

But for most in our culture the figure of Jesus Christ looms over Easter as part of early childhood learning or at least a notion that something about Easter has to do with this figure. The Passion of Jesus holds a central place in Christian belief. Yet it is the story of one rejected, condemned and brutally murdered. How can we take some meaning from this story in our contemporary life?

5 Lent 2012 March 25, 2012

5 Lent 12

Readings: http://www.lectionarypage.net/YearB_RCL/Lent/BLent5_RCL.html

Do you hate your life? There are certainly parts of our lives that we are not too happy about, that we could do without. But we love life. We cling to life. We consider its alternative (no life) to be a horrendous prospect.

Yet today Jesus says, “Those who love their life will loose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for the age to come.” This is certainly one of the more hard sayings of Jesus. What is it that Jesus wants us to know and to learn from what he is saying?

Jesus does not leave us any quarter for fudging. He speaks to us starkly and frankly. He was quite famous for this. Sometimes when he spoke like this, people walked away from him. “This guy is nutty,” they thought. We can't follow someone who talks like this.

The words that Jesus is using here are more subtle that we tend to see at first glace. As John tells it, Jesus does not use the Greek word for “life” as the force within us that keeps us alive. He uses the Greek term “psyche” which is not the equivalent to our use of the term psyche by which we mean mind or our mental process. This is technical but bear with me.

Sermon 4 Lent, March 18, 2012

4 Lent 12, Sunday March 18, 2012

Readings: http://www.lectionarypage.net/YearB_RCL/Lent/BLent4_RCL.html

Today is Laetere Sunday, the break in the middle of Lent, sometimes called Rose Sunday because of the rose colored vestments worn for Eucharist. On Rose Sunday the traditional Lenten fast was called off and we are allowed to rejoice. Laetere in Latin means “Rejoice.” Yea, Lent is almost over. We have made it this far. Easter is just around the corner.

Maybe like me you might feel a little guilty that you have not made more of Lent. This happens to me every year. I have all these good intentions but life always gets in the way. But the good thing is we are only half way through Lent. There are three more weeks to go. We can still save this season by focusing on the fact that we can still make it profitable.

The readings today really focus our attention. They are our typical difficult Lenten readings. Here is Israel in the desert. They have been wandering a long time and have not yet reached the Promised Land. In fact God has already told them that the whole generation that was taken out of Egypt will not reach the Promised Land. They have been too unfaithful. They have broken the Covenant God made with them and God is not happy about this.