Word to the Wise
Monday, September 1, 2014 - Monday in the 23th Week in Ordinary Time
[1 Cor 5:1-8 and Luke 6:6-11]When I came to you, brothers and sisters, proclaiming the mystery of God, I did not come with sublimity of words or wisdom. For I was resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ, and him crucified." 1 Cor.
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 1, 2014 MONDAY IN THE TWENTY-THIRD WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME [LABOR DAY, U.S.A.]
On Monday, September 1, 1994, I became the pastor of a parish in San Antonio. It was not Labor Day that year [it may not have been Monday!] but I began on that day the hardest "labor" I ever performed. Like St. Paul, sublime words and wisdom were not what I needed to survive. What I needed was God's mercy and the indulgence of the good people of that parish! My years in campus ministry did not prepare me for this. Pastoral work at a university center may involved the same sacraments and programs that many regular parishes have, but the culture is entirely different. From university work to a Hispanic inner city parish is a leap across planets.
In both scriptures today, the figures of Jesus and Paul present us with men who worked with their hands: Jesus as a carpenter and Paul as a tentmaker. [Acts 18:3] For Jesus, coming to his hometown and being rejected, and for Paul, coming to the wild port of Corinth we see a different "labor" which called forth not so much physical labor but the labor of preaching the gospel. Since my principal "labor" is full time itinerant preaching of parish missions and retreats, [and this on-line preaching, too!], I identify with Paul's effort to "stay on message" and Jesus' effort to place himself in front of his people as the fulfillment of scripture. Preaching comes to me far more naturally than trying to run a parish church!
The vast majority of the church is composed of lay workers! Baptism brings with it the challenge to apply all our efforts, whatever they may be, to preaching the kingdom. A tent-maker and a carpenter give us wonderful examples! AMEN
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