Word to the Wise
Saturday, June 17, 2023 -
[2 Cor. 5: 14-21 and Luke 2:41-51]The love of Christ impels us, once we have come to the conviction that one died for all; therefore all have died. He indeed died for all, so that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised. Consequently, from now on we regard no one according to the flesh; even if we once knew Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know him so no longer. So whoever is in Christ is a new creation: the old things have passed away; behold, new things have come. And all this is from God, who has reconciled us to himself through Christ and given us the ministry of reconciliation...[2 Corinthians]
IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY
[2 Corinthians 5:14-21 and Luke 2:41-51]
The love of Christ impels us, once we have come to the conviction that one died for all; therefore all have died. He indeed died for all, so that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised. Consequently, from now on we regard no one according to the flesh; even if we once knew Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know him so no longer. So whoever is in Christ is a new creation: the old things have passed away; behold, new things have come. And all this is from God, who has reconciled us to himself through Christ and given us the ministry of reconciliation...[2 Corinthians]
It is customary for those about to be ordained to the priesthood to include a commemorative card with the invitation. I was no exception to this in May 1971. A friend of mine designed three cards for me which featured quotations from scripture. One of the three appears in the passage, quoted above, from St. Paul's Second Letter to the Corinthians, beginning with the words, "So whoever is in Christ....." The whole passage, however, is important because it is a challenge to all of us who have been baptized. St. Paul speaks of us as becoming a "new creation." There is a fundamental change of spiritual identity that brings a responsibility with it, i.e. to bring others to Christ. It is the ministry of reconciliation. This is more than the sacrament of reconciliation, important as it is. It is a whole way of looking at life.
In his initial letter to the church at large, The Joy of the Gospel, Pope Francis called all of us who have been baptized to be "missionary disciples." Our faith is not some kind of personal possession to be hoarded. It is meant to be shared so that others may come to know Christ. Pope Paul VI made a similar plea back in 1975 with his Evangelii nuntiandi [On Proclaiming the Gospel]. We are the Body of Christ and we share that identity when we bear witness to our faith and the difference that faith can make - "a new creation." AMEN
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