Proclaiming the gospel of what Jesus has done for us
05/16/2017
Acts of the Apostles 14:19-28
In those days, some Jews from
Antioch and Iconium arrived and won over the crowds. After they had proclaimed
the good news to that city and made a considerable number of disciples, they
returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch. They strengthened the spirits
of the disciples and exhorted them to persevere in the faith, saying, "It
is necessary for us to undergo many hardships to enter the Kingdom of
God." They appointed presbyters for them in each Church and, with prayer
and fasting, commended them to the Lord in whom they had put their faith. Then
they traveled through Pisidia and reached Pamphylia. After proclaiming the word
at Perga they went down to Attalia. From there they sailed to Antioch, where
they had been commended to the grace of God for the work they had now
accomplished.
The life of a Catholic priest can be likened to that of a
“circuit rider” in the frontier times of the United States. Itinerant clergy
were sometimes also called “saddlebag preachers” because they rode on horseback,
stopping in towns and small cities, where people were interested and where
people were not interested in their message, as St. Paul urged in 2 Timothy
4:2, “preach the gospel in season and out of season.” Fr. Tom Elliott once
joked that every priest on their ordination day should be given a Winnebago so
he could easily drive to a parish, plug into the utilities, and when he was
reassigned (which happened frequently), he could unplug and drive to his next
assignment. We could called it the “plug and pray priesthood.”
Being a circuit rider perfectly describes my own history.
Even in the 3 and ½ years here as pastor of Immaculate Conception, I’ve also
been pastor of St. Leo’s in Hartford, Our Lady of the Ozarks in Winslow,
chaplain to the St. Scholastica Nuns, Administrator of Trinity Junior High, and
the last two weeks Administrator of St. Boniface. I’ve started saving money to
buy a Winnebago. And what does a saddlebag preacher preach? It’s simple: he
shares his own journey with Jesus. I’ve learned that the most effective
homilies are the most personal ones. Instead of trying to razzle-dazzle people
with high spirituality or with deep theology, I simply tell people how Jesus
has changed my life, and how he keeps changing it. A saddlebag preacher’s own
life history is the gospel on two legs, or if he’s on horseback, it’s the
gospel on four legs.
Today’s first reading from the Acts of the Apostles recounts
St. Paul’s life as a circuit rider. Actually, it relates the first of his three
missionary journeys. In the seminary our Scripture professor chided us
seminarians by saying that every fourth grader knows about St. Paul’s
missionary journeys. And we seminarians did not. In the seminary we may not
have learned much about the missionary journeys, but we sure learned Catholic
guilt. But the vast majority of the 28 chapters of Acts describes Paul’s
missionary adventures. And what did Paul preach driving around in his
Winnebago? He simply told and retold the story of what Jesus did for him on the
road to Damascus. Paul didn’t carry too much in his saddlebags, just his
journey with Jesus; how Jesus changed his life and kept on changing it.
Pope Francis is calling for a “missionary transformation” of
the Church, that is, he wants everyone – priests as well as people – to see
themselves as “missionary disciples” or “circuit riders.” This does not mean
you have to run out and buy a Winnebago. It doesn’t even mean you have to buy
tons of theology books, or memorize millions of Bible verses. Rather, it simply
means you have to share with others your journey with Jesus. How has he changed
your life, and how does he continue to change it?
Praised be Jesus Christ!
No comments:
Post a Comment