This morning our Liturgy of the Word is telling us about how things were spread by way of the
message of Christianity in the very early church. And from our first reading from the Acts of the
Apostles we found out that Philip was taking care of Samaria. And Philip was a deacon. We see that one
of the deacons took care of a major responsibility in the church and that was to convert Samaria. And so
in the midst of everything the priests went up and confirmed those who had been baptized by the
deacon, Philip.
We go to our second reading which has one of those interesting little tidbits that we need tp
listen to from the great Saint Peter. “Always be ready to give an explanation to anyone who asks you for
reason for your hope.” Well, we, here at St. Agnes, we have our mission statement. And our mission
statement, very succinctly, is: “St. Agnes Cathedral Parish, a sacramental community, is sent forth with
compassion to witness to God’s Word and loving presence. We recognize our responsibilities to Catholic
education. We embrace our diversity and place in the Springfield community to provide service,
especially to poor and vulnerable persons.”
One of the things we want to mention to you is that today in our bulletin we talk about our
efforts to reach out to the people who have been so devastated in Joplin, Missouri. And because of
construction projects here we’re going to work directly through the St. Vincent DePaul Society. Greg
Gloeckner is the head of St. Vincent DePaul in our parish. Also Bernie Duchinsky from our parish works
on the national level of that organization. I was talking to Greg before Mass, and the effort that the St.
Vincent DePaul Society is going to undertake is to help people with their funerals. So, if you understand
what you’re giving your donation to, you may be sure that the donations you give will go to those
people who have sustained such devastating losses in Joplin, Missouri. So we hope everybody will be
able to go ahead and help a little bit. We want to be clear and precise and to let everybody know what
we’re doing by way of being disciples of Christ in the twenty-first century.
We look at our Gospel passage and we hear Jesus in his farewell discourse at the Last Supper.
Remember when you were a child and maybe your mother and father were going to go somewhere and
they told you what not to do when they were away. I can remember one time my parents doing that
and as soon as my parents left, we did exactly what they told us not to do. Mona Crane says these
words: “There are three ways to get something done: do it yourself, hire someone, or forbid your kids
to do it.” So, you and I, today, we are challenged by this discourse from the Gospel and Jesus says, “If
you love me, you will keep my commandments. Whoever has my commandments and observes them
loves me.” So the Lord is trying to give us a mission statement as he is leaving the face of the earth.
The night before he died, at the Last Supper, he gave this farewell discourse and he talked about the
idea that we are supposed to be loving and caring people.
You know, sometimes people put together their mission statements on bumper stickers. This is
one bumper sticker that is our there: “If you love Jesus, tithe. Anyone can honk.” How seriously do we
take our discipleship? How much are we investing ourselves into the work of the church? That is an
important question to ask ourselves as we find ourselves gathered here today. Walt Disney had a motto
for what he was doing: “We don’t make movies to make more money. We make more money to make
more movies.” And, of course, so many of us have enjoyed Walt Disney, a man from the state of
Missouri and what he did for entertainment in the United States. You and I still are beneficiaries of
Walt Disney. Walt Disney said that his purpose in life was to make people happy. We would have to say
that the man achieved what he was busy about.
So we think about the whole idea of what does it mean for you and I to have a mission
statement and our mission statement is that we’re supposed to be loving people. Sometimes between a
mission statement and what actually takes place there is a huge disconnect. So many things happen in
our lives. We have defense mechanisms. We know that we’re supposed to be loving and caring people,
but we’re not supposed to care about that person who just bumped us in the shopping mall. We have
rationalizations. We can’t do this and that because in the future we’re not going to be able to do this
and that. We have justifications. “Well, the reason that I didn’t help was that I wasn’t feeling very well
that day.” And then there’s direct denial. “That’s not my responsibility.” In the United States these
days we hear huge denials, “That’s not our responsibility.” And there are projections: “If I help, they
will be back tomorrow and they will be back the day after that.” Projections. All these ways to deal with
the truth by not facing the truth.
Today, with the Liturgy of the Word, what do we think when we hear Jesus say that he will not
leave us orphans, that he will send the Advocate. You and I, the majority of us sitting here this morning,
we are confirmed. And that Advocate has been actually laid on us through the Sacrament of
Confirmation. Just like in that first reading from the Acts of the Apostles, the early people were
confirmed by the Spirit. You and I, most of us, are confirmed. What does that sacrament mean to us?
Confirmation. It is supposed to be fullness of membership in the church. The three sacraments as
initiation: baptism, confirmation and communion. You and I, we are the church. The church isn’t
anybody else if it’s not the church of the people sitting here this morning.
This is the challenge of the Liturgy of the Word today and we have been given a mission. That
mission is: we’re supposed to be loving people. And if we’re going to try to love the way Jesus loved.
“Greater love than this no one has, that he lays down his life for his friends.” Jesus did that on Calvary.
The word “care” means to hurt. I just want to ask you. Being a Roman Catholic, has it cost you? And if
it hasn’t cost you, then you are not fulfilling the mission that is ours. Somewhere along the line we’re
supposed to be followers of the Lord Jesus to the point of caring. And what does the word “care”
mean? It’s from the Old English; the word means “to hurt.” How many of you women when you were
delivering children, did you care? How many of you fathers, did you care enough when your children
were teenagers that you sat down with them time and time again to talk to them about what they
needed to be talked about?
Do you see what our Liturgy of the Word is challenging us to do today? To make our faith real!
We can sing hymns and we can get dressed up in vestments, but if our faith is not costing us, then we’re
not getting around to the mission of who we’re supposed to be.