SEVENTH SUNDAY- EASTER

ASCENSION SUNDAY

1. What will Our Lady of Lourdes Parish look like in 2014 - ten years from now. You do not have to be a Nuclear Scientist or a Computer Wizard to realise the things will be radically different. We will have 40% diminished persons working here. I was going to say 40% less manpower but that is not politically acceptable. Most likely none of the priests that are here today will be on the staff. What should we do?



2.  Our feast of the Ascension is a good model or paradigm of the way we should proceed. The Ascension is a story of unprecedented sharing of authority and power between God and us, human beings. It is a feast that is a pivot in the History of the Church. On one side, it is bringing to a close the ministry of Jesus here on earth. On the other, it is the empowerment of the Church through the Holy Spirit. And yet the Apostles cannot presume to cross boundaries. When the Apostles asked about the restoration of the Kingdom of Israel, they were reminded that they were not to know what was solely in the authority of the Father.

3.  As people and priests, the sharing of authority will require courage and sacrifice. For the people it will involve courage, not to be afraid in assuming leadership within the Church, not to be fainthearted in accepting the ministry that is rightly theirs, but was often left to the priest because "Father knows best." for the priest it means sacrifice of, giving up authority and power which gave them a sense of self worth and adulation.

4.  There is a definite plan and vision, a modus operandi - set forth by Jesus in the closing of the Gospel and the beginning of the Acts of the Apostles.  The sharing of Authority is in the command to go out and be witnesses of all they have seen and experienced in the Life of Jesus. Jesus is the Word of God who became flesh and dwelt among us. Those who accepted him had Life. Those who accepted Him were called children of God and made co-heirs of Heaven.

This is the good news that the Apostles, and each one of us must witness to in our world today. Their witness will be accompanied by repentance and forgiveness of sins. This is our challenged that we as a Parish Community must accept as we look to the future.

5.  The angels at the Ascension said to the Apostles, "you men of Galilee why do you stand here looking up to heaven?" We too cannot just wait and hope things will fall into place by themselves. We must think and act now. Things just do not happen. We have been given the responsibility and authority to make it happened.

We must take on the responsibility of Preparation for Baptism, First Communion, Confirmation, Marriage and the Care of the Sick. There are a lot of the laity doing this, but finally do we not wait for the priest to give the green light?  The financial and physical upkeep of this beautiful Church. It is not going to held together by our fine singing, inspiring liturgies, incense and burning of candles.

Now more than ever we have to be responsible for the Food bank, the Outreach to the refugee, the new immigrant for they will be our Church in ten years time. We have to make them welcome, give them comfort, hope and strength. For that is our Savings, that is what they will bring to our church in ten years time. Can you imagine if their memories of this church are: bitterness, a brush off, a passing them from one office to another, of having no time or sympathy - they are our spiritual RRSPs. So even from a selfish point of view... we must invest in them. If we look at them through eyes of Christ we should welcome them since they are our brothers and sisters.

6.  Jesus showed both responsibility and maturity as he gave the Apostles the command, the mandate to be witnesses of the Kingdom. He did not leave them alone.

I will be with you till the end of time

He did not make them guess or figure out what to do. They wee asked to preach the good news to the poor, to tell blind people that they could see, to set the prisoners free.

They were to call people to repentance, they were to dispense forgiveness.

Having given them all these instructions, Jesus backed it up by
Giving them the Power. In the eleven short verses of the Acts, the action of the Holy Spirit is mentioned thrice..

 +The Holy spirit will instruct you  vs 2
 +You will be baptised by the Holy Spirit    vs 5
 +you will receive the power by the Holy Spirit. Vs 8.

 Jesus left the Apostles in good shape, hopefully we as priest and people can hand on a healthy and holy people to our next generation.