Homily for April 20, 2008

The Fifth Sunday in Easter, 2008
Acts 6:1-7
Psalm 33:1-2, 4-5, 18-19
1 Peter 2:4-9
John 14:1-12

In our history classes in school we read the stories about heroic men and women who helped create the United States: persons like George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Susan B. Anthony, Isaac Jogues, Elizabeth Seton, Dorothy Day, Pope John Paul II. The stories about these persons are an important part of our nation and our church identity. They give us a notion of who we are.

Since Tuesday you who watched the American news media were privileged to get a special glimpse in the life of a person we call Pope Benedict XVI. Hundreds of thousands stood for days along Pennsylvania Avenue to see and wave at him, and 46,000 were at the National Stadium to participate in Mass on Thursday. An ever larger number will be at Yankee Stadium this afternoon for his farewell Mass in New York City. And millions throughout our country and the world identified in some way with this 81 year old man who is the 265th Pope in the chair of St. Peter, the First Pope. So today I want to examine with you the invitation to ministry in the Catholic Church and how you and I of St. James Parish fit into that invitation.

For the past few weeks we have been reading from the Acts of the Apostles. The Acts contains stories like that of Pope Benedict and many others who have served others. It is the story of the beginnings of the Catholic Church after Jesus died. In the Acts we are informed about the Holy Spirit coming on the Apostles; of St. Paul's conversion; of a decision to accept those who were not Jews into the Catholic church; of what they did at Mass; of members teaching others about the new religion.

The Acts of the Apostles is the story of the early church struggling to survive. Jesus did not leave any instructions what to do when he was gone other than to pray and and join together at Mass to hear his message and receive communion. An immediate problem after his death concerned new Greek Catholics who spoke Greek and new Jewish Catholics who spoke Hebrew. What language should they us at Mass? Jesus left no plan. It was up to the 11 apostles to develop a plan and to form a church.

As with every new organization, the early Church had its own growing pains. One of these was the division of labor. The Apostles were being asked to preach and lead the prayers. They were also asked to take care of widows and orphans. Whether they wanted it or not, they became administrators and Pastors. They had to count and distribute the money, take care of the church buildings and property. As with any family there were occasional disagreements.
Each of the Apostles was a Bishop. In the beginning there was no known ministries or helpers. There were no priests, nor any other helpers with the work of the church. They said: IT IS NOT RIGHT THAT WE SHOULD NEGLECT THE WORD OF GOD TO SERVE AT TABLE. So they selected seven men of good standing from the group among whom were Stephen, Philip and Nicholas. Their ministry will be to continue to do the “deeds” of Jesus, the “works” which are the manifestation of the Holy Spirit. They prayed over them and ordained them deacons. That was the beginning of the Permanent Diaconate in the Catholic Church. These men were asked to help parishioners who were in need, and to assist the Bishop at Mass by reading from the Bible and preaching.

During the first 200 years of the Catholic church there were no persons known as priests, yet there were men who did what I as a priest do today. There were only Bishops and Deacons. Priests came later in order to take over some of the duties of the Bishop. That is why that to this very day a priest is assigned by the Bishop to represent him in the parishes of the Diocese.
This brings us to today. During this past week those of you who are registered as members of St. James Church received a brochure from me. It stated that our Bishop Cunningham requested that all parishes of this diocese do something to sustain our faith and secure our future. The Cunneen Corporation of Connecticut was hired to do this for all parishes.

In every parish this is intended to increase the income of the parish. In reviewing this parish's finances and discussing this with many persons I decided that those of you who give through weekly Sunday envelopes already contributed very much and increased that income over the past twenty years. I therefore decided that our goal was to invite you to consider your present contributions, but also for registered or new parishioners to consider using weekly envelopes as a way of financial support to the financial needs of your parish. That is the purpose of the white envelopes in the pews today.

For the past 8 years it has it has given me great joy to be your pastor. July marks the 154th year since Irish immigrants were welcomed to this area by the priests and men and woman of the Plattsburgh area. They did what generations had done before. They opened their doors to the tired, the poor, the starving, the huddled masses yearning to breath free. These are our ancestors. They are the people whom America has made her own. They themselves built this church from the wood and stones they found in the Saranac River Valley. We can be very thankful that they gave of their time, their abilities and the little money they had so that they and generations after could find a place to worship, to receive the sacraments and to pray. Their tireless efforts to spread the teachings of Jesus in this territory has enabled us to be here today.
Of those who came to build a new life here, many were able to make good use of the resources and opportunities that they found, and to attain a high level of prosperity. Indeed, the people of this parish are known for their generosity -- not only of their money but also giving of their time in volunteering in many different ways -- ways that most of you would take for granted unless you saw persons giving of their time. An example that most of you would never consider are those who after every Mass collect the bulletins you leave in the pews, and arrange the books in front of you for those who come to the next Mass. Otherwise I would have to take care of them.
Jesus so often said that he came to serve, not to be served. This call stewardship. How do we use the gifts that God has given to each of us? As a result from his time till today we have men and women who have accepted that invitation to serve others as part of being Catholics and members of a Catholic parish. They place their wide-ranging gifts at the service of our parish. Until recently the word Minister was mostly associated with Protestant religions. However, the reform of the Mass or what is known as the liturgy of the Eucharist involves different tasks or jobs. We call persons who do this MINISTERS and their activities is called MINISTRY. This includes many men and women, young persons whom you see here at St. James: altar server, lector, cantor, choir, ushers, eucharistic minister, religion teachers, those who bring communion to the homebound, trustees, members of the Parish Council, persons taking care of our food shelf and Birthright, those preparing receptions for families after a funeral. Each of them have a tradition or history within the church. At one time the priest did all of them.

The motivation for any form of ministry is a desire to serve others base on the teachings of Jesus that we are called to serve, not to be served. This gift we all receive at Baptism. Each ministry performs a public service for all other members of the parish. Communities of nuns began because someone asked others to join them to serve the needs of all others. Some of these worked for worship, others were teachers, others giving medical care, others places of prayer.
I ask you for your continued giving of your money to take care of the financial needs of the parish. I invite those of you who would like to begin contributing through envelopes to fill out the card in the envelope in front of you. I offer an invitation to all of you to consider ministry in one of our present parish ministries. Many cannot or do not want to minister in public ways. However, at our Baptism we promised that we would help one another to come to Jesus. Each one of us does this when we offer support to others by our daily works and acts of kindness and encouragement, by our generous giving of our time, of our talents and of our finances.