Our Faith In Jesus Commits Us To The Universal Call to Holiness
By Monsignor Vincent J. Grimalia

“Who do you say that I am?”

Jesus posed that question to his disciples. The answer involves making a commitment. When we profess our faith in Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we are also committing ourselves to a way of believing, praying and living.

How do we practice and express our faith in Jesus our Savior and Redeemer, who brings forgiveness of sin and reconciliation? How does our parish provide corporate witness to the call to conversion and the universal call to holiness, to the forgiveness of sins, and to our responsibility to share in the mission of Jesus that continues in the Church?

Our Diocesan Mission Statement and our Parish Mission Statements help us focus on the reason for the parish. Is our parish an effective expression of the one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church of Jesus Christ? How do parish societies and organizations support and promote the evangelizing mission of the parish? How do parish staff and volunteers help the parish put into practice its evangelizing mission?

In St. Matthew’s gospel, the parable of the last judgment teaches that we will be judged on how we respond to people in need. How does our parish practice the spiritual and corporal works of mercy? How will our parish he judged?

Social Doctrine An Important Component of Evangelization

Pope John Paul II, in his encyclical Centesimus annus, wrote: “The Church's social teaching is itself a valid instrument of evangelization. As such, it proclaims God and his mystery of salvation in Christ to every human being, and for that very reason reveals man to himself. In this light, and only in this light, does it concern itself with everything else: the human rights of the individual, and in particular of the ‘working class,’ the family and education, the duties of the State, the ordering of national and international society, economic life, culture, war and peace, and respect for life from the moment of conception until death.”

The ongoing pastoral and spiritual renewal of our parishes will be aided by a study of the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church. Each parish and cluster needs to evaluate how they are teaching and expressing the social doctrine of the Church and how the celebration of the Eucharist forms Christians to live the self-giving love of Jesus Christ.

Pastoral Planning for Charity, Justice and Peace

In his apostolic letter Novo Millennio Ineunte, Pope John Paul II taught: “Charity of its nature opens out into a service that is universal; it inspires in us a commitment to practical and concrete love for every human being. This too is an aspect which must clearly mark the Christian life, the Church's whole activity and her pastoral planning…we must learn to see him especially in the faces of those with whom he himself wished to be identified: ‘I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me’ (Mt 25:35-37). This Gospel text is not a simple invitation to charity… By these words, no less than by the orthodoxy of her doctrine, the Church measures her fidelity.”

How do our parishes express fidelity to Christ by our acts of charity and justice? How does our parish and cluster planning promote and motivate growth in charity and work for justice, peace and pro-life concerns in a parish and in a cluster?

There are various resources available from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops that will provide direction to parish and cluster activities. Principles, Prophecy, and a Pastoral Response: An Overview of Modern Catholic Social Teaching, Living the Gospel of Life, A Place at the Table and Communities of Salt and Light are some pertinent examples. Parishes can practice good stewardship of resources by collaborating in partnerships and within clusters on all pastoral concerns.

The Parish As a Eucharistic Community for Mission

In the post-synodal exhortation The Sacrament of Charity, Pope Benedict XVI structured the document in three parts: The Eucharist a mystery to be believed, the Eucharist a mystery to be celebrated, and The Eucharist a mystery to be lived.

The Eucharist is the foundation of every parish and its evangelizing mission. Pope John Paul II in his encyclical on the Eucharist shared some important insights worth recalling: “Significantly, in their account of the Last Supper, the Synoptics recount the institution of the Eucharist, while the Gospel of John relates, as a way of bringing out its profound meaning, the account of the ‘washing of the feet,’ in which Jesus appears as the teacher of communion and of service (cf. Jn 13:1-20). The Apostle Paul, for his part, says that it is ‘unworthy’ of a Christian community to partake of the Lord's Supper amid division and indifference towards the poor (cf. 1 Cor 11:17-22, 27-34)”

If there is division within a parish or strife between parishes, the Eucharist challenges that attitude and gives the grace to work so that division and strife must be healed. A divided parish or diocese must reflect on the grace of the Eucharist and work to promote unity not disunity.

Authentic Eucharistic Worship and Our Lives

In his letter Dominicae Cenae, John Paul reflects on the consequences of living in accordance with the grace of the Eucharist:

“The authentic sense of the Eucharist becomes of itself the school of active love for neighbor. We know that this is the true and full order of love that the Lord has taught us: ‘By this love you have for one another, everyone will know that you are my disciples.’ The Eucharist educates us to this love in a deeper way; it shows us, in fact, what value each person, our brother or sister, has in God's eyes, if Christ offers Himself equally to each one, under the species of bread and wine.

“If our Eucharistic worship is authentic, it must make us grow in awareness of the dignity of each person. The awareness of that dignity becomes the deepest motive of our relationship with our neighbor….How the image of each and every one changes, when we become aware of this reality, when we make it the subject of our reflections! The sense of the Eucharistic Mystery leads us to a love for our neighbor, to a love for every human being.”

Called to Holiness and Mission began with an evaluation of resources and restructuring for the sake of spiritual and pastoral renewal of our parishes and Diocese. Parish reorganization, with its consolidations, linkages and partnerships, is the first phase of diocesan revitalization for a more effective evangelizing mission and a deeper understanding of the Eucharist that will enrich our lives.

The cooperation of parishes sharing resources, programs, staff and volunteers is one way of expressing Catholicity and strengthening the mission of the parish and the entire Diocese of Scranton. Personally and corporately, we profess our faith in Jesus by our practice of charity and justice.