Homily for September 27, 2009

    Belonging. Do you want to belong? Who doesn’t want to belong?! We all want to belong. It’s one of the greatest human needs. Jesus speaks today about belonging and how we belong to him. It's about ‘doing good’ to all because -- “because you belong to Christ.” Doing good to everyone with His spirit is the sign of our belonging. In the first reading from Numbers Moses exclaims, “Would that the Lord might bestow his spirit on them all!” Well, we know that He has --through the death and resurrection of Christ! We received it in baptism. The disciples here in this passage from Mark, as in last week’s gospel passage, are still showing signs of competitiveness. They still want to be number one. They are protecting their turf. Jesus says, nay, nay. It’s not about that. It’s not about drawing the circle closer; it’s about expanding the circle. And he is expanding their vision. He is saying, in effect: ‘Whoever works through my Spirit, for what I believe, belongs to me.’ There is one vineyard and one vineyard owner. There is one flock and one shepherd. We work for Him, not for ourselves. We are to work as Jesus does. We have a great responsibility.
    This weekend is, in a sense, catechetical Sunday. On Tuesday evening we began RCIA and the Retreat in Everyday Life. Today we begin religious education (CCD) and commission cathechists. These are rites of inclusion, of incorporating people into the family of Christ, to have them satisfy their need to belong and for us to satisfy our need to have others join us and share the vision that Christ has shared with us. We have a great responsibility to do it right, to get right. Last week I challenged the UK students at the 8:30 mass to share their gifts, to serve with them. I told them they have great role models here. I reminded the role models within my hearing that we all have a great responsibility to model Christ rightly. Jesus is very graphic about what happens to someone who leads another astray. We want to spread the vision of Christ and make sure we are counted among those who ‘belong’ on this catechetical Sunday and not placed outside the Church and what it teaches. Parents, you, especially have great responsibility to educate rightly by example; you are the primary religious educators of your children. Pope John Paul II stated this repeatedly. Let’s all remind ourselves that if ‘they’ are not against us, they are for us. Let’s check ourselves against any traces of turf-ism. We have all been gifted with Christ’s Holy Sprit to act in our particular spheres of activity in the Church according to our gifts. There is one Spirit, many gifts. Let us use our gifts generously with an eye to the good of all -- especially for those who look to us for example. Remember, we are role models and images of Christ. In the Eucharist we remember who we are and how he loved us ‘to His death.’ We image him and bear him to the world.

Rev. Albert J. DeGiacomo, Pastor
Holy Spirit Parish, Newman Center
Lexington, KY
27 September 2009