Pastor's Corner: Love of God = Faith, hope and Joy

The reading at our (Catholic Church) this Sunday are as follows:

Acts of the Apostles 8:5-8, 14-17

1 Peter 3:15-18

John 14:15-21

In the world today there is much conversation about how Christianity and participation in Christian churches is shrinking. It seems more and more people are choosing to live lives without involvement in a Church. There seem to be many causes to this phenomenon - ack of relevance of the church in the world, lack of credibility of the church, the church is so judgmental and condemning, the church is out of touch with the world today. Statements like "I don't need to go to church to have a relationship with God," and "I'm spiritual not religious," seem to be heard more and more.

As practicing Christian people what are we to make of this and how are we to respond to it?

In the reading from 1 Peter, we are told "Always be ready to give an explanation to anyone who asks you for a reason for your hope ... ." This would indicate that as Christian people we are supposed to live lives with hope displayed on our shirt sleeves. Now of course our hope rests on the reality of life everlasting in life after death. While this is true there is much more to the hope that we are to display than just hope in life everlasting. The reading from 1 Peter continues, "but do it with gentleness and reverence." So, when we are supposed to act and interact with those doubting the need for participation in Church we are not to be condemning, arrogant or judgmental. As Jesus himself says in the gospel reading from John, "If you love me, you will keep my commandments." So, we hear from the mouth of Jesus that we are to treat those around us with gentleness and reverence (love).

In the reading from the Book of Acts of the Apostles above, we hear of Philip causing "great joy" among the people of Samaria because of the way he was proclaiming the Good News. Philip was healing and driving out demons simply by proclaiming the "Christ" to them. He was not condemning the people for their unbelief, or for embracing the demons of their world or by living unholy lives which caused illness in their lives and community. Philip did it with gentleness and reverence because that is the way that Jesus proclaimed the Good News to him.

Now getting back to the issue that I brought up at the beginning of this article - the shrinking of the Christian Community in our time.

Perhaps we as Christians must take a few notes from these Scripture verses. Perhaps if we were to share our faith actively and joyfully with gentleness and reverence proclaiming the Christ with great hope and confidence in the love and forgiveness of God. Our love of God would be revealed in the love and respect we show to the people in front of us.

What if we are rejected or ridiculed or possibly even condemned if we proclaim the Christ. Well, this is where the gift of the "Advocate" comes in. We have been given the gift of the Holy Spirit to console, empower and strengthen us so we can endure and persevere with love, gentleness and reverence just as Philip did. We can bring great joy to our communities.

Our world if filled with demons - anger, violence, anxiety, hatred, unbelief greed and depression just to name a few. Each of these demons can be driven out by the power of the Advocate working through our faith, love and joy. We can proclaim that life everlasting begins here and now. The Kingdom of Heaven can begin to be experienced in the present moment. When this happens the Church begins to become relevant. The Church will no longer be seen as condemning and judgmental, but as a community of people who are welcoming, who live lives with gentleness and reverence. Perhaps the words spiritual and religious will become synonyms with faith, joy and hope.

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Deacon Tim Maroney

St. Jude Thaddeus Catholic Church