\u00c2\u00a0 May 4, 2008<\/p>\n
Ascension<\/p>\n
Acts 1: 1-11; Eph 1: 17-23; Math 28: 16-20\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n
Dc. Larry Brockman<\/p>\n
A year of Evangelization- That’s what Bishop Wenski has declared as the theme For our Diocesan 40th Anniversary celebration.\u00c2\u00a0 Are you ready, Or are you going to miss that train? That train comes Thursday, May 8th and continues on Through Saturday evening, May 10th<\/sup> At the Orange County Convention Center When the Diocese is hosting a Festival of Faith. You probably have seen the TV and billboard adds; And maybe you looked at the brochure sent to all of you in the mail.\u00c2\u00a0 It describes all the events- performances by Adult and Children’s Choirs, top notch speakers on a variety of Faith topics, and magnificent Liturgies- one for the opening; one celebrating Marriage, and one celebrating the Youth.\u00c2\u00a0 There are plenty of Parish and organization displays to inform you on what’s going on in ministry.\u00c2\u00a0 But what does it all mean- this emphasis on Faith and Evangelizing, and why participate?<\/p>\n Each year, the church reenacts our salvation journey from the expectation of our Redeemer- Advent through the birth of God-made-Man- Christmas; into the Lenten period of Penance and Fasting; culminating in Holy Week, and the Death and Resurrection of Jesus.\u00c2\u00a0 This is followed by the joyful Resurrection of Jesus- Easter; and finally, the period after arrival of the Holy Spirit- Pentecost, a period in which we are reminded how we are to orient our lives to the will of God.\u00c2\u00a0 These Church seasons are structured so we don’t forget the story of our salvation in the humdrum of our lives.\u00c2\u00a0 And so we remember our baptismal promise to evangelize.\u00c2\u00a0 Evangelization means we spread our Faith, the Good News of Jesus Christ in word and deed.\u00c2\u00a0 That is God’s will for all of us, that we spread the good news of Christianity by our example.<\/p>\n As we come to the close of the Easter Season, we are at a high point in that church cycle. We are still experiencing the incredible joy that comes with knowing that we have been saved, and will experience Eternal Life- IF, if we follow Jesus and his commandments.<\/p>\n Today’s Gospel says it very clearly: “Go, therefore and make disciples of all nations”.\u00c2\u00a0 That’s you- the Apostles are told to make disciples of you; and then Jesus says: “Teaching them to observe all that I commanded you, and behold, I am with you always”.\u00c2\u00a0 So, each of you is made a disciple, an evangelizer, at Baptism.\u00c2\u00a0 But have you followed through on that promise?<\/p>\n You know, it’s ironic, but all of us are very much like the Apostles.\u00c2\u00a0 We have two hang ups in Evangelizing.\u00c2\u00a0 First, there is doubt.\u00c2\u00a0 Today’s Gospel tells us that\u00c2\u00a0 “When they saw him, they worshiped him, but they doubted”. \u00c2\u00a0Imagine that.\u00c2\u00a0 These are people who actually saw the horrors of the crucifixion and then the unbelievable Resurrection.\u00c2\u00a0 But the Gospel says that even they still doubted.\u00c2\u00a0 Likewise, even though we say we believe, we still hold back from full belief- perhaps a lack of belief in the real presence; or a lack in trust that God will provide for us in difficult times; and maybe we lack belief that we can evangelize.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n Second, we keep looking for some other purpose in life besides fulfilling our Baptismal promise.\u00c2\u00a0 In the reading from Acts, Jesus tells his Apostles that they will soon be Baptized with God’s spirit.\u00c2\u00a0 That will give them the strength to speak of the Kingdom of God, and evangelize.\u00c2\u00a0 But right after telling them this, what do the Apostles ask him?\u00c2\u00a0 They ask Him if he is going to restore Israel now.\u00c2\u00a0 As if restoration of the earthly kingdom is the kingdom of God.<\/p>\n They just didn’t get it.\u00c2\u00a0 They didn’t understand their call to live their life according to Jesus Commandments with the help of the Holy Spirit.\u00c2\u00a0 How about you?\u00c2\u00a0 Is your focus is on how you want things to be, or is it on living according to Jesus Commandments and living God’s will for you?<\/p>\n In just a week we will celebrate Pentecost.\u00c2\u00a0 Pentecost symbolizes the arrival of God’s Spirit, the Holy Spirit, into our lives.\u00c2\u00a0 Paul talks about the gift of the spirit this morning.\u00c2\u00a0 It is a spirit of wisdom and revelation.\u00c2\u00a0 That’s what you need to hear the real call of God in your lives- a spirit of wisdom and revelation; a spirit of discernment of God’s will for you.\u00c2\u00a0 How appropriate that Pentecost caps off our Festival of Faith because this week, in the festival, you have a great opportunity.\u00c2\u00a0 First, you have an opportunity to evangelize just by being there, because that tells the world that our Catholic community is alive and well and committed.\u00c2\u00a0 But also you have an opportunity to see what is going on- to see how others are putting their faith into action.\u00c2\u00a0 And you have an opportunity to pray on what God’s will is for you. \u00c2\u00a0Then, next Sunday, on Pentecost, the spirit of God will be there to give you the wisdom and power to renew your faith and commitment to His will.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u00c2\u00a0 May 4, 2008 Ascension Acts 1: 1-11; Eph 1: 17-23; Math 28: 16-20\u00c2\u00a0 Dc. Larry Brockman A year of Evangelization- That’s what Bishop Wenski has declared as the theme For our Diocesan 40th Anniversary celebration.\u00c2\u00a0 Are you ready, Or are you going to miss that train? That train comes Thursday, May 8th and continues […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}