\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
We are in this together.\u00c2\u00a0 Yes, all of us are called to be Apostles.\u00c2\u00a0 We are not called to be spiritual islands unto ourselves; rather, we are called to be church.\u00c2\u00a0 Paul makes this point very clearly in our first reading when he says:\u00c2\u00a0 “You are no longer strangers and sojourners but you are fellow citizens with the holy ones and members of the household of God”.\u00c2\u00a0 So, we are not called to be strangers to each other; we are called to be citizens.\u00c2\u00a0 The duties of citizens are collective.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n
Elsewhere Paul talks about the multiple parts of the body of Christ, about how they are different, like parts of the human body.\u00c2\u00a0 But, nevertheless, they complement and support each other.\u00c2\u00a0 As a single body, the Church, we also need to complement and support each other because our mission as a Church is one of evangelization.\u00c2\u00a0 Lest anyone here is disillusioned, evangelization is just as important in today’s secular and sometimes Godless society as it was 2000 years ago when the Church began.\u00c2\u00a0 But, our evangelization is a shared ministry.\u00c2\u00a0 Notice that Jesus shares His ministry with those whom He called.\u00c2\u00a0 He selected 12, whom he called Apostles.\u00c2\u00a0 This was the beginning of the Church, this small group of humble fisherman, tax collectors, and peasants.\u00c2\u00a0 They, like us, were in it together-\u00c2\u00a0 they were commissioned as a group to evangelize, sent forth to preach the Gospel to all nations.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n
And so, I ask you- what kind of a citizen are you of the Catholic Church?\u00c2\u00a0 Are you a gifted teacher involved in RCIA or CCD?\u00c2\u00a0 Are you a gifted advocate of an important Church teaching- like respect life?\u00c2\u00a0 Are you a Christian leader or businessperson that lives the creed you profess, even when it is tough?\u00c2\u00a0 Are you a caretaker type that ministers to those less fortunate- by visiting jails or rest homes or shut ins or hospitals?\u00c2\u00a0 Whatever part of the Body of Christ you are, are you acting like the Christian citizen you are called to be?\u00c2\u00a0 So that it can truthfully said of our Church that:\u00c2\u00a0 “Their message goes out through all the earth”.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u00c2\u00a0 Sts. Simon and Jude Eph 2:19-22; 1 Luke 6: 12-16 Dc. Larry Brockman We are in this together.\u00c2\u00a0 Yes, all of us are called to be Apostles.\u00c2\u00a0 We are not called to be spiritual islands unto ourselves; rather, we are called to be church.\u00c2\u00a0 Paul makes this point very clearly in our first […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140"}],"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=140"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=140"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=140"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=140"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}