{"id":415,"date":"2013-09-26T09:12:57","date_gmt":"2013-09-26T14:12:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/?p=415"},"modified":"2013-09-26T09:12:57","modified_gmt":"2013-09-26T14:12:57","slug":"witnessing-of-faith-builds-the-church","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/?p=415","title":{"rendered":"Witnessing of Faith Builds the Church"},"content":{"rendered":"

Thursday of the 25th<\/sup> Week in Ordinary Time<\/h2>\n

Hag 1: 1-8; Lk 9: 7-9<\/h2>\n

Dc. Larry Brockman<\/h2>\n

\n

Have you got your priorities straight?<\/p>\n

The people of Haggai\u2019s time did not.\u00a0 They had promised to build the Lord a House; but they kept saying that the time was not quite right.\u00a0 They all had other priorities- their own paneled houses and rich food.\u00a0 Haggai is trying to rouse them- to get them off of their duff and into action.\u00a0 He plays on their guilt, tries to shame them into action.\u00a0 And what makes it worse- it is a collective effort that is called for building the temple requires cooperation from many of them.<\/p>\n

You know, it is easy for us to get into the same mode, the mode off putting the Lord on the back burner.\u00a0 We hear the pulpit call for help with CCD, for example, or an announcement about bible studies or other programs at the Church.\u00a0 We hear about years of evangelization and faith.\u00a0 And we tell ourselves then and there that maybe we should get involved.\u00a0 But then after we leave the Church doors, the reality of our lives takes over.\u00a0 We have commitments with our job, with our spouses, with our kids, and with our friends.\u00a0 So we tell ourselves we can\u2019t make it, not right now.\u00a0 And before you know it, time goes by, even years go by, and whatever it is that we had the best intentions of getting involved in, just never comes to fruition.<\/p>\n

You know, this year has been designated the year of Faith.\u00a0 And Popes Benedict and Francis have emphasized Faith this year.\u00a0 That\u2019s what Pope Francis\u2019 new Encyclical \u201cLumen Fidei\u201d, the Light of Faith, is all about.\u00a0 Let me challenge you with this question:\u00a0 How much do you know about your Faith?\u00a0 If a Baptist or an Evangelical or a Mormon or a Muslim challenge you about a point of Faith, can you meet that challenge?\u00a0 Can you meet it with confidence and conviction?\u00a0 If you hear the Government or Planned Parenthood make statements about abortion or birth control or sex education for children do you know what the church teaches and why?\u00a0 What does the Church teach about the Family and Family Life matters and why? \u00a0\u00a0How do you integrate your Faith into your stance on political action?\u00a0 What kind of a witness are you to your faith, because that\u2019s what it takes to build the Church- witnesses.<\/p>\n

Chances are you are like the majority of Catholics.\u00a0 Your education in things of your Faith ended after you made your Confirmation.\u00a0 And you know what?\u00a0 That\u2019s not good enough in today\u2019s world, especially in this country, where so many people have a college education and are trained to think critically.\u00a0 Our critical thinking, rationalistic society is eating us alive because we don\u2019t stand up for our Faith. \u00a0We don\u2019t know how to.<\/p>\n

You see, we are the people of God today.\u00a0 And just like the people of God in Haggai\u2019s time, the Lord is waiting for us to build his Church up because it is crumbling around us.\u00a0 People are leaving; and those who are left are not defending it.\u00a0 So you see, if we don\u2019t know our Faith, and practice it with conviction, we are letting the Lord down.\u00a0 And so Haggai\u2019s words from the Lord apply to us.\u00a0 It is time to get out of our complacency and put some priority into building up the Church for the Lord so He can be glorified.\u00a0 And it takes strong Faith to do that.
\nWhat\u2019s this, my phone is ringing?\u00a0 Just a minute.\u00a0 Oh, it\u2019s Pope Francis with his daily message.\u00a0 Let me read it to you:\u00a0 \u201cThe security of faith does not make us motionless or close us off, but sends us forth to bear witness and to dialogue with all people\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Thursday of the 25th Week in Ordinary Time Hag 1: 1-8; Lk 9: 7-9 Dc. Larry Brockman Have you got your priorities straight? The people of Haggai\u2019s time did not.\u00a0 They had promised to build the Lord a House; but they kept saying that the time was not quite right.\u00a0 They all had other priorities- […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[242,241],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/415"}],"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=415"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/415\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":416,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/415\/revisions\/416"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=415"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=415"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=415"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}