\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Some churches make it sound easy because they talk about how Faith alone saves.\u00c2\u00a0 These folks believe that God loves everyone so much, that all they have to do is believe in him and they are saved!\u00c2\u00a0 But we believe that being a Christian is tougher than that.\u00c2\u00a0 Just consider what we heard today from James:\u00c2\u00a0 That “Faith without works is dead”!\u00c2\u00a0 That certainly sounds like it takes more than Faith to be a Christian.<\/p>\n
In fact, the arguments about faith and works are at the center of theological debates between various Christian denominations about salvation.\u00c2\u00a0 We won’t go into the theology of the two sides.\u00c2\u00a0 Rather, we will look at the matter in practical ways.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n
That last sentence of the second reading says it all in a very practical way:\u00c2\u00a0 “Demonstrate your faith to me without works, and I will demonstrate my faith to you from my works.”\u00c2\u00a0 Indeed, it is easier to see how genuine someone is by what they do, than it is from what they say.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n
Now most of us find ourselves immersed in the sea of life, too busy with all the things that life demands to engage in a debate about faith and works.\u00c2\u00a0 Like it or not, our lives are filled with works.\u00c2\u00a0 We do things for our family; including feeding, educating, chauffeuring and a whole lot more; we do things at our jobs; sometimes for 10 to 12 hours a day; we do things for the government; like pay taxes, participate in civic projects, and voting; and we do things for our health; like working out, jogging, dieting, and more.\u00c2\u00a0 Indeed, our lives are full of activities- these are works.\u00c2\u00a0 And not a day goes by that we aren’t challenged to do more of them just to get by.\u00c2\u00a0 But are these things we do demonstrating our faith?\u00c2\u00a0 Or are they a way of life driven by circumstances?\u00c2\u00a0 In other words, is our Faith something that we devote to Sunday Mornings, with the rest of our lives being filled with works that just demonstrate that we are caught in the flow dictated by the secular world.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n
Now in today’s Gospel, Jesus says:\u00c2\u00a0 “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me”.\u00c2\u00a0 And so, Jesus wants us to demonstrate that we are following him by our actions.\u00c2\u00a0 But they are not just any actions.\u00c2\u00a0 They are actions that display our faith in what Jesus did and taught.\u00c2\u00a0 They are actions that display some dying to self, and picking up some sort of cross.\u00c2\u00a0 These crosses don’t have to be some horrible painful ordeal.\u00c2\u00a0 God took that on himself.\u00c2\u00a0 That’s what the good news of the Gospel is about, that God loved us so much that he sent his only Son to die that horrible death for us to save us all.\u00c2\u00a0 Rather, our crosses include bearing with our busy lives with the right understanding.\u00c2\u00a0 And that understanding is this:\u00c2\u00a0 That no matter how demanding living in secular society is, you have an obligation to make a sacrifice by dying a little bit to yourself, by giving up some of your “time just for me”, and using that time in an effort to make a difference in the world.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n
Today we are giving you two golden opportunities to re-evaluate your lives, and find a way to demonstrate your Faith through Christian works. First, we are conducting our yearly Ministry Faire after all the Masses today,\u00c2\u00a0 and so all of you can hear about the wonderful work that our many ministries are doing.\u00c2\u00a0 You can choose one or more to be involved in.\u00c2\u00a0 There are spiritual enrichment programs- Bible Studies, Emmaus Retreats, Devotion Groups, Prayer Groups, Perpetual Adoration, and more.\u00c2\u00a0 There are social service organizations, like the Men’s Club, KOC, the Ladies Association, St. Vincent de Paul, and others.\u00c2\u00a0 There are ways for you to participate more actively in our liturgies- by becoming an EMHC, a Reader, an Altar server, a member of the Music Ministry, or an Usher; ways to support our Sacramental Preparation programs through Prep, BHF, the Baptism Ministry, and RCIA; ways to help support our Youth and Young Adult Groups;\u00c2\u00a0 ways to get involved with the Right to Life by joining Respect Life; and ways to help the poor and sick through our Hospital Ministry, St Martin de Pours, Bereavement, and others.\u00c2\u00a0 Indeed, the Parish has a great many ways for all of you to perform Christian Works- something for everybody; a way to use your talents, whatever they may be.\u00c2\u00a0 I hope you will all consider a way to get involved.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n
The second opportunity you have today is to participate in the Spiritual Adoption Program the Parish is launching today.\u00c2\u00a0 This program is a way of “making a difference” collectively as a whole parish.\u00c2\u00a0 So, what is Spiritual Adoption?\u00c2\u00a0 Picture a young woman who just discovered that she is 7 weeks pregnant.\u00c2\u00a0 For one reason or another- pressure from society or the father, her own goals in life, or her social status- she is considering an abortion.\u00c2\u00a0 We don’t know her name- but we know she is out there.\u00c2\u00a0 Why, because since Roe vs Wade, the number of abortions has increased to 1.4 million year.\u00c2\u00a0 That means there are 4,000 women in the USA who not only are considering an abortion this very day, but who will actually abort their child today.\u00c2\u00a0 4000 just today!\u00c2\u00a0 We are asking you to adopt today one of the children whose Mom is thinking of aborting them.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n
Did you know, for example, that the 7 week old little one you adopt today, has a heart that has been beating for a month, and that he or she can already flex their toes and suck on their thumb.\u00c2\u00a0 But this little one is totally dependent on the Mom.\u00c2\u00a0 So we are asking you to help the Mom.\u00c2\u00a0 We know that prayer can and does make a difference.\u00c2\u00a0 Please pray for both the Mom and the Child over the next 8 months. we are confident that if the parish prays for them,\u00c2\u00a0 God will hear our prayers and save some of them by moving their Mom’s and Families to reconsider.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n
By the way, we will keep you informed over the next 8 months how your child is developing using the banners posted out in the parking lot and notices in the bulletin.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n
Look now at the end of each pew.\u00c2\u00a0 There are “pledge cards” for you to fill out.\u00c2\u00a0 Take one for your adopted child- you, your spouse, and each of your children can each participate, or you can adopt a child as a family project.\u00c2\u00a0 Fill in a name for your child.\u00c2\u00a0 Tear off the larger portion, the prayer card, and keep it.\u00c2\u00a0 We ask you to pray this ten second prayer each day over the next 8 months.\u00c2\u00a0 Then take the rest of the signup card forward to the altar and place it in the basket there.\u00c2\u00a0 If you need more time to think it over, or you want to discuss it as a family, you can bring the cards back later and put them in the basket next Sunday at the Respect Life Table in the Narthex. \u00c2\u00a0After that, the basket will be in the Perpetual Adoration Chapel for the next 8 months.\u00c2\u00a0 At the end of the nine month period, we will ask each person who adopted a child to bring a “baby shower” gift on Mothers Day to the Church.\u00c2\u00a0 We will collect the gifts and get them to the JMJ Pregnancy Crisis Center.\u00c2\u00a0 These gifts are a tangible way for us to help mothers who have decided in favor of the beautiful gift of life.\u00c2\u00a0 We will wait a few moments now for you to bring the cards forward.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n
As you make an effort today to die a little to your self, consider this.\u00c2\u00a0 Today we heard one of the most beautiful readings in the Old Testament.\u00c2\u00a0 The reading tells us that no matter how much we suffer, when we do God’s will, we will prevail.\u00c2\u00a0 Why?\u00c2\u00a0 Because “The Lord God is my help, who will prove me wrong”.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u00c2\u00a0 September 13, 2009 24th Sunday in Ordinary Time Is 50:\u00c2\u00a0 4c-9a; James 2: 14-18; Mk 8: 27-35 Deacon Larry Brockman Some churches make it sound easy because they talk about how Faith alone saves.\u00c2\u00a0 These folks believe that God loves everyone so much, that all they have to do is believe in him […]<\/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\/71"}],"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=71"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=71"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=71"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=71"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}