Homily for Sunday August 26, 2012 (21st Sunday B)

May Jesus Christ be praised and may his holy Mother pray for us.

Today we conclude our encounter with the Lord Jesus in the sixth chapter of the gospel of John.  Some four weeks ago we heard of the miracle of great abundance, which is the overwhelming message of the whole gospel, that small things placed in the hands of the Son of God bear great fruit.  Whether it is a seed, a measure of yeast or lunch that is shared by a little boy, what is offered in sacrifice to God is returned in an abundance of divine goodness and sanctified by an abundance of divine grace.  As we have heard the Lord Jesus proclaim himself to be the bread of life and as we have heard his command to eat his flesh and drink his blood, we have pondered the mystery of the Holy Eucharist as our food, as our strength for the journey, and as the real presence of Christ offered to us and for us.  Today we conclude our encounter as we meditate upon the Holy Eucharist as an invitation to communion.

In our reading from the book of Joshua we hear of the leaders of the tribes of Israel in a moment of decision.  Joshua addressing the gathered leaders of the community places before them a choice.  Joshua invites them to choose between serving the Lord God, the one who had led them out of Egypt and freed them from the slavery to Pharaoh, or serving the gods of other peoples.  Joshua then makes his own choice known: “As for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”  The people responding to the invitation and recounting the mighty deeds of the Lord acclaim, “We will also serve the Lord, for he is our God.”  Led by Joshua the people of Israel accepted the invitation of the Lord to a life in relationship with him.  They accepted the invitation to communion with the Lord.  And by accepting the invitation of the Lord, they had to reject the invitation, in truth the temptation, to serve any other gods.

The people who had been following the Lord Jesus faced a moment of decision as well.  Though they had been with the Lord for the feeding of the five thousand, though they had been fed by bread and by the word of the Lord, many of the people chose to walk away from the Lord Jesus.  “This is a hard teaching, who can accept it?” they said.  Face to face with the Son of God, they chose to return to their former way of life and they walked with Jesus no longer.  The invitation of the Lord Jesus, that was now rejected by so many, was an invitation to life in communion with him.  It was for them, and is for us, an invitation to life in the communion of perfect love that is the Blessed Trinity.  This invitation to communion with God is, my dear brothers and sisters, an invitation to become the persons we were created to be.  From the eternal love of the Eternal Father, we were created to share the likeness of His Son in the power of the Holy Spirit.  And like the leaders of the people of Israel and like those who had followed the Lord Jesus, we must choose this day and each day the one whom we will follow.  We were chosen in the waters of baptism.  God has declared his choice and has offered the invitation.  Our precious and costly response is our own.  God will not deny us our choice, just as he did not deny the Blessed Mother her choice, for we were created in love and we were created in freedom.  Our response to the invitation to life in communion with God is ours alone to give.

As we celebrate this Eucharist today, let us ask for the grace to choose to serve the Lord God alone and reject the temptation to serve other gods.  Let us respond with love to the invitation to love that the Lord offers to us.  And let us, with Peter and the Apostles, accept the invitation to a life in communion, and declare to the Lord Jesus, “We have come to believe and we are convinced that you are the Holy One of God.”  Amen.

Preached at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church, Monroe, NC

Homily for Sunday August 19, 2012 (20th Sunday B)

May Jesus Christ be praised and may his holy Mother pray for us.

Today we are continuing our journey through the sixth chapter of the gospel of John.  In this chapter that is usually referred to as the Bread of Life Discourse we have been witnesses to the miracle of great abundance that began with a sacrifice, when a little boy shared his lunch with Jesus.  We have meditated upon the Holy Eucharist as our food and as our strength for the journey to eternal life.  Today our attention is drawn to the real presence of Jesus Christ in the Holy Eucharist.

In our reading from the book of Proverbs we hear of the Woman of Wisdom who prepares a banquet.  The food and drink are prepared and the invitation to the banquet is given.  In the food and drink of this banquet are promised life and understanding.  In the scriptures we often hear the theme of a banquet as the sign of the presence of God and of the victory of God over sin and death.  The prophet Isaiah speaks of the banquet on the mountain of the Lord when all of the peoples of the earth will be gathered together and there every tear will be wiped away because death and the power of death are no more.  The Lord Jesus performs his first miracle at the banquet of the Wedding at Cana.  And in the book of Revelation we hear of the wedding feast of the Lamb of God where all the saints and angels cry out “Holy, Holy, Holy.”

In our reading from the gospel of John, we hear the Lord Jesus say, once again, “I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.”  When the people who had been following the Lord Jesus began to question him about this, the Lord Jesus spoke even more clearly.  “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you.”  There can be no misunderstanding.  This is not a symbolic statement of the Lord Jesus.  His flesh and his blood will become food and this food gives life and gives strength.  Jesus Christ, really and truly present, becomes our food and leads us to eternal life.

In the celebration of the Mass we are granted participation in the banquet of heaven.  When we enter into the Church, we respond to the invitation to the banquet where the food we receive gives life and gives understanding.  We hear the promised proclamation that sin and death have been conquered by the blood of the holy cross of Jesus Christ.  We come to the banquet where heaven and earth are united, and Jesus Christ, the High Priest of the temple not made by human hands, is the host, the servant, and the food of the banquet.  He humbles himself so that we can receive him.  With a humiliation greater than the manger at Bethlehem, greater than the scourging at the pillar, and even greater than the cross of a criminal, the Lord Jesus humbles himself to become our food and our drink.  By his will and by his words, the Lord Jesus becomes really and truly present to us in the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist.

Really and truly present to us, the Lord Jesus invites us to be really and truly present to him.  He invites us to join with him each and every Sunday to share in his joy that Christ has been raised from the dead and lives forever to make intercession for us.  He invites us to make a gift of our real presence to him so that we can receive the gift of his real presence.

As we celebrate this Eucharist today, let us ask for the grace to imitate the humility of the Lord Jesus that we might offer ourselves to him.  Let us commit ourselves to be really and truly present to the Lord Jesus in every celebration of the Holy Mass.  And let us ask for the grace to joyfully respond to the invitation of the Lord to banquet of heaven.  

Preached at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church, Monroe, NC

Homily for the Assumption (August 15, 2012)

May Jesus Christ be praised and may his holy Mother pray for us.

Today is a great feast of the Church:  because today is a feast day of our Mother Mary.  Whenever the Church celebrates a mystery in the life of Our Lady, we celebrate first what God has done for her.  However and perhaps more importantly, we celebrate what this mystery means for the Church and for each of us, as members of the Body of Christ.  Today, with the celebration of the Assumption, we celebrate the great thing that the Almighty has done for Mary.  And as members of the Body of Christ, we celebrate that what Christ has done for Mary, he will do for us.  But also, brothers and sisters we celebrate that what Mary has done for Jesus, she is doing for us.

Mary is the first to receive the full promise of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.  When her earthy life was completed, Mary was assumed, body and soul, into heaven.  Our Lord Jesus brought his mother to be with him in heaven.  Our Lord Jesus will do this for us as well, only the timing is different.  When we die and our soul is separated from our body that will not be the end of our story.  We pray that our soul will be admitted to the presence of God.  However, our soul in heaven is not the full promise of the resurrection.  Our destiny is to live eternal life as we have lived life on earth, with our body and soul in unity.  Mary is the first to receive this gift.  She is given this gift in anticipation of that day when Christ will raise our mortal bodies and make them like his own in glory.  What Christ has done for Mary, he will do for you and for me.

However, our Mother Mary has not abandoned us.  We do not abandon our dear ones just because our location changes.  Just as Mary nurtured, loved and supported the Lord Jesus, she nurtures loves and supports each of us on our journey of faith.  Mary, the Seat of Wisdom, who taught the eternal Word of the God to speak and pray in human language, guides us in our prayers to her son and to the Father.  In our prayer, we are surrounded by a mother’s love and supported by a mother’s prayers.

Mary, the refuge of sinners, who searched three days for the child Jesus in Jerusalem, always searches for us when we have wandered from the road that leads to heaven.  It is a mother’s gentle voice that urges us to the sacrament of reconciliation.  A mother’s love surrounds us and a mother’s prayers support us.   

Mary, the Mother of Sorrows, who taught the Child Jesus to walk, accompanies him as he walks the way of the Cross and keeps silent vigil with him at Calvary.  And there a Mother’s love surrounded him and a mother’s prayers supported him.  And along our way of the cross and at our own Calvary our mother’s love will surround us and our blessed Mother’s prayers will support us. 

We need never hesitate, beloved brothers and sisters, to turn to Mary in all of our needs and difficulties.  Our Lady does one thing: she brings us closer to Jesus.  Whatever petition we entrust to her intercession, she makes into her own prayer to her Son.  Every act of love and veneration we show to Mary, she passes on as an act of love and adoration to Jesus.  So it is that this mother’s love surrounds us and our mother’s prayers support us.

And so when the voice of the Good Shepherd calls us by name to the Father’s house when our work is accomplished, a Mother’s embrace awaits us.  And Mary will present us to her Son, the Redeemer Jesus Christ, and our lives will be received in the presence of the Father.  And on that day we will hear the words that Mary hears today.  We will hear the words that the Church prefigured in her hears today.  We will hear, for ourselves, “Well done, good and faithful servant; enter into the joy of your Lord.”

Preached at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church, Monroe, NC

Homily for Sunday August 12, 2012 (19th Sunday B)

May Jesus Christ be praised and may his holy Mother pray for us.

Today we continue our encounter with the Lord Jesus in the sixth chapter of the gospel of John.  Two weeks ago we began this journey with the miracle of great abundance that began with a sacrifice.  Last week our focus was on the Holy Eucharist as our food that has been given to us by God our Father in the person of Jesus Christ.  Today we focus our attention on the mystery of the Holy Eucharist as the Bread of life that gives us strength for the journey.

In our first reading from the book of Kings we hear about the journey of the prophet Elijah.  Like the Israelites in the desert that we encountered last week, the prophet Elijah was weary.  Like the Israelites Elijah was fleeing the oppression of a king.  In the midst of this crisis and after a day’s journey into the desert, the prophet Elijah sat beneath a tree prayed that the Lord would take his life, and fell asleep.  Elijah was a man without hope.  But then an angel appeared, roused Elijah from sleep, and told him to eat the bread and drink the water that had appeared.  After he had eaten, Elijah wanted to sleep again, but the angel prevented him.  “Get up and eat, else the journey will be too long for you.”  Believing the words of the angel, Elijah ate again, was strengthened by the food, and walked forty days and forty nights to the mountain of God.  The bread provided by the angel had given Elijah the prophet strength for the journey.

In our reading from the gospel of John we hear about the disbelief of the people who had been following the Lord Jesus.  Though they had been present for the miracle of great abundance, they began to doubt Jesus when he made the claim the he was the bread that came down from heaven.  The crowd could accept a share in the miracles of Jesus but now they had difficulties in accepting the person of Jesus.  They questioned his origin and recounted what they knew of him.  By their words the crowd demonstrated that they thought that they knew Jesus and so had no further need to listen to him.  The response of the Lord Jesus, however, is another moment of revelation.  The Lord Jesus speaks of the Father and refers to him as “my father.”  The Lord Jesus reveals that those who come to Jesus are those who have heard the word of the Father and have been drawn by him.  Flowing from his relationship with the Father, the Lord Jesus again announces that he is the living bread come down from heaven.  The Lord Jesus declares “whoever eats of this bread will live forever.”  Unlike the Israelites who ate the manna in the desert, were filled, and still died, and unlike Elijah the prophet who received bread from an angel and still died, the living bread that the Lord Jesus gives preserves us for eternal life.  The bread of life gives us strength for the journey to eternal life.

Many of us remember with particular affection the day when we received our First Holy Communion.  Whether we were children or adults, on that day we celebrated the completion of our preparation to receive such a great Sacrament.  However, dear brothers and sisters, from that day forth when we have received the Bread of Life we have done so in order to be strengthened for our journey through this life.  Jesus Christ himself feeds us so that the journey will not be too long for us.  He strengthens us with his body and blood that we may be preserved for eternal life.  You see, my dear brothers and sisters, as once we prepared to receive the Bread of Life, so now every time we receive the Bread of Life, we are being prepared to be received by the Lord Jesus on the day that the Father calls us unto himself.

As we celebrate this Eucharist today, let us ask for the grace to receive the Lord Jesus with the same joy and devotion that we had on the day when we first received Him.  Let us listen attentively for the call of the Father drawing us closer to his Son.  And let us ask the Lord Jesus to give us strength for the journey to eternal life.

Preached at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church, Monroe, NC

Homily for Sunday August 5, 2012 (18th in Ordinary Time B)

May Jesus Christ be praised and may his holy mother pray for us.

Last week we began our journey through the sixth chapter of the Gospel of John.  In these weeks we are invited in a particular way to focus our attention on the mystery of the Holy Eucharist.  Last week we heard of the miracle of great abundance when the Lord Jesus fed the crowd of five thousand men with only five loaves and two fishes.  This miracle began with a sacrifice, when a young boy shared his lunch with Jesus.  In each celebration of the Eucharist each of us are called to offer ourselves completely to the Lord Jesus and united to him we are made into an everlasting gift for the Father.  Last week we were invited to focus on the Eucharist as a sacrifice.  This week we are invited to focus our attention on the Eucharist as our food.

In both our reading from the book of Exodus and in the gospel, we see the people expressing their hunger for food.  The Israelites in the book of Exodus had fled Egypt and the oppression of Pharaoh.  The people were complaining against Moses and were longing to return to the food of their slavery.  The Lord, in response to their complaints, provided manna each day for the people.  They were fed the bread from heaven.  In the gospel the crowd that had been fed continued to follow Jesus because they were seeking to be fed again.  The crowd was seeking Jesus because they wanted to be fed by the bread of earth.  The Lord Jesus, however, would invite them to seek the bread of heaven.

“Do not work for food that perishes” says the Lord Jesus, “but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you.”  The people respond with a question.  “What can we do to accomplish the works of God?”  The people are, in a certain way, asking how they can earn the bread of God.  They want to buy that which can only be a gift.  And so the Lord Jesus responds that the bread of heaven is a gift of the Father and this bread brings life to the world.  And then, finally, the Lord Jesus reveals that He is the bread from heaven.  Jesus Christ himself is the gift of the Father and the bread of Life and those who come to him will never hunger and those who believe in him will never thirst.  Jesus Christ is our sacrifice and invites us to be part of his offering.  Jesus Christ is our food for the journey and offers to feed us.

My dear brothers and sisters, in every celebration of the Holy Eucharist we are invited to the sacrifice and to the banquet.  Just as the people in the gospel could not buy the bread of God, neither can we earn our place at the table of the Lord.  Our invitation to a life of faith and love was given to us as an undeserved gift from all eternity.  Our invitation is free.  It is our response to that invitation, however, that is costly.

The Israelites and the people who followed Jesus in the gospel freely admitted their hunger.  They freely admitted that they were in need.  Pride would not restrain them.  Fear would not restrain them.  Relying on themselves would not restrain them.  With the trust of children they expressed their desire and they expressed their need to the Lord.  Our response to the invitation of the Lord will cost us our pride and our fear because we must recognize and we must admit our need for his goodness and his grace.  We come to the banquet of the Savior admitting our hunger for the bread of life.  We come to the sacred moment of Holy Communion speaking the humble confession of faith of the centurion and making his words our own.  And we come to the celebration of this Eucharist mindful that Jesus Christ himself is the food that brings life to our souls.

Homily for Sunday July 29, 2012 (17th in Ordinary Time B)

May Jesus Christ be praised and may his holy mother pray for us.

The Gospel readings that are used in the celebration of Mass on Sundays follow a three year cycle and these cycles are labeled A, B, and C.  In those years we read the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke.  The Gospel of John we read at certain special times of each year, and during five additional Sundays of the year in Cycle B when we read the Gospel of Mark.  Today we begin those five additional Sundays hearing the beginning of the sixth chapter of the Gospel of John.  This chapter focuses on the teaching of the Lord Jesus regarding the Holy Eucharist.  In these five Sundays we will have an opportunity to explore more deeply and to reflect prayerfully on the great gift of the Holy Eucharist.

Following the normal pattern seen in the Gospel, the Lord Jesus performs a miracle or a sign and then follows with his teaching.  Today we hear an account of the feeding of the five thousand.  When Jesus saw the large crowd that was following him, he asked his disciple Philip how they might obtain food for all of the people.  Philip responded that they did not have the resources to obtain even a little food for all of the people.  Andrew, however, who always brings people to Jesus, mentioned that there was a boy with five barley loaves and two fish.  And then, dear brothers and sisters, an ordinary act of generosity occurred:  a boy shared his lunch with Jesus.  With this small and simple gift, the Lord Jesus performed a miracle of great abundance.

Receiving these gifts, the Lord Jesus, took them, blessed them and gave them to his disciples and to the crowd and continued to feed them until they were satisfied.  And then, so that nothing would be wasted, the Lord Jesus instructed his disciples to gather all of the fragments of bread that remained, and with those fragments the disciples filled twelve baskets.  What remained after the actions of the Lord Jesus was greater than the offering that the boy had made.  Jesus had performed a miracle of great abundance.

However, the miracle of great abundance begins with a small offering.  The miracle begins with a sacrifice.  The five loaves and the two fish that the boy offers are the fruits of creation.  They are a small offering indeed, but placed in the hands of the Son of God, the simple gifts of creation become an opportunity for a most profound encounter with him.

Each Sunday we bring bread and wine through the assembly to the altar.  These simple gifts of bread and wine, the fruit of the vine and the work of human hands, represent us.  And they represent us so profoundly and completely that with these gifts we send up to the altar all that we are.  At each Mass we are invited to offer all our difficulties and struggles and our thanksgivings along with the bread and wine.  We are called to offer ourselves and all that we are in such a way that when the bread and wine are brought forward we can rightly say, There is my pain.  There is my suffering.  There is my grief, my sorrow, and my sickness.  There is my joy.  There is my thanksgiving.  There are my needs, my concerns, and my intentions.  There go I to the Altar of God.  But that is not the end of the gift.  Because Christ receives all that we have brought, all that we have offered, needs, sufferings, intentions, all of it, and by the power of the Holy Spirit and the prayer of his priest he transforms it into himself and offers it the Father.  We are made one with him and are made an everlasting gift to the Father.  Every event of our lives has value because Christ has made us one with himself.  My Brothers and Sisters our lives are not only given meaning by the Eucharist, but the Eucharist proves the meaning and the value of our lives.  Christ Jesus calls us to be a living sacrifice with him.

      Today, as we celebrate the Eucharist, as we are united more and more to Jesus, may we bring our loaves and fish, our simple gifts to the Altar, and receive from the hands of the Lord Jesus a miracle of great abundance.

 

Homily for Sunday July, 22, 2012 (16th in Ordinary Time B)

May Jesus Christ be praised and may his holy Mother pray for us.

In our reading from the gospel last Sunday, the Lord Jesus sent his apostles out two by two.  Today in the gospel, the apostles return from their mission and report all that they had taught and all that they had done.  Then the Lord Jesus invites them to rest.  “Come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while,” the Lord Jesus says to his apostles.  Today, the Lord Jesus invites us to rest as well.

We do not know how long the first apostolic journey of those twelve apostles lasted.  We know that they were told to take a walking stick and sandals, and that wherever the apostles went that they were to preach repentance, cast out demons, heal the sick, and bring the gift of peace.  We also know from the actions of the Lord Jesus, that at the end of the mission the disciples were tired.  The apostles were weary from the work of the Kingdom of God.    

For many of us, it has been one week since we were sent forth from the Altar of God.  One week has passed since we last heard the words of the Lord addressed to us in the midst of the Sacred Liturgy.  One week has passed since we received the precious body and blood of the Lord in Holy Communion.  We have spent this week being attentive to the duties of our particular vocations.  Each of us in our own way was called and has responded to the call of the Lord to encourage repentance, to bring healing, to fight against evil and to bring the gift of the peace of the Lord.  And each of us is tired.  Each of us is weary from the carrying out the work of the Kingdom of God.  And today, the Lord Jesus invites each of us to rest, with him.

The one who has called us here today, the one who has invited us to enter into his rest, is Christ the Good Shepherd.  Our reading from the book of the prophet Jeremiah announces for us the characteristics of the Good Shepherd.  The Good Shepherd is one who gathers the flock and cares for them.  The Good Shepherd feeds the flock so that the flock may grow and be fruitful.  The Good Shepherd protects the flock and leads them in the way of justice.  Most importantly however, my brothers and sisters, we learn from the Lord Jesus in the gospel, about the heart of the shepherd.  The heart of the Good Shepherd is filled with compassion for the flock.  The heart of Christ burns with love for his people.  The heart of Christ invites us to our true rest in him.

And today, and each day, the Lord Jesus opens his heart to us in the celebration of the Eucharist.  He invites us to offer to him, as the gifts of bread and wine are presented at the altar, all of our joys and all of our difficulties.  The Lord Jesus desires to hear from us, as he desired to hear from those first apostles, all that we have taught and all that we have done.  And the Lord Jesus, with a heart filled with compassion, invites us to enter into his rest. 

He invites us to serve him, simply by being with him.  That is what the Lord Jesus calls us to today.  He does not ask us to go anywhere, to say anything or to take anything with us.  The Lord Jesus invites us to make a gift of our time and a gift of our presence so that we can experience the gift of his time and the gift of his presence.  Because dear brothers and sisters when we respond to the invitation of the Lord to rest near his heart, then he will transform our hearts.  The Lord Jesus will renew us.  He will heal us.  He will assist us on the road of conversion and he will cast evil from our hearts.  And then, nourished by the Eucharist and strengthened by his blessing, the Lord Jesus will send us out again to proclaim the Good News of the Kingdom.

Homily for Sunday July 15, 2012 (15th in Ordinary Time B)

May Jesus Christ be praised and may his holy Mother pray for us.

Today in the Gospel the Lord Jesus summons the Twelve and then he sends them out, two by two.  In sending the Twelve out, the Lord Jesus instructs them about what they are to take with them.  The packing list is very brief: a walking stick and sandals.  I will admit, dear brothers and sisters, that this reading disturbed me this week as I was unpacking box after box.  Of course, I am not a travelling apostle.  I am now a pastor, and I plan to stay for a long time.

Today the Lord Jesus does three things for the twelve disciples: Jesus calls them, he instructs them and equips them, and he sends them out.  Today the Lord Jesus does the same three things for us: he calls us, he instructs us and equips us, and he sends us out.  Saint Paul, in our reading from the letter to the Ephesians, speaks to us of our call in Christ Jesus.  Saint Paul writes that we were called and chosen to be holy and blameless in the sight of God before the foundation of the world.  We were called from all eternity and destined for adoption as children of the Heavenly Father in Christ Jesus.  We have been called by God because we have been loved by God from the foundation of the world.  This is the first part of the Good News that is ours to receive and ours to proclaim, that God has called us because he loves us and that we will live for the praise of the Father’s glory.

As the twelve disciples were called and chosen, and as we have been called and chosen, so too are we instructed and equipped.  Saint Paul again reminds us that we who have believed in the Lord Jesus, who have been redeemed by His precious blood, have been sealed with the promised Holy Spirit.  In the waters of Baptism and through the outpouring of the Holy Spirit each of us has been claimed by Christ and made into a temple of his glory.  This means, brothers and sisters, that the very life of God dwells within us and that we have been strengthened to receive the gift of the Word of God, the Wisdom of God, and the power of God conferred in the Sacraments of the Church.  We come to each celebration of the Eucharist and we are instructed by God’s word proclaimed to us in the Sacred Scriptures.  We are equipped to live the life of grace by our common prayers and by our reception of the Body and Blood of the Lord in Holy Communion.  The Lord Jesus instructed the disciples to take with them only a walking stick and a pair of sandals.  These items enabled the disciples to keep moving, to be constant in their witness to Christ and to be constant in their proclamation of the kingdom.  The walking stick and the sandals constantly reminded the disciples that each of them had been sent on a journey.  Each of the disciples would have their mission field and each would face many challenges.  It is that way for us as well.  We each have our own mission field and we all face many challenges in following the Lord Jesus.  However, there is hope.  There is for the Christian, always hope.

In addition to the many words of welcome that I have received this week, I have also received a few words of caution.  “Father, this parish is a lot of work for just one man.”  To that I respond that indeed this parish is a lot of work for just one man.  But, dear brothers and sisters, I was not sent here alone.  Jesus sent his disciples out two by two.  This was the greatest gift and the greatest strength for the mission, that a community would proclaim the Kingdom of God.  It is true that I am the only priest in this parish and that means that I bear the responsibility for instructing and equipping, for teaching, for sanctifying and for shepherding.  However, dear brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus, we have been sent to proclaim the hope that is ours.  We have been sent into this community to share the love of God.  And we have been sent, together, to live to the praise and glory of the Father.