At the recent Synod for The New Evangelization for the Transmission of the Christian Faith the synod fathers presented the following proposition to the Pope: “The Eucharist must be the source and summit of the New Evangelization. The Synod Fathers urge all Christ’s faithful to renew their understanding and love for the Eucharistic celebration, in which their lives are transformed and joined to Christ’s offering of his own life to the glory of God the Father for the salvation of the whole world” (Proposition 34). The synod fathers are saying that the vitality and growth of the Church depends on the Mass.
This brings us to the importance of Mass for the parish. Since the parish is where the Church is experienced in neighborhoods it naturally follows that the thriving of a parish falls and rises with the celebration of the Mass (Proposition 25, Synod). The connection between the Mass and parish is even more pronounced at our parish where we identify ourselves as The Church of the Blessed Sacrament.
Once we realize the link between the vitality of a parish and the celebration of Mass, it becomes clear where we need to be generous with our stewardship of time, talent and treasure. The more we can come together for “full, conscious and active participation in liturgical celebrations, the greater we will realize the dynamic presence of Christ transforming our hearts towards one another (Sacrosanctum Concilium [SC], 41). In the Mass, love of God meets love of neighbor. When this encounter occurs the result is a thriving parish community.
As we begin a new school year, I would like to propose that we dedicate ourselves to full, conscious and active participation at the parish Mass each Sunday. We have already begun to mobilize our efforts to help in this regard. Within the next two months we will be replacing our Mass hymnals. The Gather and Worship hymnals will be replaced with one hymnal and a supplement. The new hymnals will be a provide an opportunity to better realize this full, conscious and active participation at Mass called for by the Second Vatican Council.
We are also focusing our efforts at the parish school on the centrality of the parish Mass. This year the children will participate in all school Masses on Mondays and Fridays. Monday’s Mass will be without music and Friday’s Mass will be with music. Moreover, during my class visits at the school, I will be teaching about the various parts of the Mass in greater detail.
If you have some ideas on formation and inspiration to refocus our emphasis on the parish Mass, please shoot me an e-mail at jjirak@blessedsacramentwichita.com.
We are The Church of the Blessed Sacrament!
Ad majorem Dei gloriam,
-Fr. John F. Jirak, Pastor
Wednesday, August 28, 2013
Sunday, August 25, 2013
Radiate Christ
“We ask only one thing: that you reach out! And that you go and seek out and encounter the most needy. But not alone, no. With Jesus and San Cayetano. Does this mean going to convince someone to become Catholic, no no no. You are just reaching out to meet him, he is your brother. That is enough. You reach out to help them, the rest is done by Jesus, but the Holy Spirit.”-Pope Francis from a video talk to Argentines on the feast of St. Cajetan
It’s tempting to become a Catholic salesman. We have a rich, storied and fantastic faith and in our zeal we want others to have this. We are called to share our faith, but we don’t have to sell it. The church isn’t a commodity, we don’t have a corner on the power of God. I was struck by this address because I have been hearing this reality from people I have had the privilege to talk to this past week. People aren’t drawn to a church, or faith by the remarkable system we have set up. They are brought by the joy and zeal they see in others. They are brought by an encounter not just with a person, but with a person that radiates Christ.
The urge to learn more about the Church, or how Catholics tick is not something we can give, that is from God. How do we radiate Christ? Well I would say three things. The first is to ask Him. When you are experiencing the adventure of discipleship there comes that moment when you don’t know what to say or do. Ask the Holy Spirit for guidance, sometimes we may be called to shut our mouths and let our actions speak. Second you have to practice. You have to practice giving, you have to practice gratitude, these things just don’t magically happen in your life. It’s a concerted effort. Finally, we have to see as Christ sees. The majority of people that are disgruntled at the church, or with God aren’t really mad at God, they are mad at someone or something that happened in their life. It’s not something that we can just fix, and when Christ looks at them He sees the wound not the anger. He doesn’t put up walls or excuses, He waits for them to let Him heal. He looks at them with incredible love. The remarkable thing is that when we look at someone as Christ would He is looking at us through them with the same love. Inviting us to step out of our comfort zone.
“When you meet those most in need, your heart will begin to grow bigger, bigger and bigger. Because reaching out multiplies our capacity to love. An encounter with others makes our heart bigger. Take courage! “I don’t know what to do on my own” no, no, no. With Jesus and San Cayetano.” -Pope Francis
-Fr. Benjamin F. Green
It’s tempting to become a Catholic salesman. We have a rich, storied and fantastic faith and in our zeal we want others to have this. We are called to share our faith, but we don’t have to sell it. The church isn’t a commodity, we don’t have a corner on the power of God. I was struck by this address because I have been hearing this reality from people I have had the privilege to talk to this past week. People aren’t drawn to a church, or faith by the remarkable system we have set up. They are brought by the joy and zeal they see in others. They are brought by an encounter not just with a person, but with a person that radiates Christ.
The urge to learn more about the Church, or how Catholics tick is not something we can give, that is from God. How do we radiate Christ? Well I would say three things. The first is to ask Him. When you are experiencing the adventure of discipleship there comes that moment when you don’t know what to say or do. Ask the Holy Spirit for guidance, sometimes we may be called to shut our mouths and let our actions speak. Second you have to practice. You have to practice giving, you have to practice gratitude, these things just don’t magically happen in your life. It’s a concerted effort. Finally, we have to see as Christ sees. The majority of people that are disgruntled at the church, or with God aren’t really mad at God, they are mad at someone or something that happened in their life. It’s not something that we can just fix, and when Christ looks at them He sees the wound not the anger. He doesn’t put up walls or excuses, He waits for them to let Him heal. He looks at them with incredible love. The remarkable thing is that when we look at someone as Christ would He is looking at us through them with the same love. Inviting us to step out of our comfort zone.
“When you meet those most in need, your heart will begin to grow bigger, bigger and bigger. Because reaching out multiplies our capacity to love. An encounter with others makes our heart bigger. Take courage! “I don’t know what to do on my own” no, no, no. With Jesus and San Cayetano.” -Pope Francis
-Fr. Benjamin F. Green
Tuesday, August 20, 2013
Catholics...Come Home!
Two clips really worth sharing, from one of our favorite sites:CatholicsComeHome.org. Need
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Sunday, August 18, 2013
The Parish is your Family
Several weeks ago I mentioned in a homily that the parish is not a sacramental Pez Dispenser. Several people noted the metaphor and I would like to take this opportunity to discuss the image in more detail. Growing up I remember taking candy from the plastic, mechanical dispenser. It was so cool to pop the head back on the Pez and shoot a piece of candy into my mouth.
I mention the instrument of a Pez Dispenser in relation to a parish because a number of Catholics look to the parish as a mere functional dispenser of the sacraments and once the sacrament is received the parish has served its purpose. The Pez Dispenser model of the parish is extremely functional and impersonal. It doesn’t matter where I go to Mass on Sunday, rather, the objective is to go to the dispenser or distribution center, i.e., the parish, and receive the required Sacrament.
The Pez Dispenser model of the parish misses out on a very important component of what it means to be church. In Pope Francis’ first encyclical, Lumen Fidei, The Light of Faith, he states that “Faith is necessarily ecclesial; it is professed from within the body of Christ as a concrete communion of believers” (Lumen Fidei, 22). The word ecclesial literally means a people called out to be a community. We use the word church for this community. The parish is where this community gathers and it is at Sunday Mass where the parish takes the “concrete” form of its highest expression.
At the 2012 Synod for the New Evangelization the bishops gathered and affirmed that “the parish continues to be the primary presence of the Church in neighborhoods, the place and instrument of Christian of life, which is able to offer opportunities for dialogue among men, for listening to and announcing the Word of God, for organic catechesis, for training in charity, for prayer, adoration and joyous Eucharistic celebrations” (Proposition, 26).
The parish is just as much a “concrete” community of faith as it is a distributor of the sacraments. To neglect the communal component of the parish is to miss out on the vitality that comes from being a known member of a family of faith. By regular attendance at Sunday Mass in our own parish we come to understand what it means to be a living member of the Body of Christ that comes to receive the Body of Christ.
Pez Dispensers are old school anyway. :-)
-Fr. John F. Jirak, Pastor
I mention the instrument of a Pez Dispenser in relation to a parish because a number of Catholics look to the parish as a mere functional dispenser of the sacraments and once the sacrament is received the parish has served its purpose. The Pez Dispenser model of the parish is extremely functional and impersonal. It doesn’t matter where I go to Mass on Sunday, rather, the objective is to go to the dispenser or distribution center, i.e., the parish, and receive the required Sacrament.
The Pez Dispenser model of the parish misses out on a very important component of what it means to be church. In Pope Francis’ first encyclical, Lumen Fidei, The Light of Faith, he states that “Faith is necessarily ecclesial; it is professed from within the body of Christ as a concrete communion of believers” (Lumen Fidei, 22). The word ecclesial literally means a people called out to be a community. We use the word church for this community. The parish is where this community gathers and it is at Sunday Mass where the parish takes the “concrete” form of its highest expression.
At the 2012 Synod for the New Evangelization the bishops gathered and affirmed that “the parish continues to be the primary presence of the Church in neighborhoods, the place and instrument of Christian of life, which is able to offer opportunities for dialogue among men, for listening to and announcing the Word of God, for organic catechesis, for training in charity, for prayer, adoration and joyous Eucharistic celebrations” (Proposition, 26).
The parish is just as much a “concrete” community of faith as it is a distributor of the sacraments. To neglect the communal component of the parish is to miss out on the vitality that comes from being a known member of a family of faith. By regular attendance at Sunday Mass in our own parish we come to understand what it means to be a living member of the Body of Christ that comes to receive the Body of Christ.
Pez Dispensers are old school anyway. :-)
-Fr. John F. Jirak, Pastor
Sunday, August 11, 2013
The Church is our Home
“The chapel at Sheldon Point was especially dear to me, because that part of the land is easily the most desolate. It is a piece of land that juts into the Bering Sea and is surrounded by absolutely barren flats...In the afternoons the children were gathered for catechism and stories. In the winter we huddled around the stove, in the summer we would go out on the grass, avoiding ponds and mud. In the evenings I built a fire and sat close to the altar to transact business with the Lord. If there wasn’t something specific to transact, I just sat there loving Him in silence. If I tired of sitting and kneeling, I got up and walked back and forth. That place was loved by the Lord, so it should be loved by me to.”
(Memoirs of a Yokon Priest)
This place is loved by the Lord, and it should be loved by us too. How do you we know this. Well first and foremost we have the Eucharist, present in our tabernacle, present in our adoration chapel. This alone is enough to prove the Lord’s love for this place. But we have even more. We have generations of families that call this their home. We have a remarkable school. We have a bustling campus that is used everyday. There are many ways that the Lord shows his love for Blessed Sacrament.
How do we show our love?
This is really what the church asks of us. To see this place as a home, an earthly dwelling, and to treat it accordingly. To care for the buildings and the land. To respond to the needs of the community as we would our own family. To be hospitable to the visitor. To gather here together. We are called to love this place because the Lord loves it, and love is sacrifice.
I leave the answer to that question to you. It’s yours to answer, because the Lord has given you each what you can offer. I will continue to “transact business” with the Lord for this parish, for this community. In a special way I will be praying for you to discern how the Lord is calling you to love this place, because He is.
“Christian faith, inasmuch as it proclaims the truth of God’s total love and opens us to the power of that love, penetrates to the core of our human experience. Each of us comes to the light because of love, and each of us is called to love in order to remain in the light.” (Lumen Fidei 32)
-Fr. Benjamin F. Green
(Memoirs of a Yokon Priest)
This place is loved by the Lord, and it should be loved by us too. How do you we know this. Well first and foremost we have the Eucharist, present in our tabernacle, present in our adoration chapel. This alone is enough to prove the Lord’s love for this place. But we have even more. We have generations of families that call this their home. We have a remarkable school. We have a bustling campus that is used everyday. There are many ways that the Lord shows his love for Blessed Sacrament.
How do we show our love?
This is really what the church asks of us. To see this place as a home, an earthly dwelling, and to treat it accordingly. To care for the buildings and the land. To respond to the needs of the community as we would our own family. To be hospitable to the visitor. To gather here together. We are called to love this place because the Lord loves it, and love is sacrifice.
I leave the answer to that question to you. It’s yours to answer, because the Lord has given you each what you can offer. I will continue to “transact business” with the Lord for this parish, for this community. In a special way I will be praying for you to discern how the Lord is calling you to love this place, because He is.
“Christian faith, inasmuch as it proclaims the truth of God’s total love and opens us to the power of that love, penetrates to the core of our human experience. Each of us comes to the light because of love, and each of us is called to love in order to remain in the light.” (Lumen Fidei 32)
-Fr. Benjamin F. Green
Sunday, August 4, 2013
Get into spiritual "shape": PRAYER
The beginning of the new sports season has already started. NFL Football camps have begun, colleges are beginning practice for fall sports and high schoolers are beginning two-a-days. Even our junior high football team has begun practicing! I bring up the theme of sports because Pope Francis I at a vigil for World Youth Day in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, used the sports field as an analogy for the spiritual life. In other words, the Holy Father was teaching that sports can be understood as a metaphor for the spiritual life. Of course, he spoke about European football, i.e., soccer. :-)
Telling the youth that “Most of you love Sports!”; he asked, “what do players do when they are asked to join a team?” He continued, “They have to train, and train a lot.” Pope Francis stated that is the same for those who wish to be disciples and that we have to get ourselves into shape. The training: PRAYER!
Carrying the metaphor of sports and training into the spiritual life leads to the conclusion that a solid routine of prayer is necessary to be a true disciple. This means more than just the token Morning Prayer and Blessing Before Meals. Pope Francis is referring to extended prayer where we dialogue with questions to Jesus such as “Jesus look what I have done, what must I do now?”; and, “Father, are you asking us all to pray?”
To start this “training” in prayer the Pope offers an examination of oneself with the following questions: “Do I pray? Do I speak with Jesus, or am I frightened by silence? Do I allow the Holy Spirit to speak in my heart? Do I ask Jesus: what do you want me to do, what do you want from my life? This is training.” As our sports culture begins training for the Fall sports season, let us all start training on the “spiritual” field. We can begin with the questions that the Pope offered to the youth listed above. This is a great starting point.
One thing that I will promise you, if you schedule out a sustained amount of time for prayer each day, at least 15 continuous minutes, you will be surprised at the change in your experience of daily life. You will get more done and you will experience more peace. Why? Well, because you are training the spiritual field of your soul to be a disciple of Christ who continuously strengthens us.
Ad majorem Dei gloriam (For the Greater Glory of God),
Fr. John F. Jirak, Pastor
Telling the youth that “Most of you love Sports!”; he asked, “what do players do when they are asked to join a team?” He continued, “They have to train, and train a lot.” Pope Francis stated that is the same for those who wish to be disciples and that we have to get ourselves into shape. The training: PRAYER!
Carrying the metaphor of sports and training into the spiritual life leads to the conclusion that a solid routine of prayer is necessary to be a true disciple. This means more than just the token Morning Prayer and Blessing Before Meals. Pope Francis is referring to extended prayer where we dialogue with questions to Jesus such as “Jesus look what I have done, what must I do now?”; and, “Father, are you asking us all to pray?”
To start this “training” in prayer the Pope offers an examination of oneself with the following questions: “Do I pray? Do I speak with Jesus, or am I frightened by silence? Do I allow the Holy Spirit to speak in my heart? Do I ask Jesus: what do you want me to do, what do you want from my life? This is training.” As our sports culture begins training for the Fall sports season, let us all start training on the “spiritual” field. We can begin with the questions that the Pope offered to the youth listed above. This is a great starting point.
One thing that I will promise you, if you schedule out a sustained amount of time for prayer each day, at least 15 continuous minutes, you will be surprised at the change in your experience of daily life. You will get more done and you will experience more peace. Why? Well, because you are training the spiritual field of your soul to be a disciple of Christ who continuously strengthens us.
Ad majorem Dei gloriam (For the Greater Glory of God),
Fr. John F. Jirak, Pastor
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