OUR SUNDAY’S IN JULY

I can remember as a young man, our parish priest reminding us at the beginning of summer “not to take a vacation from God, because God did not take a vacation from us!” More than one-quarter of American adults have left the faith in which they were raised – for another religion – or no religion at all.  A survey conducted by the Pew Forum  on Religion and Public Life reported that Protestants in the United States are on the verge of becoming a minority with their membership having dropped to barely 51% of the population.  Catholicism has experienced the greatest losses.  Almost one in three Americans were raised as Catholics, but today, fewer than one in four describe themselves as Catholics.  Approximately 10% of Americans describe themselves as former Catholics.  The survey shows that in spite of this the number of Catholics has remained fairly stable because of people entering the Catholic Church and the high number of Catholic immigrants.

Remember the Gospels telling us of Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. What many have lost sight of – what we all risk the danger of losing sight of – is that we still need this great and heroic figure. Maybe we do not realize that it is we who have fallen away from “the blood of the new and everlasting covenant [which] will be shed for you and for all so that sins will be forgiven.” Maybe the TV commentators are correct – we need to advertise what we offer, but like all good advertising, we have to convince “consumers” that they need what God has to give. People still have needs. What Jesus did for the woman at the well was to help her see that she needed far more than ordinary water. Perhaps we must help people begin to understand once more what it is they truly thirst for. “Come to me all you who are weary and I will give you rest.” “Rest” as Jesus offers it is not a good night’s sleep nor a vacation from work. This is the kind of rest a nation needs after a protracted war. When our soldiers return from Iraq and Afghanistan, they need rest. This is a special kind of rest. It is a rest that heals. It is a rest that lets us recover from what we have experienced so that we can begin something new. Is what we have really what we want? Or – do we thirst for more? Do we need a break from what we know? No, we need to go back to the basics. You must attend Mass each week – many are tempted to miss Mass, miss the Sacraments or even go to other Churches. There is only one Church founded by the Son of God – that’s the Catholic Church! How often do you read the Bible? Reading through once doesn’t cut it – you will get something new out of every passage each time you read it. We need to dispel the phrase “comfortable Catholics” – the one’s who just pick and choose what Sacraments they like or what part of the Church they like. Look around the world – just in the last couple of weeks – there are consequence for sin! When was the last time you went to confession? Absolution is essential – the penances prescribed are required.

How is it, like the Israelites of old, we have forgotten God and the Covenant?  The Torah, the first five books of the Bible, is always referred to as the Law.  It is also referred to as a “yoke.”  Jesus has given us a new law, the Law of Love.  He asks us to take this new yoke upon our shoulders.  He tells us that His “yoke is easy”, which was a euphemism used by farmers to say that the yoke used on their ox did not cause sores.  It fit well, and Jesus’ Law fits well.  And because it is about love, its burden is light.

This Law of Jesus is what we must market, i.e. preach.  Why?  We need it.  We need the kind of rest that makes us ready for something new, something better than we now know, something that can make us far happier than any “commodity” .   With Jesus we are truly given something that can bring rest to world-weary souls.

ARCHBISHOP JOHN P. WALZER