Maybe Jesus laughed to Himself as James and John sought to sit at His right and His left in the Kingdom to come. In Matthew’s Gospel, it is their mother who asks this favor of Jesus. Maybe He was a little perturbed that they did not comprehend His constant teachings to them about service and sacrifice and caring for others as they seemed to simply look out for themselves. Maybe Jesus admired a little of their courage when they told Him they would gladly suffer with Him for this honor. And maybe Jesus cried a little deep inside knowing He was not the one who would bestow such an honor because He loved these brothers so much that He took them everywhere with Him. We do not know what Jesus thought, but we know the brothers made the other apostles jealous and angry.
As the Pastor, part of Renew My Church for me is learning what authority to give to someone else. For example, I don’t run the parish calendar. I gave that authority to Maritza long ago. Maritza is careful about checking dates for conflicts between rooms or how various groups may be affected by any request for space for a new event. I am not careful in this area. When people call Maritza, she is at her desk, ready to look over the various dates on the calendar, making sure everything will be okay. When she says, “yes” to an event, you know that date is secure and there will be few if any problems. On the other hand, people come to me after Mass or on the street, or while visiting a patient at the hospital. I have no calendar to look at and my mind is not thinking of all the details involved in their request. For that reason, Maritza runs the calendar.
With Renew My Church, I am called to consider all the aspects of my ministry and determine where I need to focus my energy for the sake of our growth and to choose areas where other people can minister (more) effectively so that I can do those things that I need to do. Thankfully, with two associate pastors, I have capable hands in which I can entrust areas that I used to worry about myself. Father Bolívar has taken on fund-raising and Youth Ministry while Father Leo has taken on the Liturgy and the Marriage Support Group. These are big responsibilities which used to be on my shoulders along with so many others. They are in charge of these ministries, and they make the decisions for those ministries. I focus my attention upon parish unity and evangelization, upon staff formation and forming a parish culture which welcomes and reaches out to others. Of course, they are not the only ones entrusted with more responsibility for the parish mission. Hiring some of the staff who worked at IHM and Resurrection has given us capable people to help us do more with social communication, bulletin, record-keeping, Religious Education and maintenance. Each staff person has areas where they make decisions and keep the parish running smoothly.
By giving more responsibility to those who are capable, I am able to do more myself. As members of this community, we are all called to share our faith. However, each of us is called to share in different ways. Do you have time to share your faith? You may have to let someone else do what you are doing now in the parish in order to do more as we prepare to evangelize, if that is your calling.
Sometimes, we reduce our “Pro-Life” mission to simply protecting the unborn, the sick or the elderly. Being “Pro-Life” also means respecting our gifts and ministries and one another. We will avoid the jealousy the apostles suffered in today’s Gospel by respecting each person’s ministry and talents.
Peace, Fr Nick