It seems to me as though we just celebrated Christmas and New Year a couple of weeks ago, and here we are staring into the six weeks of Lent that stretch ahead of us, beginning this Ash Wednesday. This Sixth Sunday of Ordinary Time has us considering the simple path of discipleship. It’s not a bad place from which to prepare ourselves for Lent.
Paul writes to the Corinthians:
“Brothers and sisters, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do everything for the glory of God. Avoid giving offense, whether to the Jews or Greeks or the church of God, just as I try to please everyone in every way, not seeking my own benefit but that of the many, that they may be saved. Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.”
It’s a brief passage, but one that also holds a pertinent message for we who read it two millennia later. Paul summarizes his eloquence in the brief commandment: “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.” In other words, Paul reminds us, the way of the disciple is the way of Jesus. We are to follow his example in all that we do as we endeavor to witness to our faith in Jesus.
A few years ago, there were bumper stickers and bracelets and all sorts of stuff with the letters WWJD - What Would Jesus Do? Although I thought it was very clever, and certainly astute in its invitation to reflect on what it means to be a Christian, in my mind, it was never really the question. The much more important question is what do we do? What do we do because of who Jesus is for us? Put a slightly different way, what is the difference that Jesus actually makes for us in the living of our lives?
In our first reading today, the good of the community is preserved and maintained by setting apart the one who is confronted with illness. Lepers must live apart from the community. They are to “dwell apart” from everyone else. At a time when the person is afflicted with illness, confronted with insurmountable challenges and perhaps may really need the support of the community, they have to be set apart. In the gospel, however, Jesus embraces those people, he makes a point of restoring not only their physical health, but he also restores the health of their relationships with the community at large. In the mission and ministry of Jesus, the health of the entire community is always in play, and the community is healthier and more itself when every member of it is being cared for and looked out for. The community is stronger and healthier when all are in good and right relationship, one with another.
Through our participation in Together in Mission we enter into this mystery of good and right relationship of the Catholic community here in Los Angeles. Together in Mission is our way of working for the good and health of all the different parishes that go to make up our local community of faith. Parishes like our own here in Northridge have our own set of concerns and challenges, but we are graced and gifted by God and the generosity of God’s people to be able to face them and deal with them as we need to. Other parishes, however, struggle with challenges and concerns we are privileged not to have to deal with. Sometimes, keeping the doors of the church open on a Sunday morning, believe it or not, can be a daunting challenge. It is our participation in our annual Together in Mission Campaign that allows 80 parishes and 63 schools across the Archdiocese to continue our mission in some of the most disadvantaged neighborhoods of our local Church community. We do not turn our backs on our brothers and sisters facing these struggles in their parishes. We do not set them apart. Rather, we embrace our brothers and sisters in faith, supporting them and caring for them in such a way as to allow the mission and ministry of the Church to be continued, and the love and care of Christ to be manifest 2000 years after he encountered the leper in today’s gospel. When all our parishes are healthy and well, then we here at Lourdes are made even more healthy and well together.
May God mightily bless you and your families as you participate in our annual Together in Mission
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