Our Lady of Lourdes Church and School

Continuing to read from the Sermon on the Mount, today we hear Jesus teach: “seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given you besides. Fittingly, the words of St. Paul also encourage us to focus on living lives of significance: “Brothers and sisters: Thus should one regard us: as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God.Now it is of course required of stewards that they be found trustworthy…” These exhortations from our scriptures are appropriate for us as we explore some of what it means to be a community of believers in Northridge in 2017.

Last weekend I shared that our participation in the Parish Catalyst process was allowing us to reflect on what it means to be a catholic parish, and how we might like to see ourselves becoming even more faithful in our efforts to be the Catholic presence here in our little corner of the San Fernando Valley. We’ve slowly been working on some signage around the parish campus. School, Church and Parish offices are easy enough to locate for those who are familiar with our campus, but we are endeavoring to make our campus a little more friendly to those who are perhaps less familiar with our space.

We’ve also posted our parish mission statement on the patio - Embracing God’s People. Equipping Disciples. Accompanying Believers. Of course, coming up with a nice, brief synthesis of our hopes for ourselves is relatively easy. The more difficult part of this is trying to incorporate the ideas these words contain into our lives as individual members of the parish and as a collective whole. For those who were part of the long and reflective conversations that took place over months, these words are laden with meaning and significance. However, it is good for all of us to remember that they are words that express not the current reality of who we are as much as they are words of inspiration, expressive of ideas and values designed to spur us into growing into the parish that would embody them.

So we all get to ask ourselves, for example, what does it mean for us to say we are a community of believers who strive to embrace God’s people? What does “embracing God’s people” look like with “skin on”? What might be involved practically in our being a truly welcoming and hospitable community? Dare I greet someone in Church that I’ve never greeted before? Dare I invite someone to join me for a cup of coffee in Stroup Hall after church on Sunday morning? Or perhaps I might challenge myself to linger on the patio and risk a chat with someone I see every week, but don’t really know? Might I offer a smile of encouragement to a parent I see struggling with a little one in Church? Might I slide into the pew to make room for a late-comer rather than have them climb over me? Might I invite a friend or a neighbor to join me at church some Sunday?

I’d really love to hear some ideas for what this vision, this value of “Embracing God’s People” might look like for us. Anyone inclined to share is welcome to go onto our new parish website and leave a comment. It may not be possible to respond to everyone, but I can promise I and the parish staff will read everything that is shared.