Wisdom 7:7-11

The book of Wisdom was written about 50 years before Christ. When Solomon, one of Israel's greatest kings, began his reign, God invited him to pray for anything he wanted. He prayed only for wisdom. In today's passage, the author portrays Solomon telling this story and saying how much he valued that gift.

Hebrews 4:12-13

A unique feature of the letter to the Hebrews is an extended reflection on selected Old Testament texts. This is because both Jews and Christians believe that the Scriptures are not a dead letter but are always spoken "live" to us by God. Using the Old Testament image of the sword, the author describes how God's word strikes right to the heart of our daily lives.

Mark 10:17-30

Bishop Untener's Homily

The 150th Anniversary of St. Joseph Parish, Bay City

 

It's unusual to be able to celebrate the 150th anniversary... of anything. You can feel a certain spirit in the air, a sense that we're involved in something that is very special.

For one thing, there is a flood of memories of people and events that go back far before anyone here was born. Anniversaries are a time for memories. We think of...

  • The missionaries who came here to minister to the first Catholic settlers.
  • The first small wood church built in 1850
  • The first marriages, the first baptisms.
  • The second church built in 1880.
  • The religious women who came to teach in the school
  • The coming of the Holy Ghost fathers to serve this parish in 1888.
  • The construction of this church building which began in 1906
  • The hard work and generosity of the parishioners who ultimately were the ones who made all these things happen.

Those are good memories that feed our spirit today. We stand on the shoulders of people who faced the same kinds of problems we face today - financial struggles, trying to find available priests, trying to get trained leaders to be involved in the ministries that are part of parish life, the inevitable internal disagreements that are part of any family, any community - and they had the spirit, the drive, the grit to see things through.

But what we celebrate today goes even deeper than that. It goes beyond the buildings, the pastors, the teachers, the individual efforts of so many parishioners. I'd like to reflect on that.

The Body of Christ

We're used to reading the Gospels, and we more or less take it in stride that Jesus called people to become disciples and follow him. But the great preachers and prophets of the Old Testament didn't do that.  Followers were sometimes attracted to them and became attached to them. But these preachers and prophets themselves didn't seek out disciples and take the initiative to call them to be part of what they were about. They preached the word of God and let it fall where it may.

Jesus did call disciples, and that is very significant. In all four Gospels, at the beginning of his public life, Jesus specifically calls individuals to be his disciples. In the very first chapter of Mark's Gospel Jesus calls Peter, Andrew, James, John.

Jesus came to gather people to be part of what he had come to do . . . people who would walk with him and work with him in bringing about the kingdom of God. Jesus gathered a group, which is what the word "church" - ecclesia - means: a group called together.

But it wasn't simply calling people to follow him. Jesus identifies with this group, and they with him. He acts through them. He is present with them. Where they are, he is. It was Jesus who said:

For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.

In John's Gospel, at the Last Supper, Jesus promised that he would stay with this group even after death. It was there that he said:

I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains in me and I in them will bear much fruit … because without me you can do nothing.

He also promised them:

The Advocate - the holy Spirit that the Father will send in my name - will teach you everything and remind you of all that I told you.

At the very end of Matthew's Gospel, the last words of Jesus to the disciples are:

And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.

Christ pours his Spirit upon the community of disciples and they become the Body of Christ. In the community of disciples we have the presence and action of Christ.

St. Joseph Parish

This leads in to what we are celebrating on this 150th anniversary of St. Joseph Parish.

The Gospel passage that falls on this particular Sunday tells of Jesus calling someone to be his disciple. An unnamed man comes up to Jesus and asks him a question. Jesus recognizes his sincerity, and loves him, and says, "Come, follow me." And the man turns him down.

What we celebrate today is that for 150 years there has been a community here who individually and collectively said "yes" to the Lord's call to follow him. And they formed a community of disciples, a community in which the Spirit became specially present - the Spirit that made them the living Body of Christ.

There has been, for 150 years, in this part of the world, in this part of Bay City, a group of people who, unlike the man in today's Gospel, said "yes" to the Lord's call and who became a community that was the real presence of the Lord in this time and space. St. Paul put it forcefully when he said to the parish in Corinth:

"Do you not know that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?" (1 Cor 3:16)

In the letter to the Ephesians we read:

You are . . . members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the capstone. Through him the whole structure is held together and grows into a temple sacred in the Lord; in him you are being built together into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit. (2:19-22)

The presence of Christ in a time and space makes a difference. You bet it does.

On this anniversary we celebrate that there has been for 150 years there has been a group of people who said "yes" to Christ's invitation to be a community of disciples, and to be the Body of Christ in this time and in this space. And we commit ourselves to do the same in the years ahead.

I close with the closing words of Paul in that parish at Corinth:

The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you. My love to all of you in Christ Jesus. 

And I add: Happy Anniversary!

Originally given on October 15, 2000