For the week of Sunday, January 7, 2024
Forward Together
Years ago, John Lennon, one of the famous Beatles, wrote a song called “Imagine.” He asked us to imagine many things, one of them being a world in which there were no countries. He was saying in his song that many things keep us apart, and he was asking us to imagine all people as being one. Many people appreciated the sentiment expressed in that piece of music. There is a longing for peace and oneness in our world.
This weekend the feast of the Epiphany of Our Lord proclaims that Jesus was revealed to the world, to the whole world, as represented by the Magi from the East. Salvation was not just for the Jewish people. No, it was offered to all people. Jesus Christ came for all – not for a chosen few. Our Church is called Catholic, which means universal. We belong to a universal Church. Christ was sent on a mission to the whole of the human race. And what is this mission? It is to bring all of humanity into oneness. We are called by our baptism to unite the whole world. Can you imagine that?
Perhaps this should be our meditation this week. Jesus came for all people. Life did not limit his saving grace to only some specially selected group of people. If Jesus doesn’t limit the salvation that he offers, then we must be very careful that we do not limit the salvation we offer, because in some ways we are called to bring some form of salvation to others. We know that we are the body of Christ and as such are expected to be Christ in this world. We must be as universal as Jesus was. We cannot limit our saving action, our assistance, our help and outreach – we cannot limit them to only those whom we like or have some natural attraction toward. We must be truly Catholic in union as well as in name. To be Catholic is to embrace the whole world.
There is absolutely no room in the life of any Catholic for any kind of prejudice. Prejudice is a judgement or opinion formed before the facts are known, or even formed before the facts are known by deliberately ignoring the facts. It involves preconceived ideas, suspicion, intolerance, or hatred of other races, creeds, regions, occupations, etc. Being prejudiced in any way just doesn’t fit with whom we are called to be as disciples of Jesus Christ. And so, we must make a conscious attempt to rid ourselves of certain limited ways of looking at people.
At times this may take the form of looking down on certain nationalities. This is still all too common among us, and sometimes, even among good people, we let this kind of thing carry on as something to be tolerated. We make jokes, bad jokes, about certain races of people. We attach labels to them and make up names for them instead of calling them by their rightful names.
Or perhaps it is a certain economic group of people that we direct our prejudice toward - the poor usually, the unemployed, the people living on the streets. It was reported that a policeman in a major city, in finding a street person lying on the street, kicked him to see if he was still alive. I wonder if he would have done that to a CEO of a major corporation if he found him lying on the floor of his expensive office. Sometimes we may talk about the homeless as if they were less than human, as if they were another kind of creature.
Or maybe it’s a single mother or an old person who receives less than our fair share of attention. We still suffer from judging people by how young or how old they are, or how they look or dress, by their marital status, their sexual orientation, by the work they do, by the diseases they carry, and so on and so forth. All of this is unacceptable for us as followers of Christ.
Our prejudice damages people because it gets translated into the way we behave toward them. We don’t respect them. We don’t protect them with our laws. We don’t give them the same form of justice that we expect to receive.
Having the name Catholic as part of our identity is a beautiful thing. It means that in our daily lives we will always try to see how we can bring people closer to a bond of love and peace. As Christ prayed, “May they all be one…” Our country and our church are very divided. It seems that as we differ, there are always two sides – those who are against something and those who are for something. Always two sides.
One side wins and another side loses. It all seems so simplistic. We are called to bring people together to try to see some middle ground. As St. Thomas Aquinas reminds us, virtue is found in the middle of two extremes. We are called to be agents of reconciliation.
If we are to be people of the Epiphany, then we must continually work to expand this feast beyond one day. We are to bring Christ’s presence into our daily lives with each other. We have to carry each other in our hearts with no judgement. Judgement creates barriers, walls, bringing separation into our world. To be truly Catholic is to see with the eyes of Christ. It is to have the vision of a world that will eventually be one with Christ as the head. Can you imagine?
Forward together and no one left behind.
Fr. Bill
"You will know your vocation by the joy that it brings you. You will know. You will know when it's right." - Dorothy Day
Dear Parish Community,
As we come to the end of the Christmas Season, we are grateful for the many volunteers, greeters, choir, musicians, servers, readers, environment, and eucharistic ministers who served throughout the Christmas Season. We are blessed by your talents.
In His service, we shared our space with our neighbors, visitors, new friends, and those returning to the Church. It was a beautiful Christmas Season at Pax Christi; thank you for being part of the celebration.
Wishing you all a healthy and happy new year.
With gratitude,
Fr. Bill and Michelle Fox
MASS TIMES, RECONCILIATION,
& ANOINTING OF THE SICK
December Contributions:
Weekend Collections 117,805
Online Giving 127,177
Stock 126,633
Other 172,970
Total December 544,585
Stock 126,633
Other 172,970
Total December 544,585
Budget 390,000
Variance 154,585
YTD Actual 1,470,088
YTD Budget 1,335,000
YTD Variance 135,088
A very heartfelt THANK YOU for your many expressions of generosity during the month of December. Our YTD operating deficit has been eliminated with your generosity! In addition to Regular Contributions, you supported the Retirement Fund for Religious, Share the Joy, the Pax Christi Community Endowment Fund and designated capital needs! We are most grateful for each and every gift received.
PAX CHRISTI PRAYER CORNER
PRAYERS OF THE FAITHFUL
Please join us in holding up the prayers brought forward during all Masses last weekend.
PAX CHRISTI PRAYER WALL & SUPPORT
Pray for the Pax Christi Community! Please view the prayer wall and pray for the needs of fellow Pax Christi Community members by CLICKING HERE.
Do you have a prayer you would like to add to the Pax Christi Prayer Wall? If you would like to add a prayer request to the Prayer Wall, CLICK HERE. This link invites you to fill out a very brief form so that we can pray for your intention.
HOLDING UP THOSE EXPERIENCING LOSS
To see a full list of all upcoming funerals being held at Pax Christi along with an obituary if the family chooses, please CLICK HERE.
- Jeanne Lentz, sister of Nancy Rasing
- Darrell Sawyer, husband of Marian Sawyer
ANNOUNCEMENTS
CLICK HERE for all upcoming events and registration.
PAX CHRISTI'S OPEN ARMS MINISTRY
Are You Called to Serve? One Friday a Month from 9 a.m. - 11 a.m.
Pax Christi has just started an Open Arms Ministry that will serve at Open Arms once a month, making a profound difference for our neighbors living with life-threatening illnesses. Anyone with a heart to serve and dedication to show up whenever possible is invited to join the group!
To inquire or sign up, contact Joan Howe-Pullis: Phone: 952-405-7247 Email:
jhowe-pullis@paxchristi.com. More information about Open Arms of MN can be found at: https://www.openarmsmn.org/. CLICK HERE to learn more about this event!
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