"GO and MAKE DISCIPLES OF ALL NATIONS, BAPTIZING them in the name of the Father and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, TEACHING them to observe all that I have commanded you." (Matthew 28:19). This is the final ORDER given by Jesus to his disciples at the end of Matthew's Gospel. This is what Jesus is asking from each one of us in Waldorf today: GO AND EVANGELIZE!
Jesus is challenging each one of us to get out of our comfort zone and to have the missionary spirit of His first disciples. Once we have experienced the Love of God in our lives, we cannot be lukewarm to the teachings of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Either like non-believers we reject Jesus or like His first disciples we become passionate followers of Jesus as He becomes the center of our life. We may feel incompetent. We may feel afraid to handle the daunting task of evangelization . But we are not alone: JESUS IS ALWAYS WITH US and will give us the necessary GRACES and STRENGTH: "I AM WITH YOU ALWAYS, UNTIL THE END OF THE AGE” (Matthew 28:20).
Since our baptism, we are all called to evangelize, to bring people to Jesus by proclaiming the Gospel: the good news, the promise that as the Risen Lord is lifted up to Heaven, He will send us His Spirit so that we too can be lifted up and be with Him for eternal life: this is the destination of our journey on earth, this is why Jesus came on earth to help save us.
Evangelization begins at home. Parents are the primary teachers of their children. Over the last 2,000 years, the teachings of Our LORD Jesus Christ have been transmitted to billions of people throughout the entire world. The Church has continued being strong because Jesus is the Head of the Church from its very beginning at PENTECOST, which we celebrated with such great JOY last week.
We evangelize one person at a time. We evangelize by our example, by our way of our life, by following God's commandments, by inviting our neighbors and friends to join us at church, by volunteering at our church. We are blessed at OLHOC by having such a large number of committed volunteers. A good example of evangeli- zation was the Crowning of Mary and our Outdoor Mass last Sunday. People passing by may have been touched by the colorful and joyful gathering of so many families and children in front of our church, around the statue of Mary and at the foot of our large outdoor Cross. The weather was just perfect: sunny and breezy. Most importantly, at the outdoor altar Jesus became truly present through HIS BODY and BLOOD. Jesus had been truly brought outside our Church...At the moment of Communion, I could feel the JOY of our children and families: it reminded me of Jesus' miracle of the multiplication of the bread
( the feeding of the 4,000) on a mountain overlooking the Sea of Galilee. I was particularly moved to see so many "second communicants" ; they had received their First Holy Communion the day before and they came back in their beautiful vestments to help crown Mary and receive Jesus for the second time in their life.
I invite every one of you to reflect on how you can follow Jesus' command to go out and evangelize. Parents, you are the primary teachers of your children and I invite you to deepen the understanding of your Faith and the teachings of the Church (we are continuing the Catholicism for Adults program and we will write shortly about it). Parents, Grand-Parents, Singles I invite you to consider TEACHING IN OUR CCD Program. We need teachers and teacher aides for our new program starting September 19. I am placing this call at this time as we begin pre-registering children for September. We need teachers for assisting with the "at home" learning. We need teachers and aides to assist children in the classroom as we are able to start again face to face learning this Fall. If you hear God's call to assist our children, let me know your interest (pastor@olhoc.org). If you have children from the age of 4 (from pre-K through 8th grade), this is the time to pre-register your kids for our Fall CCD program.
On this Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity let us pray together to the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, who are three Persons in ONE GOD:
"Heavenly FATHER, we thank you for the Gift of Life and for having sent us Your Son Our Lord Jesus Christ to redeem our sins and lead us to eternal salvation.
Jesus, only SON of the Father, we thank you for the Promise to never leave us alone and send us the Holy Spirit.
HOLY SPIRIT , help us to open our Hearts to the Fire of Your Love and guide us in everything we do so that we can always do God's will.
TRIUNE GOD, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, give us the desire , courage and strength to GO AND EVANGELIZE . Help us to be TEACHERS OF THE FAITH for our OLHOC children , in our own families at home and in our parish faith formation programs.”