Jesus leaves home

The gospel today is a logical choice after feast of the epiphany : Jesus leaves the comforts of home and enters galilee and decapolis. He wants to bring his message and his presence to all people. The church must continually move into every part of the world to bring Christ to every human being.
We are, at heart, missionary religion in that we are always being sent. Our religion and places of worship do not exist to make us comfortable and cozy. We are called to bring what we have received into the world in which we live. The first words out of Jesus are " repent" meaning "turn around" and live for God in Christ. To repent means to change one's heart which is never a comfortable experience.

At times our religion and church seem burdened by law and custom. I am in a country, France, that had a mass attendance of less than five percent. The church is not solely to blame for this situation which is spreading in America. A culture such as ours that worships the individual at the expense of forming community makes Christianity difficult if not impossible.
But the face of the church's leadership is male and senior. As I see the television screens display images of older celebrate men defending the sanctity of marriage I simply have to wonder. Shouldn't women and men who are married be a part of the witness? If the teachings of the church are to be defended we need a larger voice than what we are giving the world.

Christ, the gospel, the sacraments need to be proclaimed publicly by a much wider representation of the human race. Sooner or later the governance of our church must be expanded if we are to continue to bring the gospel into the galilee of today: secular society. As baptized disciples , we all must take responsibility for the mission of the church. Vatican II rightfully made baptism the foundation for its vision and teaching, rather than holy orders. We are ALL called to holiness and we all have a responsibility to witness to the gospel.

As we look to renovate our church, may the placement of the baptismal font truly speak the vision of Vatican II. As long as the font is off to the side and has little relationship with the altar, the power of this sacrament will continue to be diminished. We are a church of the baptized not the ordained. Buen camino. Padre