Trusting in the Authority of the Lord
Have you given your life over to the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ?
Today's readings proclaim the teaching and healing authority of the Lord, an authority that you and I see over and over again in the Gospels.
Even though the Lord’s authority is directed toward teaching and healing, this question unsettles us as Americans. Don’t we Americans have a pretty contradictory relationship with authority, especially civil and legal authority? Think about it. For instance … have you ever asked yourself why you sit at a red light for 90 seconds in the middle of the night with no traffic in sight? Or why will a whole phalanx of cars drive precisely 55 miles per hour just because a patrol car is in the lineup? Have ever you asked yourself why, on the other hand, Americans will carry placards outside a plant gate if we don’t like their compensation, gather thousands of signatures on a petition to unseat a governing official, block agency functions and stop traffic to change government policy, or habitually speed on the highway when there are no police in sight? Aren’t we American at odds with ourselves in relationship to authority?
The question “Have you given your life over to the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ?” can disturb many among us as human beings, too.
Why? Because we have felt so hurt, confused, disillusioned and let down by authority in our lives – the father who abused us, the mother who manipulated us, the teacher who disliked us, the coach who benched us, the priest who gave us bad advice, the policeman who ticketed us.
No matter how ambivalent we may feel about it, our readings call us to open ourselves to trusting the authority of the Lord Jesus by placing ourselves before the Lord, listening for his voice, and reflecting upon the bonds we share with the Lord and those around us. Even in the midst of our hesitation to trust, the readings call us to silence before the Lord, to open in that silence toward trusting in his authority.
Among the most important of those with whom we share life are the 111,000 men and women across the 48,000 square miles split by the Continental Divide that is the Diocese of Pueblo. Within the bonds we share as a Diocesan Church, today’s readings call us to enter into a heart to heart relationship with the Lord and with one another, and dare to trust.
We the baptized in the Diocese of Pueblo are Anglo, land grant Spanish, immigrant Mexican, Guatemalan, Native American and Asian. Very many among us are physically isolated, financially distressed, emotionally hard pressed and famished for relationship. In very many areas of our far flung mountain, desert and plains Diocesan Church, our brothers and sisters hunger for the Lord’s teaching and long for his healing. Only if you and I will lift up our hearts in trust, only if you and I will offer, heart to heart, in trust, our financial gifts, can we all together deepen our spiritual bonds and support the Diocese’s teaching and healing ministry for God’s sake and the common good of us all.
If we will lift up our hearts in trust and generosity, thousands of Spanish-speaking families among us can hear the Gospel, teach their children the faith and celebrate with us the divine life we share. If we will lift up our hearts in trusting generosity, inmates of 28 prisons can hear the Good News and celebrate the sacraments with us. If we will lift up our hearts in trust and generosity, then we will all together – sharing in the healing and teaching authority of the Lord among us – comfort our old, inspire our youth, prepare our ministers, ordain new priests and deacons, support our families, catechize our parish communities, support our needy, protect our most vulnerable and celebrate the communion of the human and the divine in our own lives and across our local Church. The teaching and healing authority of the Lord that we see Jesus exercise in the Gospel is always and everywhere, through the gift and power of the Holy Spirit we share, loving us, consoling us, drawing us close and bestowing on us the Lord’s peace – if only we will lift up our hearts to the Lord in trust, give ourselves over to his authority, and then extend our hearts to our brothers and sisters in generous service.
People across this Diocesan Church seriously need you and me to trust in the Lord’s authority enough to offer our money to support the teaching and healing ministry of the Diocese of Pueblo. Our parish is asked to contribute almost $95,000.00 to the Diocesan budget. We ask you to consider a pledge of $300.00 for ten months to meet our goal and obligation.
Have you given your life over to the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ?
Today’s scriptures call us to ponder this question deep in our hearts. They call us to dare to lift up our hearts to the Lord in the leap of trust through which we give ourselves and our gifts over to the Lord Jesus’ authority in our lives. Thus they call us to generously serve others, heart to heart, for the sake of building up the Kingdom of God among us through our support of the diocesan Church.
Thank you in advance for your generosity.
Amen. Amen.Msgr. Tom, PastorChrist the King