Many of you are familiar with one of the biblical themes that Father John and I have been utilizing to explain the focus and direction of our Parish Family. Jesus’ parable of new wine being poured into new wineskins can be found in three of the four Gospels. It is a powerful description of how we are renewing and invigorating our Catholic Church, Saint John the Evangelist, to take on the challenges of the current world around us, in a positive, joyous and engaging way. Our new programs, efforts, and activities need to be “poured” into new wineskins, like our Life Center, in order to be protected and successful.
On All Saints Day, one of the biggest proponents of our “New Wineskin” methodology, Pope Francis, gave us all his latest set of instructions on how we can renew the Catholic Church, with six new Beatitudes:
Yet if there is one thing typical of the saints, it is that they are genuinely happy. They found the secret of authentic happiness, which lies deep within the soul and has its source in the love of God. That is why we call the saints blessed. The Beatitudes are their path, their goal towards the homeland. The Beatitudes are the way of life that the Lord teaches us, so that we can follow in his footsteps. In the Gospel of today’s Mass, we heard how Jesus proclaimed the Beatitudes before a great crowd on the hill by the Sea of Galilee…
The Beatitudes are in some sense the Christian’s identity card. They identify us as followers of Jesus. We are called to be blessed, to be followers of Jesus, to confront the troubles and anxieties of our age with the spirit and love of Jesus. Thus we ought to be able to recognize and respond to new situations with fresh spiritual energy.
- Blessed are those who remain faithful while enduring evils inflicted on them by others, and forgive them from their heart.
- Blessed are those who look into the eyes of the abandoned and marginalized, and show them their closeness.
- Blessed are those who see God in every person, and strive to make others also discover him.
- Blessed are those who protect and care for our common home.
- Blessed are those who renounce their own comfort in order to help others.
- Blessed are those who pray and work for full communion between Christians.
All these are messengers of God’s mercy and tenderness, and surely they will receive from him their merited reward.
Dear brothers and sisters, the call to holiness is directed to everyone and must be received from the Lord in a spirit of faith. The saints spur us on by their lives and their intercession before God, and we ourselves need one another if we are to become saints. Helping one another to become saints! Together let us implore the grace to accept this call with joy and to join in bringing it to fulfilment. To our heavenly Mother, Queen of All Saints, we entrust our intentions and the dialogue aimed at the full communion of all Christians, so that we may be blessed in our efforts and may attain holiness in unity.
– Pope Francis 11/1/2016 (http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/homilies/2016/documents/papa-francesco_20161101_omelia-svezia-malmo.html)
I pray we all heed Our Holy Father’s call to become saints together in our words and in our actions.