14th Sunday of Ordinary Time

In 2007 it had been twenty-two years since the Boston Celtics won a National Basketball Association championship. The team, who for decades dominated the league, was experiencing a very long dry spell. Then in an effort to rejuvenate the team, management made two off-season blockbuster trades. They acquired stars, Ray Allen, and Kevin Garnett to join the existing core of Rajon Rondo, Paul Peirce, and Kendrick Perkins to form a dream team. Celtics World was ecstatic and filled with hope for another long championship run. 

I remember a television advertisement for the club. It featured a young man in his mid-teens laying on his bed, watching his TV, and unwinding after school. The news of the trades comes on the television. The young man sits up straight, a look of disbelief comes on his face, his eyes grow big, as he crawls down his bed to get closer to the TV all the better to learn more about the unimaginable deals. 

That season the rejuvenated Celtics staged the most dramatic turnaround in NBA history and won the 2008 championship. They went deep into the 2009 playoffs but lost the Divisional Championship series to the Orlando Magic in seven games. Unfortunately, egos and contract issues prevented them from becoming a legendary team.

Isaiah predicts a much better outcome for a yet to be rejuvenated Jerusalem. He promised the small community of Jerusalem inhabitants who have returned to the city from the Babylonian exile it will become a great city. Jerusalem will experience a glorious rebirth. Although it lies in ruins with only about five hundred inhabitants, Isaiah foresees restoration. He proclaims the rebirth of the city and envisions it being a generous mother whose residents flourish. 

In today’s gospel Jesus sends forth seventy-two disciples grouped in pairs. Their purpose is to rejuvenate the world. The ancient world was believed to contain seventy-two nations. Symbolically, the disciples are sent to each of them to prepare for Jesus’ visit. They are intended to go be the harvesters of a great crop. They are to proclaim peace, cure the sick, and announce the coming of God’s Kingdom. 

Paul too tells the Galatians they can rejuvenate the world. Paul encourages his listeners to take up the cross and bring about transformation for good in their community. He tells them Jesus’ passion and death on the cross recreated all things to make them new. If the Galatians begin to live their lives patterned after Jesus’ they can transform the world. Being faithful to Jesus will be challenging for the disciple. They will experience being wounded for Christ if they are faithful. As follower of Jesus, they will, like Paul, suffer persecution for Christ. If, however, they imitate Jesus, who lived a life of obedience to the will of God the Father, they will experience a rebirth in their lives. 

When the seventy-two returned to Jesus they witnessed to how bringing Jesus’ message to the world rewarded them and rejuvenated their lives. With great excitement they told Jesus how they were able to have a great impact with their ministry. They exclaimed even demons were subject to them when they proclaimed his name. Jesus promised that while nothing would harm them if they preached in his name, he had a more important benefit for them. He told them their names were written in heaven. God took notice of who they were.

The Covid Pandemic and many other issues have impacted Holy Redeemer Parish just like every other institution in our world but we are building back. We are working to rejuvenate our parish and the Church. One of those ways has been establishing small faith sharing groups. Small groups are where our bigger church becomes smaller so we can minister to each other. 

We began this initiative more than a year and a half ago. Today more than half a dozen groups with over seventy members exist. Here in small groups members support each other’s faith and grow in theirs’s. They bring healing and encouragement to each other and reach out to the wider community.

On July 15, the Small Groups ministry is sponsoring a visit from our Bishop Edgar Da Cunha to come and give a talk on the Holy Year theme of Pilgrims of Hope, bless our new organ and piano, and let parishioners who are not members of small groups get a taste of what they have to offer. We are excited that more than 130 parishioners have reserved a spot to participate in the day. There is still time to register if you haven’t already. 

Another way we are rejuvenating Holy Redeemer is by hiring our Deacon Art LaChance as Business Manager/Pastoral Associate. We already have a half-time Business Manager position held by Howard Wheldon who retired at the end of June. Several weeks ago, I told you hiring Deacon Art as a Pastoral Associate was a dream of mine. Having someone to help me by taking on special projects would help our parish grow. Unfortunately, we couldn’t afford it under current financial circumstances. I asked parishioners to consider increasing their parish financial support. Rather than just increasing it by a set amount I want to encourage parishioners to consider making their gifts to the parish a percentage of their income. What would a gift of 1%, 2% or 5% look like for you? Being generous to your parish and other Church organizations is a true sign of commitment to your being a faithful disciple. 

A couple who are seasonal parishioner took to heart my suggestion. They have come forward with the pledge to donate on a monthly basis the extra $3,200, a month needed to hire Deacon Art as our Pastoral Associate. That is great news but also frightening because we don’t want to depend on just one donor to pay the way. God forbid something happen to them that would cause their gift to stop. Every parishioner still needs to consider their level of support of the parish so we can continue to grow as a force for renewal in our community.

Later in the summer we will be starting a campaign to raise funds to replace the siding on the main part of the church and several other projects to complete our church renovation projects. We want Holy Redeemer to be a completely renewed church both physically and spiritually. The only thing that limits the great things we can do as a parish is the willingness of our parishioners to share of their time, talent, and treasure to make Holy Redeemer the sign, we are called to be of God’s love in our world.

A completely spiritually and physically renovated Holy Redeemer Parish will help renew our community, the whole Church, and the world. As the seventy-two disciples experienced, when we speak of Jesus’ name and imitate his actions great things can happen. The sick are healed, the demons of addiction, selfishness, and lack of empathy is driven out, oppression, distain for the poor, and neglect of the needy are overcome. 

Renovating our world and making the Kingdom of God evident in our lives begins with simple things. Things as simple as a smile offered to a stranger, patience in traffic, speaking the truth to power, being physically and emotionally present to others, and easing the loneliness of another person.

We can rebuild the spiritual Jerusalem into something truly wonderful. We can go forth proclaiming the presence of Jesus Christ to others, we can take up the cross by imitating the love shared by Jesus and God the Father. This is all possible only through our receiving the grace of God in the Eucharist and sharing it with our world.