“ We can’t always stay up in the mountain, we’ve got to come down from the mountain where our people are. We’ve got to feed the hungry, cloth the naked, give drink to the thirsty, visit the imprisoned and liberate the oppressed. For in these acts of heroic love, goodness, and generosity are found the greater beauty and depth of our Catholic Christian faith.”
I FEEL immensely inspired in my Catholic faith and in my vocation as priest after I attended the LA Archdiocese’s 2014 Religious Education Congress at the Convention Center in Anaheim, California last weekend. The event’s theme, Hope: A World Afire, has achieved its purpose in me: I can’t seem to stop appreciating the gift of my Catholic faith and feeling the passion of proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ more and more.
Undoubtedly, many Catholic Christians who attended the yearly congress have felt the same way. They came from many parishes in the US and in other parts of the globe. They were young and old; cradle Catholics and new converts; priests, bishops, and religious; catechists and ordinary laymen and laywomen. Some even came in their wheel chairs, others with oxygen tanks. Many have been coming to this annual event for the last twenty-five years or more. All were eagerly ready to listen to every word of the speakers.
This year, there seems to be a new vigor that has come in this time of the Catholic Church. I call it “The Catholic Moment”, a new Pentecost. The problems that has beset the Church such as the priests’ sex scandal, the shortage of priests, the financial troubles of the Vatican Curia and all the alleged hypocrisy in church leadership have challenged us to examine our discipleship, leadership, and stewardship. It has awakened us to a fresh way of being Church and new ways of evangelization.
We’ve got to get caught up in this “Catholic Moment.” We have to be part of this exciting period of our Church. Fr. Robert Barron, a renowned theologian who gave Saturday morning’s keynote address, gave several suggestions: 1. Begin with the merciful face of Christ 2. Don’t dumb-down the message 3. Preach with ardor. 4. Tell the great story 5. Use the new media, but be adept with the old one (the world of books that embody the great themes of Tradition) 6. Let the world be captivated by the beauty of our Catholic faith.
This last suggestion has resonated with me strongly because I’ve often preached about it. I always say that is so much beauty, depth, and richness in our Catholic faith. As Robert Barron says, “it’s the most profound humanism…the great friend of the human project.” In it we become “fully human and fully alive” for it addresses the hunger of the human heart.
I believe that this Sunday’s Gospel on the Transfiguration of Christ is about being captivated by the beauty of our Christian Catholic faith. Its fundamental beauty comes from having deep, powerful, and captivating encounters with the Person of Christ through Word and Sacrament.
But being enthralled by this beauty of our faith has its cost. We can’t always stay up in the mountain, we’ve got to come down from the mountain where our people are. We’ve got to feed the hungry, cloth the naked, give drink to the thirsty, visit the imprisoned and liberate the oppressed. For in these acts of heroic love, goodness, and generosity are found the greater beauty and depth of our Catholic Christian faith. Amen.
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Reverend Rodel G. Balagtas attended St. John Seminary in Camarillo, California and earned his Doctor of Ministry in Preaching from Aquinas Institute of Theology in St. Louis, Missouri. For twenty years, he has been in the parish ministry of large multi-cultural communities. Since 2002, he has been the pastor of Immaculate Heart of Mary Church in Los Angeles. Please email Fr. Rodel at [email protected].