Restructure

August 17: Twentieth Sunday of Ordinary Time:

Isaiah 56:1, 6-7; Psalm 67:2-3, 5, 6, 8; Romans 11:13-15, 29-32; Matthew 15:21-28

Thoughts to help us surrender to Jesus expressing himself through us in ministry.

“A house… for all peoples.” Isaiah 56:7

Do we build churches for ourselves, or for everybody in the neighborhood?

God doesn’t have any “Catholic,” “Presbyterian,” “Baptist” or “Jewish” houses. He said, “My house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.”

Pope Francis said (Joy of the Gospel):

27. I dream of a “missionary option” capable of transforming everything, so that the Church’s customs, ways of doing things, times and schedules, language and structures are changed into channels geared to the evangelization of today’s world rather than to self-preservation… A pastoral reform more inclusive and open, that wins a positive response from all those whom Jesus summons to friendship with himself…

28. The parish is… the presence of the Church in a given territory, an environment for hearing God’s word, for growth in the Christian life, for dialogue, proclamation, charitable outreach, worship and celebration… a sanctuary where the thirsty come to drink in the midst of their journey.

What if our parish re-designed its “times and schedules, language” and all its policies to draw in the unchurched rather than to please the “old guard”?

Does fear of losing old members keep us from making parish life and liturgy attractive to new ones? Is evangelization our goal, or “self-preservation”? Are we open or closed? Loving or selfish? Free or frozen?

What if we saw ourselves as a “neighborhood church”?

PRAY: “Here I am, Lord. Send me!”

PRACTICE: Ask for a meeting of the parish council to discuss this.