For me, to preach the Gospel means we should live lives of integrity, generosity, compassion, patience, and courage, in a way that speaks to the people around us and inspires them to embrace the Gospel in new and dynamic ways?
But as I shared with Deacon Corey in his studies, we also need to use words. We need to encourage people with our words. In the past year, Deacon Corey has shared in this ministry by preaching every other week in our parish at Holy Family in North Java. As ministers of God’s Word, we need to use the words of the Gospel to bring truth into people's lives. That's becoming rarer and rarer in our society.
We talk a lot about meeting people where they are and leading them to where God is calling them to be. This essentially was Jesus' model of evangelization. Jesus never preached to somebody before he fed them, healed them, comforted them. This was his approach. He went out to the people. He met the people where they were physically, emotionally, intellectually and spiritually. He met them where they were. He ministered to them usually, first, in a human need and then he ministered to them spiritually. He met them where they were and led them to where God is calling them to be.
As Deacon Corey embraces the ministry of priesthood, he will have the opportunity to preach to people who would benefit from a deeper experience of God or a richer spirituality in their lives.
In sharing my 44 years of ministry, I have had to search my heart and ask, "Are we really meeting them where they're at? Or are we standing down the road and saying, “Hey guys, come down here. Life will be better if you come down here.” Because that's not what God calls us priests to. He calls us to walk back down the road to meet them where they're at to say, "What is troubling your heart? And they may say, "I am worried about going back to work,” They may say, “I got a whole bunch of credit card debt." They may say, "I just lost my job." They may say, "I don't like my job. I don't get on with my colleagues at work. I'm worried about my son's health. I'm worried about my daughter's education. And my mother’s sick. My dad's sick." The things that are heavy on people's hearts.
As priests, the most important gift we have to give people is our time. Time to listen and ask the question, “What's troubling your heart?” Because when we meet people where they are, we are first concerned with what's troubling their hearts. And there are so many ways that we can help people carry their burden.
But the first way is just to recognize that people are carrying a burden. To listen to the burden that they're carrying. And then, to do an inventory of our lives and say, "Okay, how can I help this person? What talents or resources do I have available to me that can help this person?" And the person may say, "I'm struggling with this." We may think, "I know this person was really good at that or an expert at that. Maybe I can connect the two, and they can help each other?" We're here to help each other.
Serving as a priest is not about just putting a Bible in every person's hand. Serving as a pastor is not just about baptizing every person. The priesthood is about bringing God's grace to each other's lives. It's about being people, for people. And I think when we try to bring a message to people in a way that lacks humanity, or ignores the humanity that they're wrestling with at that moment in their lives, then the message falls on deaf ears. Because you cannot preach to a starving person. A starving person cannot hear the message. You have to feed the starving person. And then their ears become open.
In my role as shepherd, pastor and teacher, this has been the focus of my mentoring Deacon Corey that every person’s life would be improved if they moved closer to God, if they had a deeper experience of the Gospel, if they had a richer spirituality, they're all starving in some way.
My humble gratitude to Deacon Corey and my praise and thanksgiving that he has accepted the invitation of Jesus to work out how people are starving, how he can feed them so that they can hear the life-giving, life-changing words of Jesus in the Gospel.
Fraternally yours,
Father Matt
