St. Paul's Letter to ...

Reading from St. Paul I am always very aware of the humanness that Paul conveys.  He struggles with the various communities and works hard at helping them keep connected to the faith they are baptized into.  Paul sometimes seems exasperated with the Corinthians, and other times praises the various communities for their insight and pastoral response.  The issues of pettiness, scrupulosity, divisions within the community, jealousy and a host of other problems, are what we still deal with today in the parish.

Maybe this is why St Paul is so readable.  We continue to struggle with the human fallibility and brokenness which we tend to be hobbled with.  The struggle for the parish community and the community of faith, is to continue to recognize the grace and blessings which are conveyed through the mystery that we celebrate, and to continue to re-group around the mystery of faith.  This is easier than it sounds.

A friend of mine reported once that on Easter Sunday, as we renewed our baptismal promises, and began the sprinkling rite, a couple nearby her seemed annoyed at the fact I was splashing water on everyone.  They have the experience and miss the meaning.  I was sharing with a group the other night that we still have people, and these are young people, that call the Sacrament of Anointing, "The last rites."  Maybe because we do not reach the depths of faith and holiness of which our baptism calls us to, we get drawn back down into all sorts of vices and bad habits. 

Especially during this the year of faith our Church really needs to be bold, as well as prophetic, in its delivery of the good news.  Our message will not be made clear through pious externals, but the challenge to convert hearts and minds. 

St. Paul speaks about the very basics of our faith, the Word of God, and the Sacraments of initiation.  It is good to go  back there again and again so as to recall the origins of our faith.  We need to re-discover the paschal mystery and be amazed once again at the faithfulness of God.  It is probably one of the best ways we can discover our faith.