The Reason for Our Hope

by Fr. Vin

“Always be ready to give an explanation to anyone

who asks you for a reason for your hope.”

-- First Letter of St. Peter, 3:15

What We’re All About

Our parish exists for one fundamental reason: To bring individuals and families, and our neighborhood, to what we might call “spiritual health.”  That involves at its foundation eternal salvation, of course, but also the sort of  life in this world that Jesus promised: “I came that they may have life, and life to the full” [Gospel of John, 10:10].  That “life to the full” involves peaceable and just relationships with others, dignity and respect for every individual, care for the needy, opportunities for all to contribute to the common good according to each one’s abilities, and a readiness to share with others the vision and hope God has given to us.  You might think of it in four simple words: Spiritual health involves thanking, giving, inviting, and serving.  Everything we do as a parish should have a clear relationship to our purpose of bringing individuals, families, and our community closer to full spiritual health.  Anything else is a distraction.

And spiritual health arises from two sources (each fed ultimately by the grace of God, of course).  One is our personal spiritual commitment: the hard work and self-discipline of daily prayer, regular worship, a courageous ethical life, generosity toward the poor, forgiveness toward people who have wronged us, and the like.  The other is engagement in a community of others who are also working toward spiritual health – what we call “member engagement.”  The foundation of everything is our need for God, and God’s readiness to meet us and enliven us – to satisfy our heart’s deepest hunger.

People are different, by God’s design; and so we express our need for God differently.  I happen to like to pray one particular way; others like other ways.  To deepen my connection with God I need certain things; others need other things.  These differences are ways God respects our uniqueness, and we’re meant to appreciate the differences God creates among us.  But none of us can grow toward God and toward spiritual health unless we admit our spiritual needs and work consciously to prepare ourselves so that God can meet them. 

How parishes help people to meet their spiritual needs changes as society changes.  Most of us remember the parish styles of our youth, because probably that style helped us (otherwise you wouldn’t be reading this).  But as we grow, and as society changes, God opens new doors. My grandmother came over from Ireland on a ship to New York; she didn’t have to know navigation; the ship’s officers did that.  Similarly, she didn’t have to know much about how to “navigate” her path to spiritual health.  Irish customs, the parish priest, and maiden aunts told her what to do, what to avoid, what sort of man to marry, and the rest.  But society is no longer like that; now, it’s like we’re in our own small boats (in a culture that is no longer Christian), and so we have to help one another to a much greater degree – and we need to know something about navigating toward spiritual health.  One tool for navigation is making clear to ourselves and one another just what are real spiritual needs (not our spiritual “wants”) are.  Then we can help God to meet them.  Until next week, Peace.

(Since parishioners are often on vacation and away from some summer masses, this column will appear twice: July 1 and July 8.  Each subsequent column in this series will also appear for two consecutive weeks.)