32nd Sunday Year B
32nd Sunday Year B – What can we offer?
I have been running though some preparations for First Communion, First Forgiveness and Baptism with two young boys over these past many weeks and we have been discussing the Mass and why it is so important to us individually and collectively.
We spoke about the need for people to come together as family, as community and as parish so that we can complete some of the things that Jesus set us to do. We come together to pray. Jesus said, “Where two or more of you are gathered together, there am I in your midst.”
We come together to offer support and companionship to each other; to find those that are feeling lonely, separated, isolated, even sick and unwell and to offer them support and comfort.
And we come together to offer who we are and what we are to our Church so that it may continue to grow and rise to the challenges of our modern-day-society. At each mass, we make offering to God of ourselves; everything that we are, everything that we do and everything that we feel or think, we offer to God as part of our mass.
We try and prepare that offering to make it the best that it could possibly be, by going to confession before mass or at least making a good act of contrition and getting ourselves back into balance with God: becoming reconciled to His love.
And, like the widow and the rich people who made their offerings in today’s gospel, we too, make our monetary offering according to our means and capability. This offering is just as important as the offering of our prayers and of our selves. This offering shows our understanding of what our church community is trying to do, to reach out to touch all those that we can; all those that are in need of our practical support and care.
And this amount won’t be the same from person to person. It will differ as their individual means and capabilities differ. But the expectation to give and to make a difference will echo across every person.
We can never know what this amount will be or should be cross our congregation. We will never know the strength of prayer or personal preparation and attendance of each member of the congregation: that is between them and the Lord.
We are all required and taught to give of ourselves within the sacrament of the Mass: to make the coming together of a congregation of the people of Christ, a joyous celebration of prayer and community and we can only do that fully and properly when we set out to give of ourselves in every way possible.
Our attendance at mass should not be a ‘Tick-Box-Exercise’ that we rush through each Saturday evening or Sunday morning to get it done and out of the way. Our attendance at mass should lift us up to the highest heights. It should fulfil our every wish and heart’s desire and set us up for whatever comes next in our week. It should be our suit of armour against life’s challenges and the polish to our souls that makes us ready, willing and able to go out and live our lives in love of God.
Both lads have taught me to look again at the mass and at my role within it; my responsibilities to others as well as my responsibilities to my faith and my Lord. To receive, we must give. To receive lots we must give lots and in every way that we possibly can. We must give a return on the Talents that God gave us; a return that is a hundredfold or more.
And if we see others in need, then we should give of ourselves, of our time, of our energy, to them, without question or debate. Look around you now and think, “Who can I connect with? Who can I show my love of God with and through my love of them? Who can I simply ask, “Hey! How are you doing? Are you okay? It is good to see you. God Bless you and keep you safe.”