Thanks to God and His generosity and His providence we have been able to reach this Sunday to celebrate the first 50 years of our parish community. It’s a day of thanksgiving and joy, we can say that the Lord has done great things for us and we are glad[1]. So glad and so grateful.
Thank you very much to all who have wished to join this celebration, especially [bishop and bishop] and my brothers priests. Thanks in a very special way to the former pastor of this parish, is because of what they sowed yesterday that today we can gather and celebrate.
By a happy coincidence this Sunday we are treated to one of the most beautiful passages about Jesus in the entire Bible. Jesus our Lord and savior emptied Himself of his divinity and became a human being like us, and more than this, he became a slave for each one of us, to teach us that humility and service are two virtues that we need in lives every single day.
Today, with this big mass, with this anniversary we are called again and again to work in the Father's vineyard. The vineyard is your house and my house, your family and the parish community. The vineyard is that place where others are seeking the person of Christ in us. People around us are looking for Jesus; people around us are looking for meaning in their lives, are we willing to help others find Christ?
Christ must be the origin and end of life. The basis of everything. How often we forget that he must be the center of our thoughts and desires and efforts. If we are here this morning, is for Him, if we organize this celebration, is for Him. The glory and recognition and applause are NOT for the pastor or the pastoral council, or the staff or volunteers. The glory is for Jesus Christ who in a few minutes will be with us in the species of bread and wine changed into body and blood.
So, let's not lose focus this morning. The 50 years of the parish are very important but not the most important. The parish and its buildings are not forever. The parish community is not forever. The pastor, thanks be to God is not forever. The only thing that remains forever is Jesus Christ. For him it is all the glory. For him it is all the recognition. Only for Jesus Christ we organize this Mass, to worship him and ask him to be the foundation of this parish community.
St. Paul put it so well in those closing words of today’s second reading; God bestowed on him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father[2]…
What we are asking this morning at Mass? Three things. Unity in our parish community. Love and adoration to the person of Jesus Christ. And the protection and intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Where are we without the help of Our Lady? She is the queen of heaven, the mother of the Church and the mother of this parish; to her all our love and veneration. All our loving to Jesus through Mary, all our loving to Mary through Jesus. Amen. ■
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