My Dear Parishioners,

We are back in what the Church calls Ordinary Time in the Liturgical Life of the Church. Jesus in today’s gospel asks the question: “What are you looking for?” I would suspect that what we are looking for is meaning and fulfillment in life, purpose, and direction in life.

It takes faith, but we find meaning and fulfillment, we find purpose and direction in JESUS. This is what the Christian life is all about: finding ultimate meaning in life by responding to Jesus’ call to, “come, and you will see.” We are called to come and follow Jesus, and then by staying with him not just for a day or so, but day after day after day. Following Jesus and staying with him is not always easy. And Jesus was up-front about that. Didn’t he say that if we want to come after him, we must deny ourselves, take up our cross every day, and follow in his footsteps? And didn’t he say that those who try to save their life just for themselves will lose it, but that those who lose their life for his sake will save it? (Lk. 9:23-24)

How many people have tried to live their life for themselves, have even gained fame and fortune, influence and power, only to find these things to be an illusion! As one person put it after he hit bottom: I had money, a good job, community respect, and all the rest; but still my life was empty. And it was empty, he said, because God was not a part of his life.

On the other hand, how many people have lived their lives for Christ, even suffered in the process, and have found joy and peace through it all! Such persons lose their life for Christ, only to discover that they have saved their life.

We see this so clearly in husbands and wives who defer to one another out of love. Parents who sacrifice themselves for their children, and children who take care of their parents in old age. We see it in priests and religious who give themselves up to the service of God’s people. We see it in people who work to house the homeless, who feed the hungry, who attend to the needs of the sick, the dying, the lonely, who visit those in prison. We see it in thousands and thousands of others who, in so many ways, deny themselves, die to themselves, for the sake of Jesus whom they discover is the least among us.

What are we looking for? We are all looking for JESUS who offers ultimate meaning and fulfillment in life, for   Jesus who offers purpose and direction in life. Let us follow him, and stay with him day after day after day.

God Bless, Msgr. Maresca