But instead of thanking Joshua for the information, Moses exclaims “Would that all the Lord’s people were Prophets, and that the Lord would put his spirit on them!”
In today’s Gospel, St. John has “a bad case of Joshua-itis.” He’s “offended and shocked that a renegade exorcist is casting out demons” in the name of Jesus.
But “like Moses, Jesus is not upset that the Lord’s Spirit has landed on an outsider.” (Robert P. Waznak, Lift Up Your Hearts: Homilies and Reflections for the "B" Cycle, p. 280).
What Moses and Jesus said to Joshua and John is an urgent call to action for every single person in church today.
Let’s start with the first reading. “Would that all the Lord’s people were Prophets, and that the Lord would put his spirit on them!” Moses tells his worried assistant.
In plain language, “we need all the help we can get.”
“Would that all the Lord’s people were Prophets, and that the Lord would put his spirit on them!” That’s as good a prayer for the New Evangelization as any.
The Holy Father adds “anyone who has truly experienced God’s saving love does not need much time or lengthy training to go out and proclaim that love.” (Evangelii Gaudium, n. 120).
As Archbishop Miller told those gathered for Upper Room last Saturday, “The mission is not a ministry reserved to a few. Each and every believer, in his or her own way, is called to bear witness to Jesus Christ and the rich and full life that is given in him.”
Moses and Jesus are teaching us something vital. On the surface, they seem to be saying “calm down!” But what they’re really saying is “get excited.”
Get excited because the mission is a lot bigger than our small ideas. A lot bigger than our traditional structures and institutions.
In his Upper Room talk, Archbishop Miller warns against outmoded strategies “devised for a religious culture that is no longer present.”
“This way of seeing the Church’s mission, makes us ineffective in evangelizing the current culture.”
What he’s saying is that we can’t preach the Gospel in our new cultural and social environment the same way we did in very different times—and expect it to work.
Because it doesn’t.
Look around you. You know who is not beside you in the pews. Brothers, sisters, sons, daughters, even parents.
Who will bring them back?
In the past, missionaries had to learn the language and culture of those they sought to evangelize. When they didn’t, their efforts often failed.
We know this was true right here in Canada. The apology issued to the Indigenous Peoples yesterday by the assembly of Canadian bishops says that the Residential School system failed “to respect the rich history, traditions and wisdom of Indigenous Peoples.”
Missionaries trying to evangelize from outside the culture run into a wall.
But you are called from within the culture, even in ways that priests are not. It’s you who “have the relationships, the influence, the keys to the doors of those who do not yet know Christ,” as Archbishop Miller says.
So, who will gather our lost? You are their missionaries. As Pope Francis says, “Every Christian is a missionary to the extent that he or she has encountered the love of God in Christ Jesus.”
Maybe I could even use a simple slogan: If it is to be, it is up to me.
But how? How do we confront the modern crisis, adapt to modern conditions, and proclaim the Gospel with power?
First, we shift our rusty Catholic gears and accept that evangelization is our personal responsibility, not something for priests and Sisters, not even just for lay missionaries with CCO.
And then we figure out the best approach, depending on where we are and with whom we are speaking.
There is terrific help available to anyone ready to tackle this challenge. Hundreds of people in our Archdiocese have found the Proclaim Movement helped awaken their call to be missionary disciples and given them practical training.
Proclaim can help you prepare yourself for a new way of looking at your faith and teach you practical ways to share it, right at your computer. It’s all laid out on a splendid website: weareproclaim.com. Take a look.
And, of course, Alpha. Ed Zadeiks spoke about Alpha at all Masses last weekend. He got more passionate each time. His message was simple: there are people in your life who will never know the joy of the Gospel if you don’t share it with them. Brothers, sisters, sons, daughters, even parents.
And despite his passion, Ed did not make our job seem scary. Just invite. As my boss told me when I first worked in sales, “Ask. All they can say is ‘no.’”
Alpha launches here at CTR on Tuesday evening. There’s also a morning Alpha on Tuesday geared to parents dropping off their kids to St. Anthony’s School. All the details are in the Weekly Update on our website, there’s a signup sheet at the back, or you can phone the office on Monday.
I don’t like it when people put guilt trips on me, so I try not to put them on you. If you came to Alpha and didn’t like it, no problem. But if you’ve never come, you’re missing a simple and reliable way to share the Gospel with those you love or care about. Or maybe your own heart might need Alpha’s message.
If Alpha didn’t click for you, or if taking part right now is just not practical, how about something else? Our parish’s Weekly Update looks a bit like the menu at Earl’s—there’s something for everyone starting in the next few weeks.
But we’re like Earl’s in another way—the pandemic’s caused a shortage of servers and cooks! And since Alpha is mostly virtual, I don’t mean that literally. We need more help as parish life resumes: ministers at Mass—to read, to welcome, and to distribute Holy Communion—not to mention Alpha volunteers…
Please call or email the office, or speak to me, if you would like to consider a new responsibility, big or small. We do things in teams, so you won’t get stuck on your own, whatever you’re called to do.
Finally, the parish phase of our annual campaign, Project Advance, is now underway. Maybe your situation at work or home really does prevent you from taking part in Alpha or volunteering at church. But everyone can be a part of everything we do by supporting Project Advance with a sacrificial gift.
As we look ahead to happier times, the parish council has chosen a powerful theme for Project Advance: Gather Together. We’ll tell you more about the campaign projects in the coming week, but you can already see one of them underway: we’re getting the meeting rooms ready for our return to normal. When that times comes, comfortable and bright spaces for conversation, community, and faith studies will be waiting.
All these things—inviting others to Alpha, volunteering in the parish, and your financial generosity—are ways to “seize the adventure of working with the Holy Spirit to live and share the saving message given to us by Jesus Christ,” to borrow the Archbishop’s words from the Upper Room.
I already said “finally,” but I want to close with something that’s close to many of our hearts, the restoration of relationships with the Indigenous peoples wounded by the Residential Schools. This Thursday is the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, and I will offer a special Mass at 8:15 a.m. During that Mass we will pray for this intention and read together the Canadian bishops’ statement of apology.
There’s much to do. So, let’s remind ourselves: If it is to be, it is up to me. And let’s pray hard that all the Lord’s people become Prophets and evangelizers, and that the Lord sends his Spirit upon them.
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