In this Sunday’s Gospel, Luke seems to tie two unrelated teachings of Jesus together—but after understanding them through the lenses of the Old Testament and New Testament readings, one can see a connection between faith and relationships, which leads to service in discipleship for the Kingdom of God. The gospel speaks of a mustard seed-size faith that can do amazing things and then of duty accomplished without commendation. In the end, the Prophet Habakkuk and St. Paul shed light on “patient faith” used in service to God which can make us His disciples building up the Kingdom of Heaven. The gospel will help us to better understand our Catholic faith in the modern world right here in West Simsbury, Connecticut.

Historically speaking, Roman Catholics were called to build the Church as the Mystical Body of Christ. For some, like our great, great-grandparents in America, that literally meant to build Cathedrals and parish churches in both urban centers and rural country towns. Stories of Irish, Italian and other immigrants illustrated their belief in and devotion to God and His Church. Their devotion manifested in-and-through their physical hard work and the sharing of their resources given to build churches, schools and communities aimed at bettering their lives and the lives of their families. Their stories recall how women melted their jewelry to create altars, chalices, or tabernacles fitting for the praise and worship of God while others recant the
back-breaking work and intergenerational timelines to construct a Cathedral begun by a grandfather and realized by a grandchild. After worship sites and schools were built, families grew and communities rose up across our nation’s landscape. Then their Catholic children and grandchildren further built the Church in different ways: creating a private nationwide (and global) social services network second-to-none to feed the hungry and shelter the homeless; Catholic hospitals and nursing homes were founded by religious orders to care for the sick and support the needs of their community—without regard to one’s faith; from there the
succeeding Catholic clergy, religious and laity codified this compassion into institutional programs such as the the Archbishop’s Annual Appeal, the Knights of Columbus, Catholic Charities, the Knights of Malta and numerous parish ministries. In a word, our ancestors had faith.

From the blessings of our Cathedrals and parishes at the beginnings of our country’s founding to today’s 21st century, our faithful Catholic family has generously heeded God’s call and accomplished His work. This proud and righteous Catholic history has given us today many strong and proud shoulders on which to stand as we now look to our Church’s future. Built upon their God-given successes, our future comes with a new challenge and calling for you and for me.

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