Most of you are old enough (even I’m old enough!) to know the TV show that goes with these lyrics: “Making your way in the world today / Takes everything you got. / Taking a break from all your worries / It sure would help a lot. / Wouldn’t you like to get away? // Sometimes you want to go / Where everybody knows your name / And they’re always glad you came. / You want to be where you can see / The troubles are all the same. / You want to be where everybody knows your name.” Of course, that TV show was “Cheers” (and now you’ll probably have that theme song stuck in your head).
But as we celebrate the Anniversary of the Dedication of this church, we celebrate not only the building, but what the building signifies, what it stands for, what it represents. So many people find St. Pius X to be a kind, welcoming community, small enough where, at least at the Mass you go to, everybody does know your name, and generally they’re glad you came (we all have off days, right?). St. Pius X is a smaller community, but it does encourage that sense of belonging and knowing the people at least who come to the same Mass, or join Bible studies, or volunteer together.
And this building is celebrated because it is a foretaste of heaven. In heaven, we are known better than we could ever be known here on earth. Heaven is the place where God wants us to be, where He rejoices in our presence because He made us for heaven. Heaven is that place where we take a perpetual break from our worries and troubles, basking in the love of the Trinity that brought all things into being, and sustains all things in being. And this church is meant to remind us of that reality, and also to prepare us for that reality.
But sometimes we can get complacent about who is here. We get so used to having the same people every week, that we can forget that, as people who are configured to Jesus in baptism, our mission is the same as Jesus’: to bring as many people as we can into the joy of heaven, the place where we are known and loved beyond all measure. And before we know it, because we content with the people we have here, those people start to leave, as generations do, through changing jobs, or moving to be closer to family, or even death, until we’re a shell of the community we used to be.
The way we used to keep parishes, the communities that gave us a foretaste of heaven, going was simply through baptism. We conceived and birthed new members of our biological family that we also introduced into the family of God through baptism. We lived the faith ourselves and shared it with our children, and that faith was also supported by the community. But we no longer live in a world that supports faith, and we cannot rely on the osmosis of grace simply to do the work for us when we have children.
What Pope St. John Paul II, and Pope Benedict XVI, and Pope Francis have all encouraged us to do in the past forty years; what Bishop Boyea and our Diocesan Assemblies have encouraged us to do for the past ten years is not only to keep passing on the faith through baptism of our children, but also to bring in new people to the faith through our words and deeds. Not pulling other Catholics into our parish from another Catholic parish, but reaching out to fallen-away Catholics, and reaching out to those who have no faith, and inviting them into this relationship with Jesus Christ where their name is known and people are glad they came.
Brothers and sisters, this doesn’t happen on accident. This doesn’t happen by osmosis. Sharing our faith only happens when we are purposefully doing it. And if we’re not, we have to ask ourselves, why don’t I want someone to be in this community? Why don’t I want to share with others a relationship with Jesus? Are we afraid that it will make this place less of a home? Are we afraid that Jesus cannot love other people without lessening His love for us? If this is such a great community, which I know it to be, then why not invite others into that greatness?
St. Pius X church was consecrated on 23 September 1956, 63 years ago. Priests, religious, and parishioners have worked hard to have this place be like “Cheers,” a place where you are known and loved, a place where you can offer your worries to God and be transformed by His grace, a place that anticipates that joy and peace and love of heaven. Are we willing to invite others into this community? Are we willing to invite others to the goodness that we have found here? Do we really want others to have this foretaste of heaven? Only you can answer that question, and the answer will be manifest in what you do.
