Jesus, Our Foundation

05-15-2020Pastoral ReflectionsRev. Brian F. Manning

When I drive down Union Street to where it meets King Street, when I am stopped at the lights, I can see a big construction site just beyond the lights. In a sense I look forward to checking up on it each time I come to the lights. I get to see the progress of it all. I note how it has taken many steps and many different construction trades to build it. Of course, it starts with the General Contractor who has to put it all together. He/They are the ones who have to get the site surveyed correctly, the hole dug for the foundation, and then the forms built and poured for it all. Framers, insulators, plumbers, electricians, insulators, and all sorts of tradespeople and craftspeople have to work on this project. Lots and lots of building supplies are needed. Whether it is a big building or a house, each requires a lot of tradespeople and craftspeople and also supplies and materials. Are you aware that today's readings actually show us a similar construction plan for the church?

The Acts of the Apostles tells us about how the early church was constructed and put together. It also tells us that people had disputes about who did what and what should be done. The disciples themselves at times had to directly intervene and provide the direction of appointing leadership and detailing their responsibilities. In a sense, the author of Peter's Letter says that the foundation is poured and settled because Jesus Christ is the cornerstone of the Church. He goes further and says for those who reject the stone, he will be the rock that causes them to stumble. Foundations truly matter.

Continuing this theme of building, John describes in his Gospel how Jesus goes before all of us to prepare our rooms. We do not know how the room will be arranged with décor, in fact even how it is to be built, but we know for sure that God has called us to come to that room if only we accept the Son, the cornerstone. We are in fact "the living stones of the Church." We are to bring new life day after day, generation after generation, century after century.

As we are aware by today's pandemic and quarantine limitations, there are many and various obstacles in life for all of us. As the people upon whom so many others depend, we must look to solutions and better ways to be their foundations, inspirations, and strengths. We must see things differently and sometimes in a new way. Better results happen when we attempt to take the best of the past and add new and better elements. Now is the time to take our Catholic Way of Life of prayer, sacrifice, and witness and offer to those who are near to us a better attitude and a calmer way of living life. We learn the strength of a building in an earthquake or a flood. Disaster, unfortunately, reveals our flaws and our strengths. So in this most difficult time, let your strengths reveal you as a witnesses to Christ and the Catholic Way of life.

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