Today we celebrate All Saints day.  We celebrate not only all the canonized Saints (with big S), but indeed all the people who are in Heaven, for everyone in Heaven is a saint (at least with small s).  Raise your hand if you want to go to Heaven?  Good I think I see everyone’s hands raised.  How many of you desire your loved ones to go to Heaven?  Good.  How many of you want every person on earth to go to Heaven?  If we want every person to go to Heaven, then we have a lot of work to do, don’t we?

I know you realize that the Church exists for this purpose. Christ established the Catholic and universal Church so that through it every person can come to salvation. So we could say the Church is in the ‘saint’ making business.

Today, I want to talk to you about our new Parish Mission Statement.  As you are aware from the business world, a mission statement is a written declaration of an organization's core purpose and focus.  It is important for an organization to re-write or review their statement every so often to help unify the organization and the efforts of the people.  A couple of months ago, the parish staff, pastoral council, and finance council, under the direction of a diocesan representative participated in developing a 5 year plan looking at our strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.  Through prayer discerning God’s will we then formulated a new parish mission statement.  But before I share that with you, I think an introduction is needed.

If the universal Catholic Church exists to bring every person to Heaven, then we at Corpus Christi, on a local level, must be about that too.  And thus we need to have a clear understanding of how a person gets to Heaven.  Scripture says, everyone who believes in the Lord Jesus Christ will be saved”.  True enough, but what does it mean to believe in Jesus?  Some people today think just to know who he is or to just call on him occasionally is enough, or just to believe there is a God is enough to get to Heaven.  However, Jesus says in Matthew, "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter”.

Brothers and sisters, God the Father so desires us to truly know His only begotten Son, just as He revealed His Son at his Baptism and Transfiguration.  Jesus says that if we abide in Him then we will also abide in the Father. To abide in God means that everything we do is done in and with God, that God is always on our mind and heart. If we are not truly abiding in God in our lives, then we don’t believe in or know Him as we ought.  Jesus also says that unless we give up everything and follow him, we cannot be His disciple.  On Pentecost, the birthday of the Church, I encouraged all of you to read the book “Forming Intentional Disciples”.  If you haven’t read it yet, some copies are in the gift shop.  The first chapter of that book gives several statistics about the current state of our Catholic Church.  One of the stats says that of those who do go to Mass regularly, which is you and I, only 60% believe one can have a personal relationship with God.  That means that about 40% of this congregation do not really believe you can have a personal relationship with God, and let me tell you that in the 5 years I’ve been a priest, and the thousands of confessions I’ve heard, I tend to believe that number is pretty accurate.  And that is so unfortunate, because really knowing God and striving to be in a deep loving intimate relationship with Him gives meaning and purpose and joy to life.  To love God, and to really know God’s love for me is central to who I am.  I truly desire every person to personally know Him; this the very reason of my life, it is the reason I am a priest.  It is the reason you are alive as well. 

The book “Forming Intentional Disciples’ continues after the opening chapter to give 5 steps or thresholds in one’s journey to become a true disciple of Jesus Christ, a true disciple who gives of themselves and follows and abides in God throughout life.  I believe that if we take this Mission Statement to heart, then we can grow even more so into a parish of Intentional Disciples, that is we can become the Corpus Christi, the Body of Christ, we are meant to be. 

Now the moment you’ve been waiting for… our new mission statement: Corpus Christi Catholic Church strives to be a welcoming community proclaiming the love of God and fostering a life-long personal relationship with Jesus Christ and His Church through Scripture, Sacraments, and service.  Isn’t this an awesome statement?  I’m inspired by it.  Let me read it again for you slowly.    Corpus Christi Catholic Church strives to be a welcoming community proclaiming the love of God and fostering a life-long personal relationship with Jesus Christ and His Church through Scripture, Sacraments, and service

I would like to quickly highlight a little bit of it- a welcoming community.  We should want everyone to not only feel welcome but feel included in our family.  We must strive to get to know each other, so everyone feels accepted, wanted, and confident that they belong to this family of Corpus Christi.  When you walk through our doors it should be apparent that our faith community is different, that love is present here in a special way. This will invite others to want to join us and our family will grow.  And then because it is through a feeling of belonging and acceptance, we can proclaim the love of God and help others foster a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and His Church.  We are called to grow closer and closer to God through each other, through community, as iron sharpens iron, as Scripture says.  As I said, to know the love of God and to be in a personal relationship with Jesus Christ is the purpose and joy of being alive, and it is the only path to being alive forever in Heaven.  But notice that the fostering a personal relationship is not a one-time event it is a life-long journey.  It should be a life-long journey for all of us, growing deeper and deeper into the abiding knowledge and love of God. Truly, the more we know God, and not just know about God, but the more we truly know God, the more we love God.

I am happy and pleased to say that we as a parish are on our way, but if we are honest with ourselves, we still have a long way to go.  There are already many things our parish is doing well on which we can build upon.  We have a growing community with many great established ministries.  We have an established Perpetual Adoration Chapel. I know this is the channel for many graces in the parish.  And many, many more strengths.  However, in each of these strengths, there is always room to grow.  I believe that we are being called to the next stage of growth as individuals and as a parish as a whole. 

There are 2 goals that came out of that 5 year plan to help us live up to our mission:  The first goal is to enhance hospitality with the intention of evangelization.  This goal is to help establish the feeling of belonging so that we can naturally and organically proclaim the love of God and foster a personal relationship with Christ.  The 2nd goal is to enhance life-long faith formation- so that all of us can be continually growing in and deepening our identity as a child of God and disciple of Christ.  We need to embrace the mentality that growing in faith, growing in the knowledge and love of God is life-long and cannot end with the reception of the Sacraments.  As Christ becomes more central in our life we will yearn for more and more opportunities to grow.  We currently have a committee of parishioners who are already working on each of these goals of enhancing hospitality with the intention of evangelizing and enhancing life-long faith formation, and we will want your help in brainstorming and discussing how together we can reach those goals. 

I have more exciting news for you… and an opportunity to grow.  In January, I am thrilled to begin an evangelizing journey called Christlife- it is composed of 3 parts.  The first part of Christlife is Discovering Christ- 7 weekly sessions in which there is a meal, a presentation, and small group discussion, along with one Saturday retreat.  This first part will help us get to truly know and encounter Jesus Christ.  The 2nd part is another 7 weekly sessions called Following Christ which will help to foster a personal prayer life through the Sacraments and the life of the Church.  And the final 7 weeks will help to teach and empower us to share Christ with others.  It is my hope and plan to offer this 3 part Christlife series- Discovering, Following, and Sharing Christ several times a year for years to come, so that ideally every parishioner will have an opportunity for this journey and be on their way to becoming an Intentional Disciple.  Christlife is also a great way to invite our loved ones, as well as our neighbors and co-workers, and journey with them into a deeper relationship with Christ.  Christlife is a great, low-pressure way to bring them back to Christ and His Church.

We have a lead team, but we do have opportunities for parishioners to help on the Hospitality team or on the Small group facilitating team for the first Discovering Christ beginning in January.  Please pray about if God is calling you at this time to serve… if so, there is a sign-up sheet in the back in the vestibule and there will be a training on November 15th.  

Finally, let me tell you that I am grateful to God to be your pastor, and I am excited to lead you closer to Christ and His Church.   Join me in giving thanks and praise to God for all the saints in Heaven, for their example and intercession.  May the Body of Christ in Heaven inspire each of us to give ourselves completely to Jesus Christ and desire to serve and lead others to truly know and love God with all that we are.  We humbly pray that the Body of Christ in Heaven help the Corpus Christi family become who we are meant to be, so that one day we will be counted among the saints in heaven.

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