June 30, 2019
Father Ron Sordillo was the celebrant at 7:30 mass this week. I found his sermon to be very motivating and I asked him after mass if I could share it here for those who did not attend this mass and therefore wouldn’t have heard the sermon. These are in part just his notes, but I think you can get the message he was trying to convey and I hope it moves you to action!
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Our Scriptures this Sunday reminds us of the demands of authentic Christian discipleship!!!
The first reading from the Book of Kings: The Call of Elisha…He was plowing the field when Elijah comes to anoint him. He was called to be a prophet. Elisha is asked to bid farewell to his parents. Many of us in our own lives had to do the same…
Elisha slaughters the oxen, shared a meal with his servants and left everything to follow Elijah. Elisha made a leap of faith…He made a radical commitment…He had the courage to stake everything on the dream God had for him…We can learn from him!!
Discipleship is never for the faint-hearted…those who follow God have to choose Him and His values – over and about all others…like Abraham, Joseph, Mary and the Apostles…They staked everything on God’s plan for them, sacrificing houses, emotional attachments, people, lifestyles, etc…Nothing less than total commitment is needed for a lifelong journey of discipleship…
This is what Jesus asks of His disciples…(on the face of it – His demands seem harsh and even unreasonable. “Let the dead bury their dead”… Jesus demands undivided loyalty, single-mindedness and unmitigated dedication…(these are requiredfor discipleship!!!)
** Let us pray that we all have the courage, the generosity and humility to respond to the call of discipleship
** May we follow Jesus realizing God’s reign of love and justice
** Paul’s words encourage us to live God’s plan and passion: “I count everything as loss before the surpassing worth of knowing Christ and be found in Him!!! Amen!!!
God Bless you!
Fr. Ron Sordillo
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My original thought when I asked Father if I could share his sermon on our website was just that, publish his sermon. As I was doing that, I kept hearing a voice say “Do more, do more” and it wouldn’t stop until I finally threw up my hands and answered, “I hear you, I’m praying, I’m trying to figure out what it is God wants me to be doing.” Then it dawned on me that maybe I’m just wasting time waiting on the ‘what’ and I should just start ‘doing something’ and the pieces will begin to fall into place.
My husband and I recently cleaned out our basement, a job long overdue. Now you’re thinking I’ve lost it, but stay with me here, I have a point! When we first went downstairs we looked around, looked at each other and said, “There’s so much stuff; where do we start?” He moved one thing, I moved another and so it went until our mess started to become somewhat organized and then eventually either found a home (lots in the homes of our children, owners of said ‘stuff’), was sold in the neighborhood Garage Sale, given to charity or found its way into the trash. So like cleaning the basement, sometimes you don’t know where to start, but you have to force yourself to start because waiting won’t get the job done. It’s the same thing with discipleship, just start somewhere and go on from there.
It’s summer and those of you with children are going to hear over and over “I’m bored!” Be prepared and help them be little disciples.
Father Stan mentioned that we are in need of a few Religious Ed teachers for the coming year, volunteer! If not to teach every week, consider volunteering to be a substitute. Join a ministry; we have so many at St. Elizabeth’s to choose from.
Let’s not just be a Catholic on Sunday mornings, let’s get out in our community and find a way to be a disciple. Take baby steps if you have to, just get started!
Have no fear of moving into the unknown. Simply step out fearlessly knowing that I am with you, therefore no harm can befall you; all is very, very well. Do this in complete faith and confidence. Pope John Paul II
Joy Rastiello, parishioner
PS…yes, in case you are wondering…I’m not asking you to do anything I wouldn’t do. I’m volunteering with our VBS program this summer (something I haven’t done in close to 30 years!)