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In a world growing distant from faith, Father Chas reminds us of the Church’s timeless mission: to love God above all things and to love our neighbor as ourselves. Discover how we’re called to be lights of mercy, friendship, and hope—proposing, not imposing, the love of Christ to a world in need.
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Father Chas: I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but the need for the work of the church and our parish has become all the more evident with all that’s going on in our society today. You know, the cultural turning away from God in these last couple of generations has really taken its toll on our national psyche. Increasingly foreign to our social consciousness are those two foundational tenets of love of God and love of neighbor.
Father Chas: Love of God above all things and love of neighbor as oneself. But without those two imperatives held up as ideals in society, we begin to lose the mutual respect that we owe to one another. We know that forcing people to be moral and religious doesn’t work, right? And it’s obviously not right since faith is a relationship of love with God. And there is no compulsion in love. We must freely desire to live God’s commandments.
Father Chas: And so that makes all the more urgent the mission of the church, the work of evangelization, the work of the church in proposing, not imposing, and the work of St. John Parish to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ and invite people into Christ’s healing and saving presence. But Jesus assures us, what he does assure us, is that those who remain faithful will be victorious in the end. So make no doubt about it, love will triumph.
Father Chas: But at the end of today’s gospel, Jesus asks us this unsettling question. It’s the very last line of today’s gospel. Jesus asks, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth? We can’t let the distractions of this world and the fatigue that we suffer from being so entrenched and even enslaved by the things of this world, good as they may be,
Father Chas: Keep us from fighting the good fight. We as members of Christ’s body, his representatives in the world, are meant to be for the people in our lives what Aaron and Hur were for Moses. It means walking with people who are far away from God, befriending those who are far away from God. It means praying daily for the people God has placed in your life. It means revealing to them that God’s mercy is real.
Father Chas: Through the spiritual and corporal works of mercy that you do for them. Being Aaron and Hur for others means inviting and reminding people that God is calling them to something bigger than themselves. That God loves them and desires this intimate, regular, and sacramental relationship with them. That God wants them to not give up fighting the good fight against the evil in this world. That can so often seem it has the upper hand.
Father Chas: In the battle for souls.