2024/11/17 SCRIPTURE REFLECTION
Thirty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time
- Elise Giles, Manager of Growth & Transformation
This weekend we celebrate the feast day of our very own St. Clement, pope and martyr. The Gospel for this occasion is from Matthew chapter 16 when Jesus proclaims to Simon: “You are Peter and upon this rock I will build my Church.” This passage and our feast day celebration offer an opportunity to reflect on our identity as members of that Church, 2,000 years later.
We just wrapped up our Fall Alpha session after spending 9 weeks gathering together to unpack the foundations of Christianity. The topic for the final night is “What about the Church?” In other words, what does it mean to BE the Church rather than just go to church. As I reflect on the last 9 weeks of Alpha, I am greatly encouraged by the Church I have witnessed. People who gather to listen to one another and support each other as they journey towards a deeper relationship with God. When experienced this way, Church becomes a lifestyle not just a place we go once a week.
When Jesus entrusted Peter and the disciples with the mission of the Church and promised that nothing would prevail against it do we think He meant just make sure everyone goes to Mass on Sundays and He will take care of the rest? No! He wants us to enjoy the fullness of relationship with Him as people united in love, worship and mission.
My love for the Church deepened when I fully understood the meaning of the words “Body of Christ.” Jesus is no longer physically present here on earth except through us. Through the Holy Spirit that dwells within each of us. So as individuals and as a Church, we are Christ’s body. This reality has inspired and equipped members of the Church for the last 2,000 years, and the history of the world has been transformed because of it! We must allow it to do the same for us in our own lives. In the words of our Patron St. Clement: “Let us have a sincere and undivided love for one another, and let us do everything for the glory of God, that our good deeds may be a witness to the world.”
My prayer for our community is that we continue to be open to the transforming power of God’s love for us so that together as a Church we see no alternative than to share His love with others.