| St Charles Church .org |  |
|||||
| News & Events | Faith | Ministries | Parish | Volunteer | Help | Contact Us |
|
|
|
||||||||||||||
Royal Treatment
This is a summary of a Fr. Gerry Creedon homily delivered at St. Charles on November 23, 2003
"THEN YOU ARE a king?" John 18:35
Reporters said President Bush was uncomfortable with some of the protocol during his visit to Westminster. Many of us grew up with confused feelings about royalty. Yet, at the heart of Jesus preaching is the concept of Kingdom. The kingdom of God is like the mustard seed. The kingdom of God is the wedding banquet Every time we say the Lord's Prayer we pray, "Thy kingdom come". What is this Kindom?
Theologians tell us that, like our founder's the church's main function is to proclaim the Kingdom. We find a very important description of the Kingdom in the Preface of the Mass for today's feast. This preface has been called the constitution for the Christian community. It identifies the values of the Kingdom: holiness and grace, universality, creation, life and truth, justice, love and peace. The Church's mission embraces more than our individual salvation. The church aims to establish these values of the Kingdom in the here and hereafter, on earth as it is in heaven.
Take the work of justice. We strain about the other dimensions of the law and forget the weightier matters of justice and mercy, to paraphrase Jesus.
Florida farm workers who come from Mexico, Guatemala, Haiti and other places pick tomatoes for 50 cents a bucket . They need to pick two tons of tomatoes to earn 50 dollars a day. The median farmworker income is 7,500 dollars a year. The same pay was offered in 1980. They have no benefits. More than 2 million farm workers in this affluent country live in these sub poverty conditions. Growers benefit from these slave- like camps. So do corporations like Taco Bell. So do consumers.
The Catholic Bishops' campaign for Human Development provided seed money to help the Immokalee, Florida workers to organize themselves to improve their life.. A cent more each pound of tomatoes would better their lives.
St. Charles parish reaches out at thanksgiving providing 20 turkeys to needy families. Our pantry each day provides food to the hungry. While we reach out in service we also need to support efforts like those sponsored by CHD to empower poor people to help themselves.
When we offer these signs of justice we will feel more comfortable with the imagery of Christ's Kingdom.