The cluster picnic is a way to grow in faith and fellowship....

The Cluster picnic is an opportunity to grow in faith and fellowship…

Welcome everyone and thank you for joining the cluster picnic. It is a great opportunity to celebrate our faith and deepen our relationship with God and one another. It is my privilege to introduce the Northwoods Catholic Communities evangelization team. You see them wearing a T-shirt with a logo saying, “We are at the start of something big.”

The reading reminds us that to evangelize we need to have confidence in God. The first reading from Jeremiah says about the pain and misery he experienced for being faithful to the mission of speaking God’s Word. Jeremiah describes the  betrayal of his close friends yet expresses confidence in God and offers thanks in advance for deliverance.

The first reading leads to the Gospel. Last Sunday we heard that Jesus called twelve by name and sent to proclaim the coming of the kingdom. Today’s Gospel passage (Matthew 10:26-33) is part of the instruction and comforts the      disciples: though they will suffer rejection, their heavenly Father knows every hair of their head, and they are worth more than sparrows. In essence, the message is “Do not be afraid” and have confidence in God.

Throughout the Bible, God says “Do not be afraid.” In Genesis 15:1, God said to Abram in vision, “Do not be afraid, Abram, I am your shield…” Numbers 21:34, The Lord said to Moses, do not be afraid King Bashan, for I have given him into your hands… Jeremiah 1: 8, the Lord said to friend Jeremiah, “Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you…” Luke 1:30, the angel said to Mary, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.”

Fear affects people in different ways. Leaving the comfort zone is not easy. The call of Jesus challenged the disciples to leave the comfort of their nets to follow him. They started a new journey, build a new relationship with their master, and grew in discipleship. You might have read in Bishop Powers’ pastoral letter on Evangelization, “As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” Bishop in his letter invites us to actively live and participate in our baptismal call – evangelization. It is not easy to leave your comfort zone and share your faith with someone. He writes that “We must acknowledge that the heart of the evangelization is relationship: our own relationship with God pouring out into our relationships with other people.”

We are Eucharistic people, Jesus nourishes us by giving his very life: Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity. We come      together to celebrate the Eucharist and we bring who we are as a gift to offer, we offer it with bread and wine and ask him to touch and transform our lives. Some days our life will be joyful some other days, it may be painful and filled with  anxiety and worries. Whatever it may be we offer to the Lord. He can transform our lives and give us strength and grace to overcome whatever we face and multiply our joy.

During Mass at the end of the “Our Father…” the priest says a beautiful prayer “Deliver us, Lord; we pray, from every evil, graciously grant peace in our days, that, by the help of your mercy, we may be always free from sin and safe from all distress, as we await the blessed hope and the coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ.” Then everybody responds: For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours now and forever.

Fearing God is different from being afraid. Fear of God is fear out of love. It is born from the knowledge of who God is - He is love. He pours out that love for us in the Eucharist. At the end of Mass, we are sent out to share the Eucharistic  experience – evangelization.

On June 19, 2023, Pope addressed the members of the Organizing Committee of the National Eucharistic Congress of the United States of America and said, “The Eucharist is God’s response to the deepest hunger of the human heart, the hunger for authentic life, for in the Eucharist Christ himself is truly in our midst, to nourish, console and sustain us on our journey. Sadly nowadays, there are those among the Catholic faithful who believe that the Eucharist is more a  symbol than the reality of the Lord’s presence and love. It is more than a symbol; it is the real and loving presence of the Lord. It is my hope, then, that the Eucharistic Congress will inspire Catholics throughout the country to discover anew the sense of  wonder and awe at the Lord’s great gift of himself and to spend time with him in the celebration of the Holy Mass and in personal prayer and adoration before the Blessed Sacrament. I believe that we have lost the sense of adoration in our day. We must rediscover the sense of adoration in silence. It is a form of prayer that we have lost. Too few people know what it is."