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On October 4, the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi, the Franciscan (O.F.M.) Ministers Provincial of the United States issued a joint statement in response to the current challenges facing us in the United States. We would like to share this important message with you.

Justice for the poor, respectful care for the environment and courageous peacemaking have been the hallmarks of the Franciscan Movement since its beginning 800 years ago.

St. Francis of Assisi freely chose to live a radically simple lifestyle among and with the poor; called himself a brother to all creatures and to the earth itself; and crossed religious and cultural frontiers to dialogue with a Muslim leader in an attempt to prevent another bloody war. St. Francis rejected the societal-economic shift of his time that valued financial success over human dignity.

Over the past several years, we have excerpted the Apostolic Exhortation of Pope Francis, Evangelii Gaudium. Last week’s column was the last of this document from Pope Francis.

Now, we turn to another Apostolic Exhortation that was released earlier this year, Gaudete et Exsultate: “Rejoice and be glad” Jesus tells those persecuted or humiliated for his sake. The Lord asks everything of us and in return he offers us true life, the happiness for which we were created. He wants us to be saints and not to settle for a bland and mediocre existence. The call to holiness is present in various ways from the very first pages of the Bible. We see it expressed in the Lord’s words to Abraham, “Walk before me, and be blameless.”

My modest goal is to repropose the call to holiness in a practical way for our own time with all its risks, challenges, and opportunities. For the Lord has chosen each one of us “to be holy and blameless before him in love.”

(Each week there will be sections from Gaudete et Exsultate.)

“Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

This question is asked of Jesus in today’s Gospel. Jesus then lists the Commandments and the response is: “Teacher, all of these I have observed from my youth.” Jesus then challenges the man to do more. When you think about it, there is not just one way to “inherit eternal life.” While there are similar actions and attitudes and beliefs that a person must have and grow in, each person is unique in how they live out their beliefs at the various stages of their lives. Each stage of our life, especially our adult years, has its own challenges. Our work situation can be stressful, our relationships may change, our health can demand more attention. All of these have an effect on our day to day living out of the Gospel. Jesus challenges the young man to look at what holds him back from being more committed. I don’t think he expected the response that he received from Jesus.

Today you will hear about the Renew and Rebuild Campaign to raise funds to take care of major repairs on our buildings. All
the parishes in the Archdiocese of New York are participating in this capital campaign. Each parish keeps 74% of the funds raised and 26% are for projects of the Archdiocese. There is a brochure that further explains what we have done with major repairs over the past five years and how Renew and Rebuild will give us the funds for the list of repairs that we need to do over the next five years. Your participation is essential if we are to reach our goal of $1,000,022.

We already have $710,000 in pledges that were made over the summer when we met with individuals who pledged various amounts. Consider the Five Year Pledge: this helps us the most. Thank you sincerely for participating. We need everyone’s help!

-Fr. Andrew Reitz, O.F.M.