Pastoral Planning at Sacred Heart: COME, AND YOU WILL SEE.
Pastoral Planning at Sacred Heart answers the 2021 call from Archbishop Etienne to review and renew all that we do. He, and many Popes and theologians before him, explain that we are to be a mission church, charged, first and foremost, with bringing new souls to the Father.
We must re-envision what it means to be sent on mission, because we live in a new age, a post Christendom age that is hostile to our faith and religious practices. Our society no longer shares a set of common values: belief in God, the existence of truth, settled acceptance of right and wrong that used to support worship and love of God. Lacking this consensus from the secular world--teachers, political leaders, media personalities and sports heroes—we children of God must become missionaries in our own land, in our families, workplaces, schoolhouses, and more.
Jesus shows us the way. Below, I interject passages from a reflection by Father Clement (red text) on what it means to be a mission church. Along the way, I explain how joining our Parish Pastoral Plan prepares us to believe our faith more deeply, belong to the Body of Christ more exuberantly, and become instruments of the Holy Spirit sent on mission. When we open our hearts to small conversions along the way, we will have achieved becoming the MISSION CHURCH OF GOD’S OWN DESIGN!
Reflection. John the Baptist was with two of his disciples when he saw Jesus walking by and he exclaimed, “Ecce! Agnus Dei” translated “Behold! The Lamb of God.” Andrew and his friend understood very well that John was telling them Jesus was the long-awaited Messiah. The one they were supposed to follow. It was a kind of handover.
What a beautiful and interesting exchange this was! As a result, Andrew and the other disciple left the Baptist (John) and started to physically follow Jesus. As they began to follow Jesus, He turned to them and asked them what they were looking for. Jesus knew exactly why they were following him, but he wanted them to explicitly express it from their hearts. We must know clearly our needs and tell the Lord in our prayer.
Plan. The first Pillar of Pastoral Planning calls on us to ‘encounter Jesus as we would our close and trusted best friend.’ Jesus wants us to speak to Him from our hearts. The Parish Plan asks each of us to go to Jesus in prayer, pour our hearts out to Him, hear what he has to say, feel His love, mercy, and direction. The Parish Plan will provide many opportunities for meeting Jesus in personal prayer: expanded hours of Eucharistic Adoration and the Sacrament of Reconciliation, new offerings in catechesis for children and adults and native speaking facilitators for broader outreach with Adult Faith Formation!
Reflection. Jesus’ invitation was unique: “Come, and you will see.” With that invitation, these two disciples went and remained with Jesus that day. But that’s not all that happened. By spending the day with Jesus, these two disciples came to faith in Who Jesus was. They believed!
Later in the passage, notice Andrew goes to his brother Peter to tell him, “We have found the Messiah.” This passage is teaching us that each Christian is called to be a missionary to bring more disciples for Christ. The faith we received is meant to be shared.
Our Parish Plan invites us to model Andrew’s excitement about finding the Messiah and sharing the good news with his brother Peter. This captures the Second Pillar of Pastoral Planning, Accompanying one another in faith. You will see in the Plan many, opportunities to share our faith and love of the Lord. As brothers and sisters in Christ, we share by participating in any number of small church communities and culturally eclectic prayer groups, novenas, and faith traditions. We serve the needy among us with food, clothing, and financial support. With a new ministry called the Corps of Champions for Jesus we will visit the isolated homebound among us. And with a re-envisioned Welcome Ministry, we will provide a personal welcome to new parishioners, helping them feel the warmth and love that God inspires among us, here, at Sacred Heart.
Reflection. Consider Jesus’ twofold invitation: “Come…” followed by “and you will see.” When our Lord speaks to each of us, His invitation is quite similar. First, He will invite us to come with Him. We are to come to the place where Jesus is staying. Where is that? For us, it is first and foremost a place of prayer, in His Word and sacraments, especially the Eucharist.
Simply being in Jesus’ presence is all you need. Sometimes you don’t know what to pray for, just be there in Adoration and you will experience His divine presence. It is there, within the depths of our soul, that we will rest with our Lord. He invites us to simply be there in His divine presence.
When we come to Him and rest with Him in His presence, another thing will happen: “and you will see.” We will see Him, come to know Him, be enlightened by Him and come to faith in Him. And want to share Him with others. Ultimately, this takes place through an interior revelation that we can only receive in prayer.
“Come, and you will see.” Brethren, allow these words to transform your life. We are called and sent to spread the joy of the gospel to all we meet. In fact, each Catholic is a link in a chain and a bond of connections, so do not break the bond.
Our Parish Plan is God’s plan for our interior change and conversion. Drawing on scripture, Fr. Clement shows us how we become a mission church. We experience joy and hope in our friendship with Jesus. He is real. We are no longer alone. And in this new concrete sense of belonging, we want others to know what they are missing. God is true! Prayer is powerful! Faith is transforming!
A mission church is a church full of parishioners who are perfectly focused on the mission, Jesus’ mission, of bringing souls to the Father. Our Mission in this Plan is to: Build Sacred Heart into the mission church of God’s own design. We start where we are, an eclectic community of imperfect Catholic believers on a journey, seeking to be more perfectly conformed to Jesus. We embrace the lessons in Fr. Clement’s reflection and offer opportunities to grow closer to God. To do this, we adopt the language of the Three Pillars, provided for in Pastoral Planning from the Archdiocese.
PILLAR I. We start with Jesus. In prayer, we learn to believe in the one true God. And we achieve this through spending time in prayer with the Lord. ENCOUNTERING JESUS BRINGS US TO BELIEF.
PILLAR II. When we share our faith with those around us in prayer-groups, at Parish events, and in faith formation courses, we are, once again, transformed. We feel, concretely, that we are the Body of Christ. ACCOMPANIMENT BRINGS BELONGING.
PILLAR III. When we live the joy of the Gospel, confidently and with open hearts, we are changed again. Seeing this, we are ready for mission work, ready to be sent, to proclaim the Word, to bring souls to the Father!! WHEN LIVING THE JOY OF THE GOSPEL, WE BECOME INSTRUMENTS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.
Pastoral Planning at Sacred Heart: Join the Journey! Share the Joy!
Word to Mission team
