Claire…ification: Launching into the Life of the Church

Over recent weeks I have had conversations with a few people who are feeling discouraged by what they perceive as a lack of desire by many in the congregation to do much that really makes a difference in their community. These people feel that there is a lack of enthusiasm and energy and willingness to engage in meaningful ministry. Some of these folks I have ended up in conversations with have left the church and are engaging in hands-on mission outside of the church and are finding community there, as they work alongside others who care about the kinds of people and things that they care about and perhaps even the things that Jesus cares about.

I’ve recently read a book titled “Four Women Doctors of the Church” where we reflected on Hildegard of Bingen, Catherine of Siena, Teresa of Avila and Therese of Lisieux. All of these women made significant contributions in the early church and they have barely gotten any attention at all. I’m not sure that would really matter too much to any of them, because none of them lived into their call to gain any sort of recognition. Rather, like many others that we know of in the Christian tradition, these women took the initiative, based on their relationship with God, to launch themselves into the life of the Church.

Here are a few lessons I have learned from these women:

All of these women saw their lives as being accessible to ALL. They were more concerned with the people who they felt led to serve than the hierarchy in the church.
All were called and loved by God and love was at the center of their lives. The twofold commandment to love God and love neighbors was understood to be the most important of all commandments. Showing compassion for others was to be exercised not only in their private lives but also publicly.
Each of these women demonstrated that their full humanity was to be lived out based on the example of Jesus’ humanity and the Eucharist was essential in making them available to all.
Hildegard pointed out that we can each choose to be guided by external reality or by internal reality. (Today we might call external reality secularism.)

All people of faith are called to launch into ministry. We are not to wait for someone to get us organized or to lead us. We may or may not receive the equipping and inspiration in our local church. That’s when we need to seek opportunities to learn, grow and serve outside of our local church and then go back to those we love, not with an expectation of them, but as leaven in the dough. We may not always see the bread rise, but we are not called to be successful, we are called to be faithful. Let us launch into the life of the church, becoming a spark to help ignite others into fruitful ministry.

Peace y’all,