We have come to the end of our Fall Message Series, “8^th Grade Faith.” Throughout this series we have noted that for too many Catholics, their faith formation pretty much stopped in the 8^th grade after they received the Sacrament of Confirmation. Confirmation became more of a graduation from Church. Even for those who continued to come to Mass, their faith life kind of stagnated. They stilled prayed the prayers that they learned as children, but they had not developed a personal prayer life that is more of a conversation with Jesus. They looked at charitable giving as just giving the same amount that they have been giving for years, instead of developing a more mature approach to giving using the “4 P’s”: that Christian giving should be Planned, a Priority, a Percentage, and be Progressive.

Today we are going to look at where God ultimately wants to take us, and what He uses to get us there. We are going to look at today’s second reading, from St. Paul’s letter to Timothy. As we mentioned a couple of weeks ago, St. Paul is coming to the end of his life, and he is writing to Timothy, who has been a spiritual son to him, to encourage him to keep strong in the Faith. Paul warns Timothy that leading the Church there in Ephesus is not going to be easy. He tells Timothy that he will have battles to fight, disappointments to bear, and suffering to endure. Essentially he is reminding Timothy that to be a follower of Jesus there is a price to be paid; that Christ Himself told the Apostles that if anyone wanted to be His disciple they would have to pick of their cross daily, and follow Him. In other words, to be a disciple of Jesus requires COMMITMENT.

This really should not come as a surprise to us, for as we just noted, Jesus Himself told us this. While recognizing this important truth, we need to avoid two common errors about this point of taking up our cross. First there are those who seem to relish in the cross, but not in a good way. They emphasize the suffering and sacrifice at the expense of the joy and blessing of the Gospel. Jesus showed us how to avoid this error by always connecting the sacrifice to the promise reward of the Kingdom of God. In other words, the suffering and sacrifice – the cross – is NOT the Kingdom of God but the way to the Kingdom of God.

The other error, and frankly the one that has been the most common in the Catholic Church since the 1970s, is where the Faith is reduced to emphasizing everything as “rainbows and unicorns.” Everything is happy, happy, and smiles everywhere. This ignores the rich depth and weight of the Good News, and it does not prepare people for the persecution that all disciples of Christ experience in some way, sometime in life. To be a committed disciple requires persistence with a view of the whole reality of Christian Faith.

Today there seems to be three main “camps” of followers of Jesus Christ among those who still go to Mass. First we have the “Consumer Catholics.” They seem to have the attitude of “All I have to do is show up, the rest is on the church. I do not need to give, I do not need to serve or volunteer.” Consumer Catholics, I used to call them “Burger King” Catholic, just want everything their way. If they are not entertained, not given what they want, they just leave – perhaps going to a neighboring parish.

Then we have the “Comfortable Catholics” who do contribute to the parish in terms of time, talent, and treasure, but only in so far as it is convenient for them. Instead of surrendering their life to God, God and Church needs to fit into their lifestyle. They come to Mass on Sunday, as long as they don’t have something better to do. They are willing to be a lector or Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion, but only at certain Masses, and only with these people and not those. You might think I am kidding, but at one parish I was at, one of the Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion told me that they would not serve at one location in the church because not as many people went to that location, so they were not getting as much “face time” as a minister.

Finally we have “Committed Followers.” They give of their time, talent and treasure whether it is convenient or inconvenient. They have surrendered their lives to Christ Jesus, and He has given them new life. The simple truth is that God matches our giving and serving. If we value Him little, then He will give us little.

This idea of growing in our commitment to being a disciple of Jesus Christ fits perfectly with today being World Mission Sunday. Of course today we are being invited to especially pray for and support financially those women and men who have so committed their lives to Christ and the proclamation of the Gospel, that they have left the comforts of their homes and countries, to travel to various parts of the world where the Gospel still needs to be proclaimed and witnessed. They more often than not are working in poor, undeveloped countries. They witness God’s love for every man, woman and child, by building and teaching in schools, or maybe serving at a health care clinic. They might help build a well so that people have access to drinking water.

World Mission Sunday not only honors their sacrifice for the Gospel, but it also witnesses to us. It reminds us that through our baptism we have been commissioned to reveal our faith and spread the message of God’s Kingdom. Whether we are among those who travel the world as missionaries or those who never leave their hometowns, we all have opportunities to share the Good News of salvation through Jesus. We are all “Baptized and Sent” to be Committed Followers of Jesus Christ, and as St. Paul told Timothy, “proclaim the word; be persistent whether it is convenient or inconvenient….”