Rebuild my Church

by Monsignor Tim Harrington

I'm not a Franciscan priest. Not by any means. The Rule of St. Francis that Franciscans vow to follow is much too demanding and severe for me. But it took a person like Francis to remind us what our role in life is. Francis was a little man who abandoned every luxury and started alone in the service of God and humankind. Within his short lifetime, his work had attracted a following of more than 40,000 monks and nuns throughout Europe.

Francis was inspired to do this work by a vision. While praying in a little church that was collapsed and in ruins, the figure of Jesus on the Crucifix dangling above the alter came to life. Francis saw Jesus look at him and say “Francis, rebuild my church.” And little, innocent, penniless Francis started to do just that. Stone by stone, he began to rebuild the broken down San Damiano Church.

But soon, the voice came again, “Francis, rebuild my Church.” And Francis realized that Jesus wasn’t asking him to rebuild San Damiano Church, Jesus was asking him to rebuild the Catholic Church. The Church in Francis’ time had fallen into moral and spiritual decay. Money and position had become more important than helping the people find their way to God. And little Francis started to rebuild the Catholic Church, not brick by brick, but monk and nun, by monk an nun. Soon there were 40,000 of them and the renewal of the Church was begun.

“Francis, rebuild my Church.” Where is the Catholic Church today? Later this month, the Sunday Gospel reading will tell the story of the Pharisees asking Jesus what is the most important commandment. They must have been surprised when Jesus didn’t select one of the Ten Commandments, but instead, an obscure commandment found in Deuteronomy:

"You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with your entire mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second is like it: ⁵ You shall love your neighbor as yourself. ⁶ The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments."

The whole Church is built on one critical commandment: LOVE. That is it. Everything else we as Catholics do is simply there to help us go deeper into our relationship with God so that we can meet God’s primary commandment: “Love”. The sacraments and rituals and prayers are not our purpose, they are our avenue for going deeper into God and deeper into ‘Love’. When we follow only the form and fail to see the purpose, we are no longer serving God. We then begin serving the form, serving the institution, serving something less than God.

Now keep in mind that while Jesus mentions love as the most important commandment, He is quoted much more often in the Gospels as instructing his followers to avoid ‘judging’ others. That is because through judging others, we close off our ability to love. The two are mutually exclusive.

Look at the world around you, look at our Catholic and Christian churches. Condemnation and judgment sadly seem to be the key to their purpose and power. While to be true followers of the Christ, we would never judge, we would just Love.

It is time for each of us to take this commandment into our own heart and Love and not judge. It is very hard, because our natural tendency is to judge and condemn. But that closes us off to God’s down pouring of love. Jesus raised the demands. That was his mission; to bring us from the depths of judgment to the heights of Love. To truly follow Jesus, to truly assist Francis in ‘rebuilding’ the Church, keep in mind, “it is NOT for us to judge, but to simply LOVE.” Give it a try.

God Bless You,

Yours In Christ,

Monsignor Tim Harrington

Our Lady of Peace Catholic Community, Tucson Arizona

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