Today’s Mass readings were perfect accompaniments to our ministry fair at the Church of Christ the King this morning. Tables were set up in the gathering space where the various liturgical and other ministries of the parish had representative and information so that people could wander from table to table both before and after Mass.
In the second reading, James asks what good is it if someone says he has faith but does not have works. He writes, “If a brother or sister has nothing to wear and has no food for the day,and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace, keep warm, and eat well,’ but you do not give them the necessities of the body, what good is it?” James answers his own question: A faith not represented in works “is dead.”
There are many different ways our faith may be represented by works. Our parish ministries offer some of those ways – involvement with our adult and children’s faith formation programs, various activities of our social justice ministries, different liturgical and musical ministries. In addition, there are many opportunities for us to engage in “works” that are not parish-based. And it is good that the opportunities are so varied, for we all have different gifts and are called in different ways.
But, in one way or the other, we are all called to step up and do something. To engage in some service that builds up the Body of Christ and that make real the Kingdom of God in our midst.
As we prayed in the final verse of our recessional hymn today, “Faith and hope and love restoring, May we serve as you intend, And, amid the cares that claim us, Hold in mind eternity; With the Spirit’s gifts empower us For the work of ministry.”
Creo en Dios! 