3rd Sunday of Ordinary Time 2023

Location, Location, Location is the first law of enterprise. When starting a new business venture, especially one dependent on walk-in trade, thought and planning must go into choosing a location for that business. One school of thought says a new enterprise should locate in an area without similar businesses nearby. The rationale here being it is best to establish a new enterprise where there is an unmet need.

A second line of reasoning contends that a new business should locate in an area with similar activities. It is good to locate in an area with other competitors nearby, that way, consumers looking for similar products will be drawn by multiple options and stronger competition.

According to today’s Gospel, starting a religious ministry is also about location, location, location. According to today’s Gospel reading from Matthew, it was important for Jesus to time the beginning of His ministry and to choose the right place to start it. 

Matthew tells us Jesus waited until after the imprisonment of John the Baptist to start His preaching and healing ministry. When John was no longer free to preach and baptize, Jesus took up His own public ministry of preaching a similar message, “Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.” 

The Gospels tell us that John the Baptist preached in the Judean desert just a short distance from Jerusalem. John preached his message and carried out his ministry of offering a baptism of repentance in Judea which was the center of religious authority and power in Israel. Today, we might say he carried out his ministry within the Beltway.

On the other hand, Matthew’s Gospel tells us while Jesus preached a similar message, He did it in a very different place and used a very different technique. Jesus chose to go to Galilee, about eighty miles north of Jerusalem, to preach and carry out His public ministry. Jesus chose to minister in an area we would say was outside the Beltway. 

Today’s Gospel says Jesus withdrew from Judea when He started His ministry. He returned to Nazareth, His hometown but did not stay there. Jesus did not settle down among His family, friends, and neighbors but collected His things and went down to Capernaum by the Sea of Galilee. He left the comfort and familiarity of His native place and made a complete cut from His support system so that He could rely on God entirely.

It was not just by accident that Jesus chose Capernaum in the land of Naphtali and Zebulon as the base for His ministry. He had a very particular reason for choosing that town. He chose Capernaum by the Sea of Galilee to fulfill a prophecy by Isaiah and a tradition of the Jews. That prophecy was that the Messiah would first be revealed in Galilee. 

In his gospel, Matthew was meticulous in pointing out that Jesus’ ministry fulfilled the prophecies of the Hebrew Scriptures. Scripture calls Galilee the land of prophecy, and according to the prophets, Naphtali and Zebulon were where the Messiah would first bring the light of faith. Centuries before the life of Jesus, Naphtali and Zebulon were the first parts of the Promised Land to fall under the shadow of foreign domination. As we heard in the first reading from the prophet Isaiah, these lands were the first part of the Kingdom of Israel to be conquered by the Assyrian Empire hundreds of years before the time of Jesus. Since they had suffered the longest under the shadow of oppression, they would be the first area of the Promised Land to see the light of God’s glory from the Messiah. They were to be the first area and people to have the darkness of conquest cast off and replaced by the glory and light of the Messiah. 

Jesus also chose Galilee and Capernaum for a practical reason. It was the reason I spoke of earlier as having so much impact on a new enterprise; there was foot traffic. Capernaum was a crossroads of commerce along a critical trade route from Syria to Egypt. Jesus could be certain that people who heard His message would spread it along the way. In addition, Galilee was a very diverse community. While most residents were Jews like Jesus, there were other types of people too. There were Romans, Greeks, and Syro-Phoenicians. This diversity set the stage for Jesus to minister not only to Jewish people but to pagans and people of other religious faiths. Jesus’ ministry in Capernaum and Galilee was a sign of the call for Jesus to share the Messiah’s preaching with all people and in all lands. The gospels tell us Jesus did not only share His ministry with His fellow Jews, but He ministered in adjoining areas that were not populated only by Jews.

Location, location, location is essential for our ministry of discipleship too. Like Peter, Andrew, James, and John, we, too, have been called to be disciples of Jesus. God has chosen the best place for us to carry out our ministry. He has placed us in our family, this parish of Holy Redeemer, and Chatham to be the base of operation for our ministry of discipleship. Today as we hear how Jesus began His public ministry and called His first disciples, we ask ourselves, how will I carry out my ministry as a disciple of Jesus? How will I help God cast out the darkness from this place he has chosen for me to minister in?

Renovations to our church building are one way we plan to carry out our discipleship. While a building is the core of a parish, no, we are not a clubhouse for Catholics. An attractive, accessible place of worship interests seekers to come and learn what we are about. To foster a sense of welcome, we must be accessible to all people of all ages. Therefore, our renovation project centers around a new elevator addition on the church’s north or parking lot side. Renovations will include more comfortable pews, a roomier sanctuary, an area at the back of the church to gather before and after Masses, and other improvements. The focal point of the new elevator addition will be a stained-glass window, repurposed from a closed church, facing out on Old Harbor Road. It will help draw attention from passers-by and help them recognize that we are a Catholic Church.

Last week Deacon Tom Palanza, the architect for the renovations, visited the parish along with the engineers to study the building and confirm our plans. He also gave me a timetable for the project. He told me he is confident his cost estimates of $3M for the renovations are accurate, but professional cost estimators will review his plans to confirm it. When that is done by the end of next month, we will seek Bishop Da Cunha’s written approval for the project. 

Tom anticipates breaking ground for the addition around the beginning of June. Construction of the addition will progress through the summer and fall but will not disrupt Masses in the church until Thanksgiving. Then we will move church activities to our chapel, Our Lady of Grace, in S. Chatham. Tom Palanza holds out the hope we can be back in our renovated Holy Redeemer Church for Easter 2024.

Last summer, we conducted a capital campaign to raise $1M of the $3M cost of the construction. Pledges towards the campaign have totaled over $1.1M, and we have collected $900,000 of those pledges. Thank you to all those parishioners who have donated to the capital campaign; I appreciate your support. Maybe you have not donated yet because you felt skeptical about the project getting off the ground. I hope this news spurs you to join the two hundred parish households who have contributed to the campaign. Perhaps you donated and have paid off your pledge. Now that we are about to begin, you may want to consider making an additional contribution. Everyone knows once a project commences, there are unanticipated changes to make, and it would be good to have the funds to pay for those contingencies. 

Some parishioners might still be unable to pledge to the capital campaign. Perhaps you would consider increasing your weekly budget offering. Many parishioners give a set dollar amount to the offertory that hasn’t changed for quite a while. Here as the new year begins, consider increasing your weekly offering. Consider setting the amount of your offering as a percentage of your income. How about starting with 2, 3, or 5 % of your income, working your way up to the Biblical tithe of 10%? I tithe, contributing 5% of my income to the parish and 5% to other charities, and I find it very rewarding for my spiritual life. You can make your donations using our automatic giving option. Just go to our parish website www.holyredeemerchatham.org, click on the donate button at the top of the website homepage and follow the steps. 

As I said earlier, our call to discipleship is more than a building and financially supporting our parish. God has called us to share the Gospel’s good news in our community. This week Msgr. Steve Avila, the Dean for Cape Cod, sent area priests an article on a study about the pandemic’s effects on church attendance. Not surprisingly, post-pandemic attendance has fallen at places of worship for all religions. While the most committed worshipers, those who attend worship services every week, have come back, those who were only marginal churchgoers before the pandemic have fallen away. 

We can see that here at Holy Redeemer. As you look around, you notice people you saw at Mass before the pandemic are not here today. They got out of the habit of attending Mass and have not returned. What can you do to invite them back? We have much to be proud of here at Holy Redeemer, and everyone needs to share it with others who are not attending Mass.

Recently, our Parish Business Manager Howard Whelden told me that we had several new people register as parishioners. While most were people from our local community, some were not. One lives in Puerto Rico. I’m presuming they watch our Live Stream Mass, like what they see, and want to be part of our community. Like the travelers who heard Jesus preach in Capernaum and carried His message to distant places, Holy Redeemer does that through our Live Steam. 

While it is fun to hear about people living at a distance wanting to become parish members, we must concentrate on Chatham and the lower Cape. We say that in our parish Vision Statement and need to put it into practice. In a month, the Lenten Season will begin. Lent is the season to renew and deepen our faith as we prepare to celebrate Easter. Who in your family, among your friends and neighbors, does not come to church? Prepare to invite them to church this Lent. Maybe you can prepare for that by encouraging them first to watch our Live Stream Mass. 

Today, at this Eucharist, Jesus Christ will share His Real Presence, Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity to give us God’s grace. That grace will encourage us to go down to our own Capernaum by the sea. To go into the Land of Zebulun and the Land of Naphtali to bring God’s love, mercy, forgiveness, and healing to those who walk in darkness so they can see the bright light of Jesus in their lives.