Feast of the Most Holy Redeemer

Feast of the Most Holy Redeemer July 17, 2022 John 3, 15-18 Today we celebrate the Feast of the Most Holy Redeemer. The patronal Feast of the Congregation of the Redemptorists. Today we are celebrating Jesus and his desire to save everyone. To be their Redeemer and Savior. The gospel for today’s feast is a special Gospel, it is probably the best-known scripture passage: John 3, 16. It is a powerful passage: “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but have eternal life.” God’s love for us is so great that he sent us his son just to share with us that message. That is why the Redemptorist were founded, that is why we exist today, to let all know how much God’s love them, especially the poor and the most abandoned. I am not much of a bible thumper. I don’t know too many scripture passages by heart. If someone says, Matthew 6, 9-13 I am not sure what it refers to but if someone says, “Our Father who art in heaven…” Why of course I know that passage. But if there is one verse that you were going to choose from the bible, I don’t think that you could find a passage much better than John 3, 16. God so loved the world. As a one liner this is a great summation of the gospel, of Jesus’ message. That God loves the world and that is why God sent his son. Yes, this single verse is truly powerful, but as always it must be taken in its context to be fully understood. John 3, 16 is key to understanding John’s Gospel. It is key to understanding the message of Jesus. We are saved from death but there is one requirement. We must believe. What does it mean to believe in Jesus? To believe in Jesus is not the same as believing a statement. The Dodgers will win the World Series this year, it is going to rain tomorrow. Those are statements that can be proven or disproven empirically. Do you believe in Jesus means that we have a relationship with Jesus a relationship of trust. What does it mean to say that I trust in Jesus? Trust means that I believe that he has the power to bring me from death to life. Trust means I have relationship with Jesus, Jesus offers me the gift of eternal life, I respond with an ascent of faith. We participate in our own salvation by believing that God did love the world so much that he sent his son Jesus. As I said today is the feast of the Most Holy Redeemer. A feast that is only celebrated in Redemptorist Churches. Today’s feast isn’t celebrated in St. Bruno or St. Gregory’s nor any other church in the Archdiocese. Only in Redemptorist Churches like ours. The message of the Gospel is quite simple but there is a catch. Yes, God loved the world so much that he sent his Son, and we have to respond by believing. The catch is if you don’t know. If you don’t know that God loves you so much, how can you possibly believe? In 1732 St. Alphonsus founded our congregation. He had gone on retreat to the hill town of Scala above the Amalfi coast. A beautiful part of the world to this day, but when Alphonsus got there, he discovered that the people were baptized but they knew nothing about Jesus. So Alphonsus founded the congregation just to let folks know about God’s love. In 1922 the Redemptorist’s arrived in Whittier. We came here for the same reason. Whittier was primarily a Quaker town and the Vincentians had started St. Mary’s to evangelize the Catholics in this part of Los Angeles County. In 1922 Whittier was a farm town with many fruit orchards. All along the San Gabriel River especially in the area where the 605 expressway is, in communities like St. Francis Xavier in Pico Rivera or Perpetual Help in Los Nietos. The Redemptorist came here so that people might know Jesus and knowing him that they might believe. We are celebrating 100 years of Redemptorists life. Some might think that the mission of the Redemptorists is accomplished, and it is time to move on. I believe that it is time for the Redemptorists to enter into a new phase. My desire is to make St. Mary’s a center of evangelization, a place where you who know Jesus can be taught to be missionaries and to go forth to proclaim the Good News to others. Jesus’ message is one of Good News. Jesus’ ministry is to proclaim God’s love for each of us. For 290 years the Redemptorists have been doing this throughout the world. For 100 years we have been doing this in Whittier. May God bless us and strengthen us for this mission so that not only we might believe, but that we might bring many others to believe as well.