Stewardship Homily 2021

November 17, 2021 | Feast of Christ the King

Today we celebrate the Feast of Christ the King. What does it mean for Christ to be King of our hearts and minds? It means to call on Him for the help we need. It means to not only to acknowledge Him as Lord but as our loving Savior. It means beginning to trust Him with our lives, our families, our work, our challenges and our opportunities. It means letting our trust deepen to reliance and even to dependence upon Him and His empowering love.

The more we find our security in Christ the freer we become to be our true selves and the freer we become to help others – the true joy in life. This enables us to more fully experience His Kingdom in our lives individually and as a community – an eternal and universal Kingdom; a Kingdom of truth and life; a Kingdom of holiness and grace; a Kingdom of justice, love, and peace – to quote the Preface of our Mass today.

In our community of Holy Family we have experienced profoundly that Christ is our loving savior who has abundantly shared His empowering love with us! When the Corona Virus caused us to basically shut down our parish in March of 2020, we discussed our worst case scenario financially, which was to expect our donations to be cut in half. With the grace of Christ and your loving Faith, your loving support and your loving generosity, we weathered the pandemic! Even when we could not provide you with Mass in person, you accessed Mass online and you accessed online giving! We have experienced more and more of you coming back to Mass in person, once this was possible, and even our average collections have increased a significant amount each week. We trust that the pandemic is declining and it is our firm hope to fully reopen our parish without restrictions one step at a time.

In addition to surviving and thriving in the midst of the pandemic, we have given birth to a new parish in Nolensville: Mother Teresa and have given this new parish our Associate Pastor as its new Pastor: Father Anthony. In turn, the Lord has blessed us with Fr. Mark as our new Associate Pastor.

The parish of Mother Teresa is flourishing with a vibrant community: attendance at Mass and is on a solid financial basis. This new parish is averaging $9,000 per week in collections. At the same time we have not experienced a decline in our number of parishioners nor in our collections. One key reason for this is the extensive growth we are experiencing in Williamson County. We have gained 155 new families who have registered at Holy Family over the last four months.

Since the Lord has abundantly blessed us at Holy Family, I ask that we express our gratitude by helping others. I know that you are aware of the Bishop's Capital Campaign of A Legacy of Faith, Hope and Love. This Campaign offers opportunities to give in order to endow: Vocations to the Priesthood, Catholic Charities, and Catholic Education. We at Holy Family have been given the additional opportunity to give to Nolensville Project through the capital campaign: the construction of St. Michael Academy, a Pre K through 8th grade Catholic School, which will also provide for the first on-site home for Mother Teresa Parish.

I thank those who have already donated to our Bishop’s Campaign. For those who have not, please consider donating as your pledge directly impacts our Nolensville Project. Yes, we have an excellent Religious Education program at Holy Family and yes, we have excellent schools in Williamson County. At the same time, there is also a place for an excellent Catholic School in Williamson County. This facility will also aid Mother Teresa Parish by providing this community with an on-site home. Please prayerfully consider giving to our Nolensville Project through the campaign. For your convenience, we have attached a Pledge Form at the bottom of this page.

I am also making a significant contribution because I believe so deeply in this cause, and I believe that I must give sacrificially if I am asking you to do the same.

Again, with the grace of Christ, our parish has survived the pandemic and we are vibrantly alive spiritually, community wise, and financially. I thank you with all my heart for your wholehearted support. Please continue this by returning to Mass on a regular basis, engaging in our parish activities and financially supporting the parish and our charitable giving. Together we have truly experienced Christ as Lord and as our loving Savior.

As we honor the blessings the Lord has bestowed upon us individually, as families and as a parish family, let us express our gratitude by helping others through our continuing support for our Parish Family and The Bishop's Capital Campaign which includes our Nolensville Project. In doing this we have a profound opportunity to further the Kingdom of Christ. I close with a passage by St. Teresa of Avila:

"Christ has no body now on earth but yours, no hands but yours, no feet but yours. Yours are the eyes through which Christ's compassion is to look out to the world. Yours are the feet with which Christ is to go about doing good. Yours the hands with which Christ is to help all people now."

Amen.

Fr. Joe McMahon, Pastor