Last weekend during Mass for the Feast of Pentecost, we spoke about the Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit and invited you to take a small flame folder with the name of one of the gifts to focus on this coming year. These seven gifts live in all of us who have received the Spirit of baptism. But these seven gifts do not exhaust the gift-giving energy of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit provides many more gifts for the building up of the church community and the human community. St. Paul often reminded the faith communities he founded that the proper functioning of the church requires the active engagement of each of us, sharing our unique gifts.

What are those gifts and how are we supposed to use them? In churchy circles we use the word “discernment” to describe the process of listening to the call of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit is not likely to speak to us in a thundering voice in the middle of the night. More likely, the Spirit will speak to us through a line of scripture, the words of a friend or a stranger, or through our inner desire.  Some of us grow up with the idea that whatever we want to do is the exact opposite of what God wants us to do. If that were true, God would be really stupid! Certainly not everything we want to do comes from God or is moral or legal. Yet God often works through our feelings and inclinations. If we are not drawn to something, we will ultimately abandon it.  For example, my grandmother insisted that my mother take piano lessons as a child; but to my mother, it was nothing more than another class. As far as I know, she never played the piano as an adult, and in spite of heavy lobbying by my grandmother, my mother never forced me to take piano lessons.

I mention all of this, because I believe that there are many of us in the parish community who are not discerning the call of the Spirit. I say that because so many of our ministries are becoming depleted. Prior to COVID in 2020, we had an active Social Justice Group; we had enough ministers of the Eucharist to schedule three people each weekend, without scheduling the same people almost every week; we were able to schedule two lectors for each weekend Mass on a rotating basis; our choir had twice as many parishioners in it than it has now; and at most Masses there was a regular team of ushers. There was an active Men’s Group and Child Care was offered on Sundays during the 10:30 Mass. The Servite Secular Order has diminished, as had the number of people active in the Garden Club. The list could go on and on. While there have been a number of new initiatives that have brought a fresh spirit to our parish, we still need to take care of the basics of prayer and service.

Of course the challenges we are facing are not unique. When businesses and institutions began to reopen in the summer and fall of 2020, a persistent question was, “What happened to all the workers?” This was especially true in the retail and hospitality industries. The three months during which only “essential workers” were actually on the job gave everybody else the opportunity to rethink the work that they had been doing. Maybe I have enough saved that I don’t have to go to work right away when things are still risky. Those close to retirement or who were working past retirement age found this to be a good opportunity to make retirement official.  Others drifted into other occupations. So it was at Assumption. Some people did not return to church; others saw the break as a good time to step away or retire from that ministry; others for health reasons continued to participate in Mass remotely. Others moved. Over the last three years the number of people coming to church has steadily grown, and we are now approaching our Pre-COVID attendance. Yet over this same period only a few people have joined our ministerial ranks. Perhaps you were always comfortable thinking that someone else would do what’s needed, but the “someone elses” are getting fewer and fewer.

Let me be clear. I am not looking for volunteers. I am not looking for people willing to help out. I am asking those of you who are not involved in any church activity or ministry to do some soul searching. Do I have a calling in one of these areas? Do people tell me I have a good speaking voice or a good singing voice? Do I have a great love for the Eucharist and would find it a humbling yet joyful experience to share the Body of Christ with others? Maybe you will look at your life and say “I am overcommitted now.” Maybe you are involved in charitable or justice work outside of church. On the other hand, God may give you a nudge to do something. To find out more about any ministry is easy. Pick up an “Opportunities to Serve” brochure in the back of church, which has all the contact emails.

                                                                                                             Fr. Joe