Hold Tight!--4th Sunday of Easter

Praise the Lord! By way of introduction, my name is Father Quinn Mann. I am your new associate Pastor here at St. Pius X Parish. It is a joy to be here and I give thanks to Almighty God for the blessing to be able to preach God’s Word and administer God’s sacraments.

As I understand, it is your fiftieth anniversary celebration this year. It is an honor to be welcomed into your parish during this year of celebration. Fifty years St. Pius has ministered to God’s holy people. To be a part of this beautiful tradition of service, I am truly blessed. The first time I had heard about your anniversary celebration was through Father Tim Shillcox after the Chrism Mass at Cathedral. He handed me a relic of St. Pius X and also gave me a prayer:

A humble priest on Peter’s throne,
with all the world to win;
you made your children’s cares
your own,
you sorrowed when they
Sinned.
You gave them God’s Son
sacrificed, to make them
new in Christ.
Again, St. Pius make
anew, all things in
Christ, who lived in you!

Father Tim was proud to say that he is the one vocation to priesthood in St. Pius’ fifty-year history. The seeds of faith have been planted for vocations by pastors such as: Keller, Mortell, Nueser, Barrett, Columbo, Gulig, Schmidt, Zuleger and the time for harvest is now. The challenge of this parish can be that of more vocations to priesthood and religious life. Sure, there have been fruits of faith in many areas, but the true test of a parish’s faith lies in the fact that she produces priestly vocations. St. Pius has tremendous ministries of what I have just observed since this past Tuesday when I arrived, but she has awesome potential in producing healthy and holy priestly and consecrated vocations! The Church needs them! The world needs them!

For one thing, I never thought God would ask me to become a priest. I grew up in Sturgeon Bay, the youngest of five children. My dad is from Chicago and my mother is from Germany. I was placed in a parochial school at the age of seven and shortly thereafter received my first holy communion. In fifth grade, a Manitowoc sister of Charity told me that I was supposed to be a priest. From that point, God had me in His grasp. I seldom gave the priesthood much thought until after college and it was only until then that I was willing to hear God’s voice, the Shepard calling his wayward sheep. I repented of my sins, surrendered my life to Jesus Christ and am now His priest.

What inhibits us from encountering Lord? What stopped those in the Acts of the Apostle’s from hearing God’s call to be held by HIM? It is sin. Sin had so jeopardized my relationship with God and His Catholic Church that I was unwilling to be a part of that Church. I wanted nothing to do with Catholicism.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus says, “No one can take them out of my hand and no one can take them out of my Father’s hand. Where do we find ourselves? Do we find ourselves in the hands of the Lord or do we find ourselves in the decrepit hands of sin? Remember as a child when your older brother or sister would hold something in their fist so tightly that you couldn’t rip it out save your life? You would try and try, but they would hold tighter and tighter? They would clinch their fist with that precious object you so tenaciously wanted to grasp for yourself. We would try to pry their hand open to no avail.

Often, we can have the image of a God who gently holds his open hands to us. But sometimes this image can fall short because we begin to believe that He makes us susceptible to the tugs of the world. We can easily begin to think that God is apathetic to our struggles and lets us vulnerably wondering through the world. We begin to believe that God is impartial to our plights. We begin to distrust God and circum to the fears of an sinful world vying for our souls.

Perhaps we can imagine a God who fiercely, ruthlessly, and jealously wants to grasp us firmly with a tight fist. A God who passionately wants us to be His. This is the God Jesus speaks about in today’s Gospel from John. He says, “No one can take them out of my hand and no one can take them out of my Father’s hand.” Jesus is not just a meek Shepard hoping the fears of the world are thwarted away, but He is a warrior shepherd who holds us tight, never wanting to let go and defending us with all his might.

I give praise to Almighty God that he has fiercely kept me in the palm of his clinched fist, not open to the thwarts and threats of the world. He is a God who has jealously protected my vocation in order that His Word be proclaimed.
St. Pius X Parish is in its fiftieth anniversary celebration has a decision to make. Will this parish fiercely continue to defend the Truths of the faith and tenaciously hold onto the souls entrusted to Her? Or will St. Pius be an apathetic parish susceptible to the sin of the world? In my first few days, it appears that this parish desires, like Christ and His Heavenly Father to say, “No one can take them out of my hand. No one!” Christ will defend us. Christ will clinch us in His hand. Christ will sustain us if only we turn to Him by repenting of our sins and trusting in His providence both individually and as a parish.