Message from Fr. Manny Alvarez

Church of the Little Flower, Coral Gables (St. Theresa)

My Dear Friends,

Today is a glorious day for our parish school. Archbishop Wenski will be coming to officially celebrate the 100th Anniversary of the School as we continue with our Centennial celebrations. As you might know, the school was founded on September 15, 1925. Ideally, we would have loved to celebrate a Mass with the community on that day or the Sunday before that day, but due to the summer heat of September, we decided to move the Mass to the more welcoming autumn weather that we definitely experienced this past week.

We welcome not only Archbishop Wenski, but also all the priests, religious and teachers who have served St. Theresa over the years. And we also welcome back our amazing alumni who were educated in the hallowed halls of STS and are the heartbeat of our school. Many of them have their children in our school right now or have had children already graduate from St. Theresa. We have some families who have four generations of Musketeers, and we are delighted to welcome them all back home on this day for a special Mass on our school grounds on Sunday afternoon with all our alumni and students and their families.

As we turn our attention to today’s readings, they can seem a little intimidating as Christ talks about the last days and talks about the persecution that his followers will face. Even in the 21st century, we must be prepared to stand up for Christ and be prepared to be persecuted for his sake. That is something that Jesus guarantees in today's gospel for those who are faithful to him.

We will be mocked, persecuted, and hated all because of Him.

The question is:

• Do we live our faith in such a way that we risk being persecuted for our beliefs?

• Are we up for this challenge?

If we look at other Christian denominations, they have no problem getting in people's faces with the message of Jesus Christ. Why can't we? It's like we live our lives embarrassed or ashamed to be Catholic when we should walk around with our heads held high because we have been given this glorious gift of our faith that allows us to come encounter Christ in the Eucharist every Sunday. We must all work towards the goal of shedding this, dare I say, wimpy practice of our faith and start working towards a more proactive practice of Catholicism.

As St. Paul told the Thessalonians in today's second reading: "if anyone [is] unwilling to work, neither should that one eat. (2 Thes 3:10)"

You want to sit at Christ's table?

It's time to roll up your sleeves and start living out the faith we profess in the Creed we recite every Sunday. We need more tough Catholics who boldly live out their faith despite what the world throws at them. This is what the Church, what the world is crying for as it continues its decline into total secularism where God has no place and our faith becomes irrelevant.

• Who will stand up?

• Who will dare live their faith in such a way that they risk being persecuted for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ?

God Bless You All,

Fr. Manny Alvarez