Preached on Sunday, August 20, 2017

You may know of the Catholic High School that serves the Greater Birmingham area, it’s John Carroll Catholic High School that’s located off I-65 on Lakeshore Drive in Homewood.

Three years ago in June of 2014, they announced their “Forevermore Campaign”

   where they were soliciting financial support ...

   for a number of upgrades and improvements they wanted to make at that school.

The goal of the Forevermore Campaign was to raise $4 Million dollars.

I think you’ll agree that’s a substantial amount of money!

But there was very good news that they shared ...

as they made their announcement on that June day …

they had already received half of the goal … either cash in hand or in pledge!

And you may ask,  “How in the world did they do that?”

Well you see, they had been planning the “Forevermore Campaign” for many years

         and they had decided early on ... to conduct it in 2 phases …

an initial private phase ... followed by a later public phase.

And so. for the two years prior to 2014 ...

they had been actively soliciting donations from select Alumni …

in a private and personal way.

Fr. John McDonald, who was President of the John Carroll at the time ...

and some School Board Members ...

had been visiting select Alumni of the school ...

presenting the campaign to them ... and soliciting their support.

Some declined or deferred … thankfully many made contributions ...

                                                               to the tune of ... $2 Million Dollars!

And it was only after conducting the private phase of the campaign for 2 years ...

that they then began conducting the public phase …

     whereby they announced their appeal ... to everyone ... not just select Alumni ...

but all past gradates of John Carroll … as well as their families and friends    

   and anyone else who believed in the work they were doing

       to form students in mind, body and soul.

I’m sure that some of you are proud alumni of John Carroll ...

and perhaps contributors to that Forevermore Campaign.

The point of all this is that John Carroll Catholic High School knew all along ...

that they were going to reach out to everyone …

but ... they purposely did it in 2 Phases ...

… first the Private Phase (to a select group) … and then the Public Phase (to all).

And this 2-Phase Plan that they used closely resembles

the plan that God used to draw all people to Himself!

Yes, from the beginning, God had in mind His own ... Forevermore Campaign!

But His challenge was way bigger than just raising $4 Million Dollars.

God had to make His appeal for a happy future to a whole world enslaved by sin.

How do you do that?     Where do you begin ... when everyone’s in sin?

Well, back in Jesus’ day, people were pretty much divided in two opposing groups.

No, they weren’t divided Auburn & Alabama … or Republican & Democrat.

At that time people were divided as either Jews or non-Jews. You either believed in

the One true God … the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob … or you did not.

Those who believed in other gods were referred to as Gentiles or Pagans.

So there was great separation among the people ...

especially in the way that they worshipped …

with the Jews worshipping the One True God in the Temple in Jerusalem,

and the Gentiles worshipping their false gods at Shrines or not at all.

And I’m sure they never dreamt ... there would ever come a day …

where all people would come and worship together in the same place!

Yet that was God’s desire ... from the very beginning!

The Prophet Isaiah referred to this in our First Reading stating,

“Thus says the Lord … The foreigners who join themselves to the Lord, …

them will I bring to my holy mountain and make joyful in my house of prayer …

for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.”

Coming 600 years before Jesus, Isaiah’s prophecy had to leave them quite confounded: Everyone coming together to pray to the same God in the same place?

How impossible! The Jews hated the Gentiles … and the Gentiles hated the Jews.

So you can see how difficult ... God’s Forevermore Campaign was!

But God had a plan ... a plan that we hear unfold in today’s Gospel.

A Gentile woman dares to approach Jesus, a Jew, to help her sick child.

Jesus is initially silent to her request for help.

And when the woman persists in asking Him for help, Jesus responds,

“I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”

In other words, Jesus was saying that He’s only in Phase One of His Campaign …

going only to those who have experience with the One True God …

those of the House of Israel ... the Jews

You see, with the whole world ... both Jews and Gentiles ... in sin ...

God chose to break up His campaign into two Phases …

first gathering the Jews ... and then later gathering the Gentiles.

The woman in need didn’t know about Phases … all she knew was that her daughter was sick and she needed the help of this holy man Jesus right now!

So, she pressed Jesus saying, “Lord, help me.”

Jesus replies saying,

“It is not right to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs.”

Now, she knew that the word “children” meant the Jews, God’s Chosen People.

While the word “dog” was a Jewish term of contempt for her and all Gentiles.

So she hears Jesus saying that His saving power was intended for the Jews

… and it wasn’t right to use His power to assist the Gentiles.

Yet, still she persisted ...saying,

“Please Lord, even the dogs eat the scraps that fall from the table of their masters.”

Wow!          What was Our Lord to do?

How could He hesitate any longer ... to honor her trusting request?

He couldn’t …

so impressed was Jesus by her persistent determination that He remarked,

“O woman, great is your faith!”

   and He went ahead and healed her daughter at that very hour!

With that, Phase 1 of His Campaign was now over … and Phase 2 had begun!

With her plea … the Private Phase was ended … and the Public Phase begun!

No longer would He seek out only the Jews ... now ... the Gentiles as well!

In doing this, Jesus showed that He had the power to heal Gentiles as well as Jews.

He had the power all along … and it was in His plan to use it all along ...

He just purposely rolled it out in two phases, first to the Jews, then to the Gentiles.

Soon after this, Jesus established His Church on Peter ...

   as the worldwide household of God ... and He would instruct His Disciples to:

“Go out to the whole world and make disciples of all nations,

baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”

And then soon after Jesus ascended to Heaven,

He converted Paul from being a zealous Jew to being a zealous Christian

with the mission of taking the Good News of salvation to the Gentiles.

Paul affirms this in our Second Reading from his Letter to the Romans, saying,

“I am speaking to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the Apostle to the Gentiles.”

This is a clear announcement that Phase Two of God’s Forevermore Campaign …

was in full swing ...

with the Good News of salvation being preached to... all people.

And notice how Paul, a Jew, addresses the Gentiles in each of his letters …

“Brothers and Sisters:”

Wow! Far different cultures and yet ... Brothers and Sisters … in the Lord!

Thank God for Paul … he brought the faith to the Gentiles … that’s all of us!

And since then, God’s Campaign to gather all souls has been in full swing …

and it continues … to this very day.

It’s a Campaign that never ends … it will continue ... until the end of time!

While, the John Carroll Campaign ended when they got their $4 Million ...

God’s campaign will not end until all people are invited into his House …

and new people are being born every day that need to be invited!

For the last 20 years, we’ve been calling God’s Forevermore Campaign,

“The New Evangelization and the Re-Evangelization.”

You may or may not have chosen to participate in the John Carroll Forevermore Campaign.

   But you definitely need to participate in … God’s Forevermore Campaign !

All of us by our Baptism are called to build up the Kingdom of God on earth.

In my Pastor’s Desk in the Bulletin next week …

you’ll read my plea to reach out to family and friends ...

with an invitation to attend our next series of RCIA classes

that will begin on Tuesday, Sept. 19^th.

God wants all souls to be gathered into His House …

Which in Phase 1 is the Church ...

and in Phase 2 is Heaven!

You can be an agent in that great campaign ...

gaining souls for the Kingdom of Heaven.

We’re in Phase 2 ... or maybe better called Phase 2-1/2 ...

for it’s not just the evangelization of all peoples ...

it’s the re-evangelization of all peoples ...

evangelizing the de-Christianized ... and dare I say ... the de-Catholicized!

Please pray for this & participate in this …

so that God’s Campaign during your lifetime ... is successful ...

and all people can live with God ... Forevermore!