The Easter Homilies

Easter Vigil 2010

Christ is risen! Indeed He is risen! Alleluia!

On this most sacred of all nights

the heavenly powers sing in jubilation

all the earth exults in the shining splendor of the conquering king

Mother Church rejoices in the glory of her risen Savior.

This sacred place resounds with joy

echoing the mighty praise of God’s people, redeemed by the risen Christ!

Tonight we bask in the glory of the Light of Christ

listen with reverence to the great stories of salvation history

bathe in the saving waters of Baptism

and rejoice that Christ has returned to us

and is alive in the Eucharist we celebrate once again on the third day.

With excitement the Apostles and the women who cared for Jesus

proclaimed to one another in the brightness of Easter morning:

He is alive and has appeared to us!

For over two thousand years hence the Church has proclaimed the same message:

Christ is a alive and has appeared to us

in Word and in Sacraments

in Scripture and Tradition

in the ministry of priests and the love and service of all God’s people.

Tonight our world-wide, trans-cultural, and centuries-old family of faith

welcomes nineteen of its newest members

through the waters of Baptism and the anointing of Confirmation.

You have been preparing through the RCIA process for this most special night

when your souls are joined to Christ permanently and indelibly

as members of His Mystical Body.

We welcome you into our local parish under the patronage of St. Michael –

a community of faith with a rich history and a legacy of service.

More significantly we welcome you into the universal Church,

which has for two millennia transcended all human boundaries

holding fast and proclaiming the fullness of Christ's love and truth.

This great family includes people of every race.

We are young and old, rich and poor, men and women.

We are sinners and saints.

We have spanned the centuries and the globe.

With God’s grace, we have established hospitals to care for the sick.

We have built orphanages to rescue God’s precious children.

We have served the needs of the poor and brought comfort to the afflicted.

Our religious and lay teachers educate more children

than any other academic institution.

Our scholars and monks developed the scientific method and the college system.'

We defend the dignity of all human life

and uphold the sacred realities of Marriage and family.

At 1.2 billion, we are the largest religious community in the world.

Many of the world’s greatest cities are named after our revered saints.

Guided by the Holy Spirit, the Fathers of the Church compiled the Bible.

We are guided in the ways of faith by Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition

which together reveal the Word of God to us.

Jesus Christ is the foundation and center of our faith

and encountering Him more deeply is the goal of our lives.

Our Church is grounded in an unbroken succession of shepherds –

from Jesus’ chosen Apostles under the leadership of Saint Peter

to the pope and bishops of our own day

who proclaim God’s love and truth in a confused and hurting world.

In a world of chaos and hardship,

we take comfort in knowing that some things are consistent, true and safe:

the teachings of our Catholic Faith and the eternal love of our God.

We rejoice in the precious gift of the seven Sacraments,

outward signs of God’s hidden grace.

and especially for the Eucharist, the living and abiding presence of Jesus Christ

in the Mass and in the tabernacles of our churches throughout the world.

We have prayed for the world for centuries as we offer the Mass

and our priests have been instruments of mercy in every age and land.

Tonight we welcome nineteen men and women

into this extraordinary community of faith.

Tonight the waters of the font give birth to the newest Christians

as they are reborn in Baptism.

Tonight we who have been Catholic for many years

consider for ourselves how we might renew and deepen our faith

and more deeply experience the fullness of what Christ desires to give us

in the teaching, sacraments, and traditions of our Church.

We are one family, united in Jesus Christ, who is alive and revealing Himself to us!

My dear friends about to be baptized and confirmed…

we are the Catholic Church…

welcome home!

Easter Sunday 2010

Christ is risen! Indeed He is risen! Alleluia!

On this most sacred of all days

the heavenly powers sing in jubilation

all the earth exults in the shining splendor of the conquering king

Mother Church rejoices in the glory of her risen Savior.

This sacred place resounds with joy

echoing the mighty praise of God’s people, redeemed by the risen Christ!

This morning we bask in the glory of the Light of Christ

are sprinkled with the saving waters of Baptism

as we renew our commitment to Christ

and rejoice that He has returned to us

and is alive in the Eucharist we celebrate once again on the third day.

On Easter morning the women travel to the tomb where Christ was buried

expecting to find His body

and to anoint Him with the spices they had prepared.

Yet when they arrive they find the stone rolled back,

the tomb empty

and the body of Jesus gone.

Mary Magdalene is stricken with sadness and panic:

“They have taken the Lord

and I do not know where they have laid Him.”

The women and the Apostles are confused and in fear,

having experienced the cruel and burial

of their trusted friend and teacher

and now unable to find His body.

Peace returns to their lives and hearts only when they can see Jesus again.

He appears to Mary, who is weeping outside the tomb,

then to a few disciples on the road to Emmaus

and finally on Easter evening to all of them gathered in the upper room.

He speaks to them, allows them to touch Him, and embraces them.

They have seen Him once again, have touched His body,

and rejoice that their beloved Jesus has returned to them.

They had seen for themselves the lifeless Jesus and sealed the stone-cold tomb.

And now…oh what wonder and amazement…He is alive!

With excitement the Apostles and the women who cared for Jesus

proclaimed to one another:

He is alive and has appeared to us!

For over two thousand years hence the Church has proclaimed the same message:

Christ is alive and has appeared to us!

And we have seen His body…His Mystical Body, the Church…

and His Mystical Body is alive!

The universal Church has for two millennia transcended all human boundaries

holding fast and proclaiming the fullness of Christ's love and truth.

Our great family includes people of every race.

We are young and old, rich and poor, men and women.

We are sinners and saints.

We have spanned the centuries and the globe.

With God’s grace, we have established hospitals to care for the sick.

We have built orphanages to rescue God’s precious children.

We have served the needs of the poor and brought comfort to the afflicted.

Our religious and lay teachers educate more children

than any other academic institution.

We defend the dignity of all human life

and uphold the sacred realities of Marriage and family.

We are guided in the ways of faith by Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition

which together reveal the Word of God to us.

Jesus Christ is the foundation and center of our faith

and encountering Him more deeply is the goal of our lives.

Our Church is grounded in an unbroken succession of shepherds –

from Jesus’ chosen Apostles under the leadership of Saint Peter

to the pope and bishops of our own day.

In a world of chaos, hardship, and heartache,

we take comfort in knowing that some things are consistent, true and safe:

the teachings of our Catholic Faith and the eternal love of our God.

We rejoice in the precious gift of the seven Sacraments,

outward signs of God’s hidden grace.

and especially for the Eucharist, the living and abiding presence of Jesus Christ

in the Mass and in the tabernacles of our churches throughout the world.

We have prayed for the world for centuries as we offer the Mass

and have been an instrument of mercy in every age and land.

Christ is alive as well in our local parish under the patronage of Saint Michael.

Last night at the Easter Vigil we welcomed eighteen men and women into the Church

through the waters of Baptism and the anointing of Confirmation.

We have at least 6 young men in our parish considering a vocation to the priesthood

and a strong committee of parishioners supporting them

and working and praying for vocations.

We have a vibrant respect life committee

which brings to our minds knowledge and opportunities

to help form us as a community that loves all human life.

We have a dedicated and talented music ministry,

which gives life to our celebration of the liturgy

and increases the richness of our prayer.

We have an active social concerns committee and extensive outreach to those in need.

We have a strong Catholic school, the Parish School of Religion,

and vibrant Life Teen program.

We adore the Blessed Sacrament every Thursday during the day.

Our ministries reach out to the grieving, the sick, hospitalized and homebound.

Our volunteers and staff serve the community with love and faith.

In these and other ways we are confident that Christ is alive and has appeared to us

in the life and ministry of the universal Church

and in our own parish of Saint Michael.

What is more, His Body, the Church, is alive!

Today we consider for ourselves how we might renew and deepen our faith

as we renew our commitment to Christ.

We consider how we might more deeply experience

the fullness of what Christ desires to give us

in the teaching, sacraments, and traditions of our Church.

If you have been away from the Church, please see the bulletin

for information about Catholics Returning Home.

We are one family, united in Jesus Christ. We are the Catholic Church.

Christ is alive and is revealing Himself to us.

May we answer the call to join him in His redeeming work.

Good Friday 2010

O what wonders took place, long ago and far away, on a lonely hill called Calvary!

The world in darkness

The sun blotted out

The earth trembling

A civilization in turmoil

A blasphemer crucified on a rugged cross forgiving the sins of His executioners

A pagan centurion witnessing that he has indeed beheld the Son of God

O what a heart-wrenching scene – this death on a Friday afternoon!

The crucified man’s closest friends scurry and scatter, filled with fear

His scourged, torn, pierced and bloody body suspended from the gibbet of the cross

His mother pierced with swords of sorrow beyond all human telling

He is misunderstood by the judge, mocked by the soldiers, betrayed by His friends

His few possessions become the prize in a game of dice as they watch Him bleed

O what staggering realities take place, for this is no mere criminal!

God Himself is delivered into the hands of lawless men

The Creator of all is made subject to His creatures

The Son of God is shackled and beaten and ridiculed

The Messiah is scourged and His flesh torn off with each painful whipping

The Redeemer is pierced with nails and a lance

The Anointed One, dripping with blood, parched with thirst, and gasping for breath

comes to a pathetic and agonizing end on the death-bed of the Cross

This ignominous death is not merely a punishment

forced upon a rabble-rousing blasphemer

even if it should seem so to the Jews and the Romans.

No, in this story the real power is not found in Caiaphas or Herod or Pilate

but in God, His Christ, and His Christ's infinite love and self-offering.

This is the story of a torture accepted without complaint

a cross embraced and kissed

a sacrifice offered willingly for sinners by an innocent lamb

and for the unjust by the Just One Himself

Jesus Christ today offers Himself totally and without reservation

taking upon Himself the sin, the sorrow, and the guilt of us all

suffering cruel punishment in our place

and freeing us from slavery to sin by His saving death.

This is God’s greatest and most powerful act of love.

This is the eternal sacrifice of Calvary, which brings to an end the Old Covenant

and inaugurates the new one.

This is no longer the continual and ineffective temple sacrifices of bulls and goats

but the one true and perfect sacrifice

in which Jesus offers Himself and sheds His own blood.

He who is at once both priest and victim offers for our deliverance

the oblation of His own body.

By His humility and obedience He is made perfect

and greatly exalted by God our Father

and becomes the source of eternal salvation for all who obey Him.

And yet look how we forget Him, walk away from Him, take His name in vain,

neglect to serve Him in our brothers and sisters,

increase the weight of His Cross

as we heap upon Him the multitude of our sins.

Look how we are consumed by our self-worship, scourging Christ in one another,

failing to offer ourselves in love to even our families,

let alone those less fortunate in the shadows of our community.

Look how we increase His sufferings

as we betray, ridicule and shackle one another with our selfishness

crush spirits with our indifference

and pierce hearts with our cruel words.

And yet, how Christ loves us so perfectly and completely

that as He climbs the road to Calvary under the weight of the Tree of Life

He calls to mind everyone that He redeems,

each and every one of us who are struggling to love

and willingly endures His Passion with His beloved before His face.

He thought of you. He wept for love of you. He died for you…and for me.

This is love! This love is more powerful than any human sin!

From the pierced side of Christ flowed blood and water,

the fountain of sacramental grace which gives life to the Church.

From the well-spring of the sacraments we drink deeply of that saving tide

and through it experience the fruits of Christ's sacrifice on Calvary.

Today there is no Eucharistic Prayer

for we mourn His death and await His resurrection.

In obedience to Christ, we shall return to the Altar at Easter…

and innumerable times hence…to offer the sacrifice of the Mass

in which the power of Christ's love comes alive in our midst

and in which we are united to His saving death on the Cross.

It is Christ who is active in the Eucharistic Liturgy, making Himself truly present to us.

If we sing “Were you there when they crucified my Lord?”

we can answer: “At Mass, I am there!”

We approach the Altar to offer bread and wine which become the living Christ

and also to offer ourselves in a living sacrifice of praise.

Calvary and the Mass thus become the pattern of our daily living

as we offer ourselves…our body and blood…in all that we do for others.

One who labors for the good of others sacrifices in love for their sake.

A mother who bathes, changes diapers, and mends the pierced hearts of her children

wipes the sweaty and bloody face of Jesus.

All who suffer injustice and heartache are united with the unjust suffering of Christ.

Those who work to cleanse the wounds of the abused

and meets the needs of the outcast and starving

anoint the body of Jesus with the precious ointment of charity.

This is the “passion” of the Mystical Body of Christ – the Church –

the daily self-offering of our bodies and blood in love for others

and the offering of our whole selves in the Church’s prayer of the Mass.

In this we are one with Christ in His redeeming work.

Through these sacred realities grace overflows in abundance,

lives are transformed,

God’s presence is made known

and the incomparable mysteries contained in the horrific scene of Calvary

come alive and are made real for the salvation of the world.

O Lord Jesus crucified, Have mercy on us!

Holy Thursday 2010

The Holocaust is a universal image of horror.

The horrors of the Holocaust took the lives of millions of people,

and among them were several thousand priests,

including those detained, d, and brutally ed

in the concentration camp at Dachau near Munich.

From the survivors we hear the experiences of these men

and the amazing stories of their faith.

Some of the priests were forced to work as “human horses,”

and made to drag wagons from the camp to the nearest railway station.

While they their load through town one day

they pretended to make some of the wheels falls off the wagon

outside the home of the local parish priest.

In the commotion, the priest came out

and they were able to whisper to him in Latin that they were priests

and needed bread and wine to say Mass.

On subsequent trips the priest would smuggle some bread or sometimes grapes

from which they could squeeze the juice.

Late at night, after curfew and under penalty of instant ,

those priests would gather with small groups of the faithful

to celebrate Mass from memory and to distribute Holy Communion.

One of the survivors described the atmosphere at those Masses.

He said "we got so much out of the Mass.”

It was Christ coming to them in their Calvary.

They got so much out of the Mass because they brought so much to the Mass:

the labor and ingenuity and struggle of getting what they needed for Mass

the risk of if they were found

the sorrow of longing to pray the Mass and receive Christ in the Eucharist.

For those priests, whose lives were intimately united with Christ in the Eucharist,

being able to celebrate Mass – even in such crude circumstances –

meant everything to them

and was worth more than their very lives.

This and other related stories of modern-day persecution and martyrdom

are among the most touching and inspiring stories of our Catholic faith.

They remind us of the infinite value of the Mass and the priesthood –

sacramental gifts we can easily take for granted

in a time and place where we do not suffer or struggle to experience them.

On this Holy Thursday,

we recall and celebrate the institution of these two great sacraments –

Eucharist and Priesthood –

which have their common origin in the Lord’s Last Supper.

With His chosen twelve Apostles gathered around Him,

Jesus inaugurates the Eucharist.

He takes bread and wine, offers praise and thanks to God,

and gives it to them, saying:

“This is my Body…this is my …which will be given up for you.”

“Do this in memory of me.”

This first Eucharist looks forward to the Passion,

in which Christ will offer His Body and for the salvation of the world.

These chosen Apostles are the first priests of the new and eternal covenant,

united with Christ in celebrating the Eucharist,

called and set apart by Christ Himself

for the mission of teaching, sanctifying and shepherding God’s people.

Jesus does something else that is quite significant at the Last Supper as well.

He humbles Himself to wash the feet of His Apostles,

thus providing them with a living image of priestly service.

He says to them, “…as I have done for you, you also should do.”

Thus Jesus’ command to “do this in memory of Him”

applies both to the priest’s offering of the Eucharist and sacramental worship

and to his rolling up of one’s sleeves to serve the needs of others

in many unexpected and at times uncomfortable ways.

Thus Jesus establishes the sacramental priesthood

as the first priests join with Him in offering the first Eucharist

and are given a of priestly ministry in Christ’s attitude of service.

What we commemorate tonight is an incomparable mystery!

From that moment until our own day,

priests have been called by God and ordained

to stand in the person of Christ the Head of His Body, the Church

bringing His saving love and liberating truth,

His holy Word and sacramental presence,

into the lives of countless men and women.

They have offered the sacrifice of the Eucharist on the Altars of the world –

in grand cathedrals and country parish churches,

in prisons, on battlefields, in hospitals,

and, yes, indeed, while cowering in the shadows in a concentration camp.

What we are privileged to share in this Eucharist –

the banquet of Christ's faithful people

and the re-presentation of the sacrifice of Calvary

through which we are drawn into the saving mysteries of the Cross –

is more awesome than anything else this side of Heaven.

Indeed it is more precious than life itself.

On this Holy Thursday, we recall that we continue to celebrate the Year for Priests,

a special year-long observance established by our Holy Father

aimed at encouraging priests to grow in holiness

and at fostering a greater understanding of priesthood among all people.

Thus, on this Holy Thursday, we praise and thank God

for the unique gift of the priesthood in the life of the Church,

on which we depend for the celebration of the Eucharist

and for so many other spiritual needs.

There is not one of us here whose life has not been touched and changed

by the ministry of a priest.

This morning at the cathedral, as is customary today,

Bishop Murry led the priests in the renewal of our priestly promises.

We all stood together and renewed our commitment to love and serve all of you.

On my first Holy Thursday as a priest, I walked with Fr. Brad in the procession

and shared with him in my first renewal of priestly promises.

This year, he was not able to be present.

Yet, I have no doubt that, in his heart,

his commitment to the priesthood remains as strong and vibrant as ever,

despite the shackles of his physical limitations.

And as it was spoken of those prisoner-priests, Christ is with him in his Calvary.

Fr. Brad has consecrated the Eucharist, forgiven your sins,

and washed your feet, as it were, for forty-one years.

He was not able to receive the accolades of the assembly

as Bishop Murry invited the people to acknowledge and thank their priests,

so tonight I invite you to bring the experience of the cathedral to him.

Tonight, we praise God for two inestimable sacramental gifts –

the Holy Eucharist and the Holy Priesthood.

They are inseparable. They are life-giving. They are worthy of our devotion.

As the members of Christ's Mystical Body, the Church,

as sharers in the priesthood of the baptized,

you share in the graces of these saving mysteries.

You have gazed upon the person of Christ, your savior.

You have received Him in Communion and become intimately one with Him.

You are sent forth, Christ living within you, to bring His love into the world

as you speak His Word in your words

and with Him wash the feet of those who need you in your daily lives.

Thus you offer a living sacrifice of praise to the Glory of God!

Together we, priests and people, continually return to this Altar

to celebrate the sacrifice of the Mass,

praising and thanking God with joyful hearts

for the undying and undeserved well-spring of His divine love.

Homily Palm Sunday 2010

Some sections ad libitum.

The earthly life of Jesus begins and ends in strikingly similar fashion: in darkness.

The marvelous exchange of the incarnation…
in which the Son of God humbles Himself to take on human flesh
that we might become sharers in His divine life…
occurs in the silence and darkness of a winter’s night.

In the fullness of time
the Lord’s earthly ministry reaches its fulfillment in the Paschal Mystery.
His saving occurs as well in darkness
as the sun is eclipsed in the middle of a hot Jerusalem afternoon.

From noon until three darkness covered the earth.
This cosmic sign recorded by Saint Luke in his account of the Passion
tells us that all the earth is anguished.

Creation itself is suffering with the suffering Christ and in mourning for her Lord.
Tombs are spilt open, rocks are rent asunder, and the mountains are shaken.

The whole world is paralyzed with fear, is covered in darkness,
as all humanity, nature itself, and the fullness of all that dwell therein
behold its savior dying on a cross.

Darkness.
Every human person who has experienced loss or tragedy…
the of a beloved, the loss of a job, a disintegrating relationship
knows personally the feeling of being covered in darkness.

The Church is experiencing…first in America…now in Ireland and Germany…
the dark cloud of clerical scandal
and the sins committed by my brother priests in their weak humanity.

Our nation is experiencing the darkness of the culture of
and government policies which do not respect the dignity of life
and the freedom of conscience…
as the U.S. Bishops have pointed out to us.

Darkness seems to cover the earth.
Yet we know that in Christ, who knows darkness and who is with us dark times,
darkness does not have power over us…it need not hold us paralyzed in fear.

The of our loved ones is not the final word
for Christ is victorious over and promises life to His faithful ones.

God’s love is more powerful than any human struggle.

As we allow God to lead us from our disappointments and dashed expectations
into the fullness of His divine plan
we discover what it truly means to know joy and peace.

Though every priest is a sinner, the priesthood is not defined only by scandal.
Indeed, the Church must root out sinful patterns of behavior.
At the same time, the Church is so much more than this scandal.
She is alive in many ways,
and her priests continue to bring the word and presence of Christ to the world.

Disdain for life is not the defining reality our society.
The voice of Christ speaks through His people as they defend the dignity of life.
Statistics show that America is pro-life.
The younger generation is turning away from the folly of their leaders
and embracing for themselves a culture of life.

As we begin to celebrate the holiest week in all of human history,
we behold Christ dying on the Cross and the earth covered in darkness.
We look forward to week’s end,
when we shall rejoice in His resurrection from the .

As we behold the darkness in our Church, our world, and our individual lives
we look forward with hope, trusting that God has a remarkable plan for us
even as we now see how He is alive in our midst
bringing light to our darkness.

25 March 2010 Solemnity of the Annunciation

25 March 2010

Solemnity of the Annunciation

Homily notes and main points compiled after extemporaneous homily…

15 years ago today, on this Solemnity of the Annunciation, Pope John Paul II issued his encyclical letter Evengelium Vitae – The Gospel of Life. This most significant and beautiful text reiterated the truth about the dignity of human life in the midst of a time when disdain for life had gripped much of the world.

God is the author of all life.

Men and women are created in the image and likeness of God.

Every human person has an inherent dignity, not because of anything we do, but because of who we are: people created in the divine image.

Human life possesses that dignity from the moment of conception until the moment when God chooses to call us home to Himself.

The beginning and end of life are in the hands of God.

The ultimate decisions about life are God’s and not ours.

Etc…

15 years later, we are witnessing a dark time in our nation’s history – a time when the gospel of life is trampled underfoot, a time when our government and the representatives we the people elected reject the dignity of life, federally fund the of children, enshrine evil and in law, ignore the dignity of the conscience of human persons and restrict the freedom of men and women to act as their moral values and conscience prompt them.

In this time, a wound in the Mystical Body of Christ, the Church, has been exposed, and exploited by those same political leaders. In one of the local newspapers the block quote in the center of an article on the health care bill read something like “Catholic bishops, faithful and health care professionals at odds over health care.” That was painful for me to read. It is sad to see that the perception of the general public toward our Church, which we love, is that we are “at odds” with one another over the dignity of human life. It need not be so. It ought not be so!

What we are seeing is not simply a human argument, not a disagreement over man-made teaching, over mere words, but a division over the truth about human life. This is not a moment of agreeable disagreement.

It is even more than a disagreement over Church teaching. It is a division over Christ.

As Pope Benedict XVI has said, the Church is not a set of philosophies and ethical codes. It is an encounter with a person: Jesus Christ. Some among us have encountered Christ and said “yes” to Him. Some of our brothers and sisters whom we love have encountered Christ, have heard His voice speaking through His Church, and said “no.”

Today we celebrate the Annunciation.

Mary is visited by the angel who announces the miraculous birth of the Savior…etc…

Mary, despite the fear and confusion she no doubt felt at this incredible event in her life, was inspired by her faith and love to say “yes” to God. She did not say…why me…what will people think…who am I…it’s my body…none of that…instead she said “yes” to God!

Saint Bernard wrote that the whole world held its breath waiting for her answer. For upon that answer depended everything.

Her answer inaugurated God’s saving plan and changed the world forever…etc…

As we hear this Gospel, we hear Jesus speaking to us.

Jesus is calling us to say “yes” to Him!

He is calling us to be healers of the wound in the Body of Christ, to be living witnesses to Him, to apply the salve of His love and truth to the wound in His Body that is infected with evil.

We reveal the truth about love, life, marriage, priesthood, the Church…all the essential elements of our faith…as we encounter people and share those truths with them.

We ought to pray and ask God how and when it is that He desires us to speak the truth and then to do so with confident faith and with love.

Our “yes”…our witness…can change the world…etc…

Praise be to Jesus Christ, son of God and son of Mary!

The Wound in the Body of Christ

The recent debate and subsequent legislative action by congress on health care reform has exposed a wound in the Church which is deep and harmful to the Body of Christ. In a local newspaper in Stark County, the block quote highlighted this wound with words to the effect of “Catholic bishops, religious, and health care professionals at odds over health care.” Such a statement gives the impression to the general public that the Church is a free-for-all, a smorgasbord, and that it is perfectly acceptable to believe what you want all the while remaining “Catholic.” Furthermore, such a statement makes it seem that the Church is a loose collection of people who believe all sorts of different things, people who are “at odds” with each other, people who “agree to disagree.” However, what is at stake is not a matter of opinion or agreeable disagreement. Rather, the issues at hand are fundamental truths about the human person and religious values essential to the Catholic Tradition.

Those who supported the Senate version of the Health Care Bill, contrary to the USCCB’s urgent directives, are “at odds” with the teaching authority of the Church. The Catholic Health Care Association and the religious who make up the Leadership Conference of Women Religious are not only “at odds” with the bishops but with the truth about the sanctity of life and the dignity of every human person’s conscience. The USCCB, which manifested the consistent teaching of Christ and the Church, and the Conference of Major Superiors of Women Religious, who confidently supported the bishops, are truly at the heart of the Church.

This wound is not new. Yet the pain of it is again felt as we witness religious and health care professionals within our own Church take positions contrary to the Church’s teaching authority and to the authentic good of the human person. In the Gospel reading from last Saturday, Saint John writes “A division occurred…because of Him.” Today there is a division, not only because of Church teachings and moral concepts, but because of Christ Himself. As Pope Benedict XVI has said, Christianity is not merely a code of ethics or a philosophy but an encounter with a person: Jesus Christ! Within the Church there are those who have encountered Christ and say “yes” to Him in all things and in all people, and there are those who harden their hearts to the voice of Christ, which resonates in His Church’s teaching and which cries out in the unborn and vulnerable of our society.

Politically, much will be done in response to the decision made yesterday. Spiritually speaking, there is much to be done as well. The wound in the Body of Christ caused by division over the truth is perhaps more harmful than any legislation, for it scandalizes, confuses, and weakens the Church’s mission to lead all people to God. As people of faith, we need to challenge each other and those around us to lay aside egos and ideologies which keep us “at odds” with the truth – about ourselves, about our faith, about our society, about Christ! Only when we unite around His truth can we then be a beacon of hope and an instrument of change in our world. We may be disappointed not to be part of a grand sweeping change. We may not see all the ideologues defeated. Yet, if all we do is to bring one wayward soul back to the truth of the Catholic faith, we have been the hand of God. Souls who know and love the truth can work miracles. We can heal even a small part of the wound in Christ’s body left by those among our ranks who have abandoned the truth as we lovingly share that truth with all we meet.

A popular radio commentator lamented today that there may no longer be a pro-life Church, for the Catholic Church is infected by liberals who want to change and destroy it. Of course, Christ is always with His Church, guaranteeing by the power of His Holy Spirit that she possesses and leads us into all truth. The Church is pro-life! At the same time, there is indeed an infection in her – an infection caused by scandalous ideologues who neither proclaim the truth nor speak with the authentic voice of the Church but who instead spread the poison of lies and deception. People’s understanding of the Church, the sacrificial priesthood, the Eucharist, the Sacraments, the Commandments, life, love, marriage, uality, and so on, is confused – because Catholics have not told the truth for far too long. The wound is infected. The infection is spreading.

And yet there are antibodies on the move. There are signs of new life, of hope, of growth. Solid Catholic colleges, young orthodox priests, the pro-life movement, the leadership of the popes since Vatican II – Paul VI, John Paul II and Benedict XVI, faithful writers and journalists, liturgical renewal, marvelous growth in seminary formation, the bishops’ initiative on marriage. All these and more serve as signs that the Body of Christ is alive!

We are called to be healers of the wounds and confident sharers in the love and truth of Jesus, who has given us new life in His Paschal Mystery. Live in the heart of the Church! Stand with Christ! “Where there is Peter, there is the Church.” We stand with Peter, with the Magisterium. The Church is not at odds with Christ. She is one with Him always. Be where Christ is, where Peter is, and thus live in the heart of the Church. Within the heart of the Church, share the love and truth of Jesus with the world. Bring healing to the Body of Christ with the salve of His Love and Truth. This is our task in these days.

Homily Third Sunday of Lent 2010

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