I waited a while to post this homily on the internet. I wrote it with a lot of emotion and a lot of feeling. I originally was not going to post it to the internet, but with the positive responses I received regarding this homily, I thought I would post it. This is probably one of the most difficult homilies I have ever written. And it was written with compassion and with love for my parish. A lot of love.
Who am I?
Who do YOU say that I am? Jesus
asks his followers this question in our Gospel today.
Every
Christian must answer this question in the reality of his life. We
answer this question in both our words and our actions. Every mass we celebrate together on Sunday,
we profess the Nicene creed. The
Early Church started writing this creed at the Council of Nicea, convened by
the Roman Emperor Constantine in the year 325. We
start our profession of the Creed with the words “I believe.” We
profess the faith of the entire Catholic Church, a faith we share in unity and
solidarity with our brothers and sisters in Christ. In
starting the creed “I believe,” each believer asserts and professes his own
personal faith with other believers. But
it goes beyond that. Way beyond that.
We
answer the question of who Jesus is by the way we live our lives. Last
Wednesday, I attended a workshop at the First Presbyterian Church here in
Tupelo about ministering in the midst of our recovery from the tornadoes that
hit our city on April 29. The
presenter from Presbyterian Relief Services asked if any of us remembered a
quote about proclaiming the Gospel in actions not only in words. Of course, as the lone Catholic at the
workshop I was able to identify the quote as being from St Francis of Assisi,
who stated: “Preach the Gospel always, and only when necessary, use words.”
We as
Catholic profess who Jesus is both in our actions and our words. We
are diverse community here in Tupelo, and in our diversity there is a lot of
richness. This
weekend, our Hispanic community is having a retreat for our Hispanic children
and youth. The
idea started as providing a retreat opportunity for our altar servers here at
St James. We thought we would have about
20 or 30 attending. Then
several other parishes in the area wanted to collaborate with us. And we expanded it to include all youth and
children from age 8 to age 15. There
ended up being more than 150 children and youth at the retreat. We
have one the most active and vibrant Hispanic ministries in our diocese,
something we at St James can be very proud of. It is
the fruit of the vision that Father Henry, Father Gus, and Father Tom had of
reaching out to the Hispanics here in Tupelo. I am trying my best to follow in their
footsteps and to follow through with the ministry that they did here at St
James in Tupelo.
But
with the diversity we have in our parish, there can be tension as well. There can be conflict. There can be misunderstandings. But
we are called to grow together as disciples of Christ. To learn
from each other. To be
the Body of Christ. To really show what
we believe about Jesus, about what we see in him.
This is an exciting, busy time at our parish. Religious education for children and youth has started up again. So has the youth group. Our
adult faith formation and RCIA will start in a few weeks. And
in a couple of weeks we will have Father Burke Masters come and give our
mission on Pope Francis’ Joy of the Gospel. This
has always been a vibrant, alive parish – and with all we have going on we
continue in that tradition.
I was recently reading comments that Pope Francis, the wonderful leader of our Church, directed to his priests. And I use the phrase "his priests" because that is indeed what we are. He
said that we who are called to the priesthood, who answer that call and are
ordained, we priests are called to serve God’s people. As being anointed and
ordained into the priestly ministry, the Pope see us priests are being chosen
by God for the purpose of helping to pass down the faith to the people, in
celebrating God’s holy sacraments with the people of God. And I, as the appointed pastor of St James,
am called to serve all of you. The pope
said that we called to serve God’s people in the anonymity of our daily lives
as priests. It is
very humbling for me to be up here, preaching to you as your pastor. I
pray for our parish every day – I give thanks for all of you. I give thanks for the opportunity and
privilege to serve you as your pastor. And
as your pastor, sometimes I have to make very tough decisions. I have to apply the laws of the Church to the
reality of our lives, which not always clear-cut and easy to do. Know
that my heart is with all of you. Know
that I take my role as pastor very seriously.
Know that I take my promise of obedience to Bishop Kopacz and to the
Roman Catholic Church very seriously as well – very, very seriously. Know that I will be the pastor to all of you and to give
it all I have got.
Pope
Francis, when he chose his name as pope after St Francis of Assisi – the first
pope to do so – he sent a powerful message to the world. He
chose the name of a saint who is not only beloved in our Church, who not only
represents in a very strong witness Christ’s mission and ministry, but that
name also represents a saint that transcends the Catholic Church and is loved
by all the people of the world, a saint who reached out for simplicity, to
those in poverty, and who cared for the poor.” I
want to end with the Prayer of St Francis of Assisi, because these words are
the wish I have for myself as your pastor, and the wish I have for our parish:
Lord,
make me an instrument of your peace;
where
there is hatred, let me sow love;
where
there is injury, pardon;
where
there is doubt, faith;
where
there is despair, hope;
where
there is darkness, light;
and
where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine
Master,
grant
that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;
to be
understood, as to understand;
to be
loved, as to love;
for it
is in giving that we receive,
it is in
pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it
is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.
Amen.
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