Homily - 17 May 2009

What follows is the homily I preached at our mission parish this weekend in which I told them of my coming assignment. The homily is adapted from the homily I preached last weekend to fit the readings of the day.

The Sixth Sunday of Easter
The Announcement of My First Pastorate

By now, my brothers and sisters, you will surely have heard the news of my coming transfer. Bishop Lucas asked me to assume the pastorates of Sacred Heart Parish in Virden and of St. Patrick Parish in Girard, beginning September 15th.

This appointment comes as quite a shock to me. I am grateful to be able to remain here through the summer and also for your many prayers and encouragements offered these past four years.

It will be a sad day when it comes time for me to leave you, but I know the Lord will send many blessings my way and yours. Although I have not had a canonical assignment here in Shumway, I have very much enjoyed celebrating the Sacraments here with you and getting to know you. Shumway will always have a special place in my heart.

Today, I want to remind you of what I have told you so often: our only happiness lies in God and in following his will for our lives. This new assignment just south of Springfield is the will of the Lord for me, as given through Bishop Lucas. Difficult as it is, I accept this assignment with humble trust, remembering that when I laid down on the cool marble floor of the Cathedral the day I was ordained I gave my life to Jesus Christ and his Church. As I ask the Lord today to give me – and you – his joy and peace, I place my life again at the service of his Church.

I do not fully understand the Lord’s will in this new assignment, but I will listen to his words, “Remain in my love” and do all I can to keep them (John 15:9).

In a time such as this, I find myself asking, “How do I want to be remembered here?” Above all else, I want you to remember this: the love of Jesus Christ.

If I have not somehow helped you to realize and understand more deeply the love of God, then I have failed in my mission. If such is the case, I offer my sincere apologies and beg your forgiveness. But if my time among you has helped lead you closer to Jesus, let us together give him thanks and praise, for it is he who has used me, his simple and humble laborer, to make his salvation known (cf. Psalm 98:2).

Five or ten years from now, if you think of me I hope it will be because you have realized the beauty and the importance of living for others. The way of Jesus Christ – the way which the saints have followed – shows us that it is better - that it is more fulfilling and more human – to care more about others than to care about myself. This is what I want you to remember: that life is best lived when it is lived for God and for others! Live in this way and you will remain in Christ Jesus. Is this not what the Lord tells us today?

I am grateful for your many prayers and encouragements and all that you have taught me these past few years. I have no words to express my deep gratitude but these two simple words: thank you.

While I am still here among you, I will do my best to remain present among you, but I may need you to remind me not to shut myself away; this is always a danger for an introvert. If you see me pulling back, please, remind me that I am still here.

Christ Jesus says to us today, “You are my friends if you do what I command you” (John 15:14). We were made friends of Jesus through the waters of rebirth. In his first encyclical letter, Deus caritas est, Pope Benedict XVI reminds us, “His friend is my friend.”[1] Through Baptism, we have been united with Christ, being incorporated into his body. Consequently, we know that no matter the distance that separates us, we are never far one from another, for Christ has only one body. If each of us remains his friend, we will never be far each other, united as we are in Christ.

I ask your continued prayers for me in the coming months. I do not feel ready to be a Pastor, but the Lord is nonetheless calling me to this task. I am very much reminded of his words: “It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain” (John 15:16). Pray, dear friends, that I will remain close to Christ, the Good Shepherd, to lead the portion of his flock he is entrusting to me in the love of God and of neighbor.

The Lord Jesus tells us clearly, “If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love” (John 15:10). Lest we not understand what he means, he summarizes his commandment for us in simple terms: “love one another as I love you” (John 15:12).

If we look to his Cross, we see the way we are to live out his commandment; we, too, must be willing to lay down our lives for others, to give all that we have, all that we are, to the Lord (cf. John 15:13). Each of us must take up our cross daily and follow him wherever he should lead (cf. Luke 9:23).

Paradoxically, the longer we carry the cross that the Lord has entrusted to us, the easier and sweeter it becomes, for his burden is indeed light and in it alone will our joy be complete (cf. Matthew 12:28 and John 15:11).

Finally, dear friends, pray that I will be a good, holy and zealous pastor of the flock that will soon be entrusted to me, that my ministry “will bear much fruit” (John 15:5). And know that I will remember you each day in my prayers, as I ask the Lord to bless you abundantly that you will always be built up in faith, hope and love and walk in the fear of the Lord (cf. Acts 9:31). May the joy and peace of the Risen Savior be with us all this day. Amen.

[1] Pope Benedict XVI, Deus caritas est, 18.