By Archbishop Thomas Wenski - The Archdiocese of Miami
Homily by Archbishop Thomas Wenski at Mass with priests on retreat at Our Lady of Florida Spiritual Center. May 21, 2015.
I thank Father Burton for preaching this retreat for you this week. Of course, he is a Scripture scholar and a seminary professor so I hope that he doesn’t give me a “bad mark” on my exegesis in this homily.
But, in light of the Scriptures of today’s Mass, allow me to make three points for you to take to prayer in the remaining hours of this retreat. The gospel is taken from Jesus’ priestly prayer to his Father – he prays to the Father, but he prays in such a way that he wants to be overheard by his disciples and by us.
First, Jesus prays that we be one – as he is one with the Father. Oneness or unity is not uniformity. The apostles were, and to be sure, we are quite a diverse group of people. But there is also in the Holy Trinity – the unity of one God in three divine persons – a great diversity in unity. And thus in the Church unity does not depend on uniformity. It’s a “big” Church. Diversity is not a threat to the unity of the one Church of Christ or to the unity of our presbyterate. Diversity of personalities and diversity of theologies should enrich us and never divide us. What can divide us is not our diversity but only our sins.
Second, Jesus speaks of his being in the world and not of the world. This is true of Jesus but also it should be true of us, his disciples. Being not of the world does not mean to be against the world. Jesus wants us to be for the world – for the life of the world. Our Catholic social teaching engages us with the world. That’s why as a Church we are engaged in any number of social issues – from respect life, to migration and even to the ecology. We are of course parish priests but that does not mean we are supposed to be “parochial” in the sense of Webster’s definition of being narrow minded and provincial. Here I think we have to make a distinction between “being isolated” and “being insulated”. Jesus wants to insulate us from the dangers of the world but not to be isolated from the joys and hopes, the fears and sorrows of our people.
Third, I turn your attention to Jesus’ words to St. Paul in today’s first reading. After a particular trying time in St. Paul’s ministry, the author of Acts says: “The following night the Lord stood by him and said, “Take courage. For just as you have borne witness to my cause in Jerusalem, so you must also bear witness in Rome.” In prayer, the Lord consoles Paul, “Take courage”, he tells us.
Hopefully these days of retreat have afford you all the opportunity to converse with the Lord. I pray that all of you have also heard the Lord tell you to “take courage”. Again, a special word of thanks to Father Burton for this retreat and a special thank you to each of you for taking this time – not only for yourselves but also for the people you serve.
May we all return to our daily duties and the trials that accompany them with renewed courage. The Lord does also stand by us.
