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Homilies | Sunday, October 26, 2014

Love is at the center of our faith

Archbishop Wenski's homily at Synod anniversary Mass

Archbishop Thomas Wenski preaches the homily at the Mass marking the first anniversary of the closing of the Second General Synod of the Archdiocese of Miami.

Photographer: COURTESY | Sister Elizabeth Worley

Archbishop Thomas Wenski preaches the homily at the Mass marking the first anniversary of the closing of the Second General Synod of the Archdiocese of Miami.


Archbishop Thomas Wenski preached this homily during a Mass marking the first anniversary of the closing of the Archdiocese of Miami’s Second Archdiocesan Synod. The Mass took place Oct. 26 at St. Mary Cathedral. 

Today marks the first anniversary since the closing of our Second Archdiocesan Synod, “Disciples in Faith, Missionaries of Hope.” I am grateful that many of those who served on one or more of the various synod commissions or focus groups have come to the cathedral this morning to join the cathedral parish community and me for Mass. The hard work of so many during the synod is producing good fruits as the synod’s pastoral plan continues to be implemented. And much has been done in the last 12 months. 

“Why Catholic?” a program of adult faith formation, is underway in 76 of our parishes. This program is being supported through our newly established Office of Evangelization and Parish Life which has also been offering workshops on pastoral planning for our parishes and will shortly begin training parish evangelization teams. The Office of Youth and Young Adult Ministry has been re-opened—and in this coming year this office will provide support to our parish youth ministries by offering coordination and opportunities for peer ministry trainings. We have expanded the presence of Catholic Charities in the Keys; our Department of Schools is working pro-actively to assure the sustainability of our Catholic schools; we have an enhanced our deacon formation program and we are supporting the continuing education of priests through a leadership training program called “Good Leaders, Good Shepherds.” 

Much work has been in done; and, to be sure, we’ve got a long way to go in implementing the pastoral plan of our Second Archdiocesan Synod. Of course, the purpose of the synod was not just to develop new projects or new programs—but to initiate a pastoral revitalization of our archdiocese and its parishes, schools and other entities. The “program” has been around already for a long time—it is the Gospel. The Synod was to help us to proclaim the good news about Jesus Christ more effectively and coherently, in other words, more fruitfully. And, even as we celebrate this first anniversary, the implementation of the synod continues to be a “work in progress.” And so I would ask all of you for your continued support and prayers as we all strive to be “Disciples in Faith” and “Missionaries of Hope.” 

In today’s Gospel, Jesus suggests that a faithful disciple and a hopeful missionary is one who loves—loves God with heart, mind, and soul and loves neighbor as he loves himself. We will not communicate faith, we will not witness to hope, unless we love. At the center of our Catholic faith is love. We will be judged on the last day on how we loved. But in that parable about the last judgment, Jesus says that love is more than just a “feeling” or an “emotion,” it is a decision, a commitment, an action. He will ask us: Did we welcome the stranger, did we feed the hungry, did we clothe the naked? In that famous parable, the judge won’t ask us about how we felt about these things; he’ll ask us about what we did. 

Our Catholic faith is not a feel-good religion—and no religion that has the cross at its heart is going to be a “feel good” religion. Our religion is ultimately a “do good” religion—and we’ve got to do good even when it’s hard to do so, even when we don’t feel like it. 

St. Paul says, “Living the truth in love we should be growing in every way into him who is the head, Christ...” Talking the talk—while necessary—is not sufficient. You also have to walk the walk. You “gotta” live the truth in love: truth and love both are necessary, for divorced from truth love becomes just sentimentality.

We could say that “to live the truth in love” is the challenge we face as Catholic Christians today, especially when the truth of the Gospel is increasingly undermined by the culture in which live. We could say that our Second Archdiocesan Synod was convoked precisely to respond to that challenge here in South Florida. And how we can live the truth in love was the basic issue of the Extraordinary Synod on the Family that ended last Sunday in Rome. 

In the discussions during the Synod on the Family in Rome—especially as reported by the secular media—it seemed to some that a few bishops were saying that the “problem” was the Gospel. And there are those inside and outside the Church who might have hoped that the Church would change one or other of the “hard sayings” of the Gospel. But as Pope Francis said, we have to resist the temptations to go to one extreme or another—being so rigid as to shut out the Holy Spirit, or being so lax that we apply a “deceptive mercy” that covers up wounds without first curing and treating them.  

Today our society has a hard time distinguishing good from evil. And so, how would watering down the truth help that situation? 

But the bishops and the pope—after some days of intense discussion— affirmed that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is not the problem; it is the solution. The love of Jesus and the truth of his Gospel is the solution for our families, for every one of us, as we deal with the messiness of our lives and the lives of our loved ones.  

As I said, our synod—like any other synod—is not about trying to come up with new programs. The program already exists: It is the Gospel of Jesus Christ who is the same yesterday, today and forever. Our synod with its pastoral plan is designed only to help us proclaim that Gospel—the good news about Jesus Christ—more effectively and coherently. The Gospel is not the problem; it is the solution. May we strive to be “Disciples in Faith” and “Missionaries of Hope” by loving both God and neighbor as Jesus did—in both word and deed.  

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