By Archbishop Thomas Wenski - The Archdiocese of Miami
Archbishop Thomas Wenski preached this homily during a Mass Nov. 29 marking the 75th anniversary of Sts. Peter and Paul Church in Miami.
I am happy to join you and your pastor, Padre Lopito, in celebrating the 75th anniversary of Sts. Peter and Paul parish. Today we also observe the First Sunday of the Advent Season. This is a happy coincidence since both this anniversary as well as the Advent Season invite us all to remember the past with gratitude, to celebrate the present with enthusiasm, and to look forward to the future with confidence.
Al conmemorar los 75 años de esta parroquia en el espíritu de Adviento, recordamos el pasado con gratitud, celebramos el presente con entusiasmo y esperamos el futuro con confianza.El Adviento comienza con el fin – las lecturas nos invitan a pensar en el fin del mundo cuando seremos todos juzgados. Por eso, se nos dice: Velad – pues no sabemos ni la hora ni el día.O sea, el Adviento quiere que sepamos que tenemos un fin, un destino. Si el marinero no sabe a dónde va, el barco estará a la deriva – sin rumbo. Así, los hombres que no saben que al final de los tiempos tendrán que rendir cuentas.
When we sit down to watch a movie, we don’t usually fast forward to watch the final scenes. Rather we start the film at the beginning. Well, Advent proceeds differently: It begins with the end. Advent tells us to “watch” – but this is not like watching a movie where we just can just sit there. We watch a movie and later will be give our review, our judgment on whether it was a good movie or not. Advent tells us to “watch,” to be vigilant – because we will be the ones reviewed, our lives will be judged – and vigilant we must be since we do not know the day or the hour.
A ship that does not know its destination will just drift aimlessly across the seas. And if we do not know our end we can drift aimlessly through life. That’s why Advent starts with the end – because it’s important for us to understand that our lives are going someplace and that someplace will be sorted out on the Day of Judgment when Christ will return to judge the living and the dead. Like Isaiah in the first reading, we do well to pray to God saying: “Would that you might meet us doing right, that we were mindful of you in our ways.”
We will be judged – but that should concern us but not paralyze us with fear, because even as the Advent season begins with the end, it ends with the beginning: the beginning of God’s kingdom on earth when the Son of God takes on our flesh and is born of the Virgin Mary. That beginning which the Advent season prepares us to celebrate reveals that God’s judgment is that we – all of us – are worth saving. Jesus is God’s judgment of the world – but Jesus comes in mercy and grace. For God sent his only begotten Son into the World not to condemn the world but to save it.
Seremos juzgados – esto nos debe importar pero no llenarnos de miedo, pues como el Adviento comienza con el fin, termina con el comienzo – el comienzo del Reino de Dios en la tierra con la llegada del Hijo de Dios nacido de la virgen. El juicio de Dios es Jesucristo – pero no viene para condenar al mundo sino para salvarlo. Es el juicio de Dios que el hombre merece ser salvado.
Speaking to God in today’s first reading, Isaiah seems tobe describing our world as much as he was describing his world: “There is none who calls upon your name, who rouses himself to cling to you...” The ascendant secularism of our times has pushed God to the margins of life – and a world without God is like a desert – a dry, arid, hostile place, a place without life, without hope.
Parishes exist to reintroduce the world to God – they should be communities of love, schools of prayer where people can experience something of God’s forgiveness and love of them.In fact, the word, parish, is derived from the ancient Greek – pa-roi-ki-a -; the Spanish, parroquia, is much closer to the original Greek than its English equivalent. It meant a sojourn in a foreign land, or a community of sojourners. And so, when the Hebrew Scriptures were first translated into Greek, pa-roi-ki-a was used to describe the Israelites as they journeyed through the desert on their way to the Promised Land. Parishes then are like oases in the desert – that refresh us and strengthen us for the journey of life.
La palabra parroquia es derivada del antiguo Griego – pa-roi-ki-a-; en español parroquia se acerca mucho más a su original que su equivalente en inglés. Significaba una estadía transitoria en tierra extranjera, o una comunidad transitoria de extranjeros. Por lo tanto cuando las Escrituras en Hebreo fueron traducidas al griego, pa-roi-ki-a se utilizó para describir a los Israelitas cuando vagaban por el desierto hacia la Tierra Prometida.
Hoy en día vivimos en un mundo que ha desterrado a Dios – y por eso el mundo se parece a un desierto – seco, árido, hostil sin vida, sin esperanza. Nuestras parroquias deben ser como un oasis donde los que transitan el desierto puedan refrescarse y recobrar fuerza para el viaje. Las parroquias deben ser comunidades de amor, escuelas de oración donde la gente pueda experimentar el perdón y el amor de Dios.
Así ha sido esta parroquia de Santos Pedro y Pablo por 75 años. Por supuesto, la historia de esta parroquia tiene sus sombras como también sus luces – en la iglesia que Cristo fundó para salvar a los pecadores siempre se van a encontrar pecadores. Por eso, tú y yo nos sentimos en casa. Sin embargo, quien puede negar que estos últimos 75 años no han sido años de gracia.
This parish is an oasis for God’s people. This is what Sts. Peter and Paul Parish has meant to its parishioners for 75 years. Of course, the history of this parish, like any history forged by fallen human beings, is full of shadows as well as lights. We should not be surprised to learn that the Church that Jesus founded to save sinners is, well, full of sinners. But the Church is holy – not because of us but because of the Holy Spirit that dwells within her helping us to grow in grace. And who could say that these past 75 years have not been years of grace.
Viviendo en comunión con Jesús, puede ser que transitamos mares agitadas – pero como parroquianos no estamos a la deriva. Cristo es el comienzo y el fin de nuestra existencia – sabemos a dónde vamos y avanzamos con esperanza.
As parishioners of Sts. Peter and Paul you are members of God’s people called to fellowship with his Son (cf St. Paul in today’s second reading). We might travel on rough seas –but we are not adrift. Thanks to our faith in Jesus Christ, we know the end and the beginning of our existence. We know where we are going – and so we go forward in hope.
