By Archbishop Thomas Wenski - The Archdiocese of Miami
Archbishop Thomas Wenski preached this homily during a Mass where he installed Father Matias Hualpa as pastor of Blessed Trinity Church, Miami Springs, March 5, 2023.
In these months since Father Matias Hualpa has been with you, he has learned much – and he is willing and able to learn more – as he continues to dedicate himself to you as a zealous pastor of souls. He has already come to love this community and wishes to continue to serve you. And he has no agenda other than to proclaim to you Christ – crucified and yet risen from the dead.
I am happy then to formally install him today officially as your pastor. When I assign a priest to run a parish for the first time, I name him as “administrator.” After a while, if he does a good job, we make him a pastor: same responsibilities, same headaches and same salary. We pray that God, who called him to the priesthood and in doing so began a very good work in him, will bring that work, through his service in this parish, to fulfillment.
I am sure that most of you have seen those TV shows whose premise is to give a participant a “Make-Over.”
For example, the Today Show from time-to-time features what they call an “Ambush Make-Over.” A plain person is given a new hairdo, new clothes, sometimes new body parts – and this is done for our entertainment. The Make-Over is at most skin deep – and it is not really apparent whether the make-over “reveals” or “hides” the person’s real self. Quizás algo parecido seria la telenovela, Betty la fea, pero al revés. En realidad, Betty no fue fea y luego el mundo descubrió su verdadera belleza.
Now, in today’s Gospel, Jesus undergoes a sort of make-over, un cambio de imagen. His face becomes radiant, his clothes as bright as the sun. However, his “make-over” is not just on the surface. It comes from within himself – and this is not done for our entertainment like those TV “make-overs” but rather for our edification. And Jesus’ make-over answers some real questions about who this Jesus really is – we hear God’s voice say: This is my chosen son, listen to him. La transfiguración de Jesús nos revela quien lo es. Se escucha la voz de Dios diciendo: Este es mi hijo predilecto, escúchenlo.
Y, por supuesto, lo que le sucedió a Jesús no se entendería realmente hasta después de su muerte y resurrección, porque esto sucede en el monte Tabor, una escala que hizo Jesús durante su viaje o “éxodo” hacia Jerusalén, donde sufrirá, morirá y resucitará. Jesús va al Calvario, a la Cruz. Pero su “cambio de imagen” en el Monte Tabor nos dice algo acerca de quién es Jesús y cuál era su misión: él es el Hijo del Hombre, que ha venido al mundo para redimir al mundo a través de su muerte y resurrección. Moisés y Elías están allí para explicar que todo lo que habían dicho y escrito en el Antiguo Testamento era para preparar la venida de Jesús y lo que haría.
(And, of course, what happened to Jesus would not be really understood until after his death and resurrection – for this happens on Mount Tabor, a stopover during Jesus’ journey or “exodus” towards Jerusalem where he will suffer, die and rise again. Jesus is going to Calvary, to the Cross. But his “make-over” on Mount Tabor tells us something about who Jesus is and what his mission was – he is the Son of Man, who has come into the world to redeem the world through his death and resurrection. Moses and Elijah are there – to explain that all what they had spoken and written in the Old Testament was to prepare for the coming of Jesus and for what he would do.)
And why would Jesus suffer and die? To make possible our own “make-over,” and not just a superficial one, one on the outside, but one in the inside, one that changes us and makes us over into sons and daughters of God.
And who would not want such a “make-over” – and who doesn’t need one? How can we transform ourselves? How can we transform the world? Too often, in our attempts to “make over” ourselves and our world, we do violence to ourselves and to the world. Look what happens to those politicians that promise people a “heaven on earth.” They usually end up delivering not a Paradise but a hell on earth.
Even today, people trust too much in love of power – to try to make over themselves and others. Yet Jesus tells us that the way to a true make-over is not through the love of power, but through the power of love – and the power of his grace.
The power of love is shown in his gift of himself – by his dying on the cross. This is how Jesus will accomplish his ultimate make-over; and this is the way for us, and our being made over into the image of Christ.
Peter would have like to have stayed on Mount Tabor – and sometimes we have had similar “mountain-top experiences” that we wish would never end – a time perhaps when God seemed particularly close to us or like the time we first fell in love.
But then life calls us back to reality. Peter didn’t know what he was saying. He – like all of us must do – had to come down the mountain. For Jesus, for Peter, and for each one of us, the road to glory – that final make-over that awaits us in heaven – passes along the Way of the Cross.
As Jesus showed us on Easter Sunday: Love is more powerful than sin – and he and his love are stronger than anything that would divide us.
Father Hualpa, as your pastor, is to be a faithful steward of you, the people entrusted to his care, and he is to dispense to you – with single minded and wholehearted devotion – the means of grace by preaching the Word and administering the sacraments.
Father Hualpa, love your people with a shepherd’s heart and feed them, lead them to Christ and teach them gently – by word and example.
Dear people of Blessed Trinity, Father Matias Hualpa is entrusted with the “care of your souls,” what in Latin is called the “cura animarum.” He is to carry out his duties “not with a spirit of cowardice, but rather of power and love and self-control” (cf. Timothy)
This care of souls is a threefold task: first, he must teach you faithfully what the Church believes and teaches. He doesn’t speak in his own name but in the name of Christ; second, he must lead you, like the Good Shepherd, to safe pastures and third, he must bring you to greater holiness.
Father Hualpa, I am sure, will serve you well; and he will serve not by calling attention to himself but by calling attention to the Lord; he will serve not by seeking his own interests but by putting first God’s will and his people’s good and well-being; he will serve not by trying to please everyone – for one who tries to do that usually ends up pleasing no one; rather he will serve you best by trying to please the Lord in all things.
