Catechists, be billboards for the Gospel

By Archbishop Thomas Wenski - The Archdiocese of Miami

Archbishop Thomas Wenski preached this homily at the opening Mass for the annual Catechetical Conference, held Nov. 6, 2021 at Archbishop McCarthy High School in Southwest Ranches. The Mass was celebrated next door, at St. Mark Church.

Today’s first reading from St. Paul helps give a context to what you all are doing here today — and what you are doing in your parishes as catechists. Paul is writing to the Romans — and much of the New Testament is made up of these letters that St. Paul wrote to Christian communities around the Mediterranean.

How often do we hear at Sunday Mass when the lector stands up to read the second reading: A reading from St. Paul to….? But, in this particular reading, it’s St. Paul who tells us himself that he didn’t do it all by himself. First, he tells us about Prisca and Aquila — his co-workers who apparently have his back; they risked their necks for him. Perhaps they are his advance team, and maybe even carried the letter with them to Rome. He mentions others whom he knows in Rome — and from their names, Scripture scholars tell us, we learn that this group of believers was quite a diverse lot, from all the strata of society — Romans, Greeks, Jews, rich and poor. Even his scribe or stenographer is not left out. His name is Tertius — and then Paul gives some credit to a man named Gaius who gave him a place to work from.

So what we have is a picture of personal relationships, of cooperation, of people working together for a unified vision and purpose. What St. Paul gives us is a snapshot of communion: that relationship with God through Christ, that relationship we have with one another in Christ.

A Haitian proverb says: ou pa ka manje kalalou ak yon sèl dwèt — you can’t eat okra with just one finger. In other words, it takes the help and collaboration of many people to get things done. And certainly, this Catechetical Day exemplifies this too — so many people, so many hands have gone into making this day a rich experience of faith, a day of learning many things that you can share back in your parishes, a day of networking: renewing friendships and perhaps making some new friends.

And, if this Catechetical Day required the help and collaboration of many people, what you do in your parishes, day after day, week after week, to make your religious education programs run smoothly is even more extraordinary. And let me be the first to admit, too often your effort, your work, all your dedication and commitment is for granted. You people are the unsung heroes of your parishes. I want to thank you for what you do.

And the past year and a half have presented challenges, haven’t they? I want to thank you for your perseverance through it all. We are perhaps a bit more technologically astute; but, also perhaps humbler. As we struggle with social distancing, mask protocols, and quarantines as well as what the virus did to us or our families, often we had no other choice but to “let go…and let God.” Hopefully we are beginning to leave COVID behind in our rearview mirrors.

Thank you! Thank you! Now I won’t do as St. Paul did and read off a list of all your names. But please know, I acknowledge and honor you today. You all deserve a big pat on the shoulder.

The Christian faith is, first of all, the welcoming of God’s love revealed in Jesus Christ, sincere adherence to his person, and the free decision to follow him. This “yes” to Jesus Christ contains two dimensions: trustful abandonment to God (fides qua) and loving assent to all that he has revealed to us (fides quae). To say that we believe involves the twofold adherence “to the person, and to the truth: to the truth, by trust in the person who bears witness to it” and to the person because “he himself is the trust attested to.”

Thus, catechesis involves the heart, the mind, and the will.

In this consumer society in which we live, we are bombarded with advertising —on TV, on radio, on twitter and Instagram. Along the highway, billboards carry the message of what the world values. What the world values, we are promised, will make us happy.

And yet, people though they have many things, they have no joy — they are not happy because they lack the joy that gives meaning to life — the joy that is the fruit of a relationship with Christ.

Everybody wants to be happy — the baby’s cries in the middle of the night are cries for that which will make him happy. From the time we are born we want to be happy. But what’s the path to happiness? How should we build this project we call “our life”? Is it the world’s values that will make us happy? Or is it what the Gospel values?

Catechists, be billboards for the Gospel. And, if you want a job description about what a catechist is supposed to do, you could say it’s just that: to teach the art of living, and living joyfully.

That is the task — and really the gift — you have received as catechists. Not just to teach prayers or some doctrines but to help people encounter the living Christ — a Christ you know is alive because he is alive in you.