Bishop Olmsted's
Homily at Mass of Thanksgiving
What we honor, cherish and worship
In a recent interview (Nat'l Catholic Register, April 10, 2005),
George Weigel made the following observation about what shapes
human history:
"…history doesn't work the way we often suppose.
For the past 200 years, people in the Western world have thought
of history as the product of politics-by which they mean the struggle
for power; economics-by which they mean the struggle for wealth;
or some combination of the two.
But…what drives history over the long haul is neither politics
nor economics, but culture-what men and women honor, cherish and
worship. Change the culture-inspire the culture-and you can bend
history in directions that seem impossible on a narrower, political
or economic reading of the signs of the times."
When Jesus said to Simon Son of John, "You are
Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates
of the netherworld shall not prevail against it," He
was calling Peter to play a key role in shaping human history
far more profoundly than politics or economics can. He called
Peter to a mission of love and truth that would find expression
through what Peter honored, cherished and worshiped. Through Peter,
He would build a culture of life.
Christ underlined the primacy of love in His last conversation
with Peter before ascending into heaven. While you and I may have
expected concrete advice from the Lord on a whole array of matters,
such as those raised by the secular media over the course of the
past three weeks, Jesus three times focused on the one thing that
really matters (Jn 21:15-17): "Simon, Son of John,
do you love me?" And when Peter affirmed his love
for the Lord, Jesus said, "Feed my lambs… Tend
my sheep… Feed my sheep."
The mission of Peter is to love Christ with all his mind and heart
and strength, and to manifest that love by tending Christ's flock.
Pope Benedict XVI, in his First Homily as the newly elected successor
of Peter, made it clear that He intended to do precisely that.
Listen to his words: "Like Peter, I too renew to [Christ]
my unconditional promise of faithfulness. He alone I intend to
serve as I dedicate myself totally to the service of His Church."
Benedict XVI also candidly spoke of his fatherly love of youth,
who will shape the future of our culture. He said: "I
am particularly thinking of young people. To them…I send
an affectionate embrace in the hope, God willing, of meeting them
at Cologne on the occasion of the next World Youth Day. With you,
dear young people, I will continue to maintain a dialogue, listening
to your expectations in an attempt to help you meet ever more
profoundly the living, ever young, Christ."
Can you imagine the excitement that there will be Cologne, Germany
this summer when young people from around the world gather for
World Youth Day, and Pope Benedict XVI returns for the first time
since his papal election to his native land?
What can we expect of Pope Benedict XVI?
We can expect him to continue to be the humble, faithful, and
highly intelligent servant of the Church that he has been throughout
his life. Even before the Second Vatican Council came to a close,
40 years ago, the young Fr. Joseph Ratzinger was recognized as
the brightest of the bright among the periti, the theological
experts who accompanied bishops to Rome for the Council.
We can also expect Pope Benedict eagerly to fulfill the mission
that Jesus entrusted to Peter: that is, to foster unity among
all the baptized and to work for reconciliation in the larger
world. His intention to do this was candidly expressed in his
first homily as pope. Here are his words: "…in
full awareness and at the beginning of his ministry in the Church
of Rome that Peter bathed with his blood, the current Successor
assumes as his primary commitment that of working tirelessly towards
the reconstitution of the full and visible unity of all Christ's
followers. This is his ambition, this is his compelling duty.
He is aware that to do so, expressions of good feelings are not
enough. Concrete gestures are required to penetrate souls and
move consciences, encouraging everyone to that interior conversion
which is the basis of all progress on the road of ecumenism."
We can also expect Benedict XVI to continue to engage Islam and
the larger world in dialogue aimed at reconciliation. Again, our
new Holy Father says: "From God I invoke unity and peace
for the human family and declare the willingness of all Catholics
to cooperate for true social development, one that respects the
dignity of all human beings. I will make every effort and dedicate
myself to pursuing the promising dialogue that my predecessors
began with various civilizations, because it is mutual understanding
that gives rise to conditions for a better future for everyone."
We can expect this former Cardinal Prefect for the Congregation
for the Doctrine of the Faith also to defend the truth of the
Gospel vigorously and to hand it on with persuasion. For this
is part and parcel of the mission of Peter.
Precisely through his teaching mission, our new Holy Father, not
unlike the popes before him, will manifest his love for Christ
and for us. He will proclaim the Good News of Christ and defend
the teachings of the Church, especially those that are least understood
and even rejected outright.
Dissent to the truths of the faith, sadly, is not something new.
It is not peculiar to the Church at the start of the 21st century.
St. Paul makes that clear in the First Reading of today's Mass
where he tells the presbyters of the Church at Miletus (Acts 20:29-30),
"I know that after my departure savage wolves will
come among you, and they will not spare the flock. …from
your own group, men will come forward perverting the truth to
draw the disciples away after them."
As we know, some voices in the past few weeks have been doing
precisely what St. Paul predicted, calling for core teachings
of the Church to be changed, for example, teaching on the wrongness
of contraception, or on the nature of marriage between a man and
a woman, the evil of abortion and euthanasia, the affirmation
of a male-only ministerial priesthood, and so forth. These voices,
however sincere, fail to understand the nature of truth and the
mission of Peter and the Magisterium.
John Paul II did not make up these truths; neither did Paul VI,
John XXIII or others before them. What the Successor of Peter
does in the Church is to defend, to explain, and to hand on faithfully
the teachings that have been held from one generation to the next.
Whoever expects the defined teachings of the Church to change
fails to understand both the nature of truth and the mission of
the papacy.
We can expect that a man of such amazing intellectual capacity
as Benedict XVI to look for new ways to make the Church's teaching
more understandable to the men and women of our age. And we can
expect him to exhort us to hold fast to the Catholic faith that
has come to us as a precious gift, a gift to be treasured and
to be shared. Above all, we can expect him to help us keep our
eyes fixed on Jesus, not on politics, not on economics, but on
the Lord of history. Pope Benedict has already promised to do
this. Here are his own words: "In undertaking his ministry,
the new Pope knows that his task is to bring the light of Christ
to shine before the men and women of today; not his own light
but that of Christ."
