Most Rev. Joseph C. Bambera, D.D., J.C.L.
Bishop of Scranton
HOMILY
Charismatic Conference – August 7, 2011
Some of you have heard me tell this story from my family experience before. When my father was three years of age in 1927, his mother died. Prior to her death, she had been married twice. Her first husband, with whom she had three children, died in the influenza of 1918. She married my grandfather a few years later and bore three children with him, dying shortly after the birth of my father’s younger brother.
The story goes that my grandfather was devastated at the loss of his young wife and wanted to leave this area and return to his nativeChicagoto live with his family. It was too much for him to imagine that he would have to work in the midst of the depression and raise six children: his own three children, including an infant son, along with three step children. So he proposed to his mother-in-law, my great grandmother that he would take my father with him to Chicago but would leave the others for her to raise, along with her own eleven children.
My great grandmother, a strong willed immigrant fromPoland, would hear nothing of my grandfather’s plan. “Keep your family together,” she said. “Either take them all with you or leave them all with me. But don’t break this family apart. Keep these children together.”
And the children remained together – with their grandparents. Amid all sorts of challenges and obstacles they grew together. Six grandchildren raised with eleven aunts and uncles – as brothers and sisters. What a clan that was. Add to it additional grandchildren and great grandchildren and you had this amazing family. It was hardly perfect – whose family is? But there was a bond of unity that emerged among its members. What was most incredible to me as a young boy were that the values of life and faith that were so important to my great grandparents cemented together the members of that large family. … The passing of time and the passing of all of those eleven children and six grandchildren, including my own father, have changed things. But all of us who remain know very well what is possible when a family exists with a unity of purpose and values.
That’s my lived experience of this year’s theme for your gathering that is taken from Saint Paul’s letter to the Church at Ephesus: unity in and through the Spirit of God. Listen to Saint Paul’s words taken from the fourth chapter of Ephesians. “I urge you … to live in a manner worthy of the call you have received, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another through love, striving to preserve the unity of the spirit through the bond of peace: one body and one Spirit, as you were also called to the one hope of your call; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.”
It’s interesting to note that the proclamation of unity that Saint Paul shares begins not with God, but with the unity of the Church. Yet this focus on the Church’s unity is hardly to diminish its foundation in the divine transcendence. On the contrary, the very identity of the Church as a unified whole draws its origin from divine unity – Father, Son and Spirit bound together by love as one God.
Saint Paul gives us a strategy for encouraging unity within the Church. At the outset, he turns to an ethical exhortation. Given the repetition of the word “love” in the passage from Ephesians, it is evident how important love is to authentic relationships between believers. Indeed, it is love that binds together the Trinity. It is that same love, so selflessly shown by Jesus on the cross that both gives birth to a people redeemed by his blood and knits them together as one body in Christ.
Why did Saint Paul work so feverishly to establish a sense of unity among the members of the early Christian community? Why was there such urgency in his very words? Why? For the same reason that my great-grandmother felt the need to keep her children and grandchildren together. The unity of a family, of a people, of a Church provides a strong defensive stance against forces outside of itself.
Saint Paul was well aware of forces in the outside world that were increasingly hostile towards the Church. He saw a need to defend this growing community against anything that might cause it to flounder or diminish. Unity, therefore, became for Saint Paul a strong defensive stance. As the Church became increasingly threatened by deviance from within and persecution from without, the focus on unity increased. A united body – a united Church, like a united family or a united country – presented itself and stands today as a much more formidable opposition to the forces of evil and sin than a broken, fractured community.
What a powerful reminder that is for us today – a reminder that emerges from the earliest days of the Church – yet a reminder that speaks to our time and era more than we might ever imagine.
Today’s gospel from Saint Matthew is replete with images that speak to the challenges faced by both the early Christian community and the Church of our day and age. While most scholars would agree that the heart of this portion of Matthew’s gospel with Jesus having dominion over creation is an epiphany – the manifestation of Jesus doing what God does – walking on the sea and rescuing those in danger of drowning – it is also reasonable to approach this passage in a symbolic manner. For the early Christian community, this was a cherished gospel passage. It was clear that the boat being tossed about was the Church, confronted by all sorts of storms of destruction – yet ever assured of safe passage by the presence of the Lord Jesus in its midst.
Look at the storms that confront us as Christians every day. From within the Church, we’re faced with the confusion and pain due to the sex abuse crisis that sadly continues to unfold in our Church – a crisis that has robbed many of the most vulnerable in our midst of their innocence and peace; a crisis that has rightfully shaken the confidence that so many have had in their priests and bishops. From within the Church, many of you have experienced a sadness and upheaval that comes from the closing of church buildings, parishes and schools.
From outside of the Church, we’re faced with a world that ever increasingly seems willing and even eager to displace Gospel values with a secular relativism based in what feels good and satisfies at the moment. … Marriage and family values are constantly challenged by a world that has obviously suffered from a lack of fidelity, self-sacrifice and a commitment to that which is revealed by God and grounded in nature. … The value of human life is increasingly diminished and challenged. … And in a world that is seemingly committed to the equality of all, the gap between rich and poor continues grows larger each day.
And what about the storms that we face individually? What frightens you the most? For Peter, it was the wind, the waves and the fear of drowning. What about you? Me? … Are you frightened of a growing disability and dependency on others because you’re growing older? … Are you frightened over losing your job, seeing your income dwindle, your marriage fracture, rejection and betrayal because you’re now in mid-life? … Teenagers are frightened of being counted out by the “in” crowd. Children are frightened of the dark, their parents’ arguments and divorces, being picked on and being left out. … What frightens you? … And more importantly, what do you do with your fears?
In today’s gospel passage, Peter gives us insight regarding what to do with our fears. Note that he doesn’t say, “Afraid of something? Go out and buy yourself a new trinket. That’ll help you forget about your problems.” He doesn’t say, “Get a grip on life. Stop whining.” No – when Peter’s bold profession of faith quickly yields to concern and confusion and he begins to sink in the stormy waters, he cries out, “Lord, save me!” … “Lord, save me!”
In response, Jesus chides Peter, “How little faith you have.” Yet in the midst of this challenge, Jesus stretches out his hand and saves the disciple. Despite the reality of his own “little faith,” Peter’s fear was allayed by the presence of Jesus in his life – stretching out his hand to save. … For our part, don’t miss the heart of this gospel that provides consolation to all of us in distress – despite the recognition of our own “little faith.” Indeed, the key to unlocking the gift of the Kingdom of God in our midst is the wisdom – given through faith – to turn to the Lord with our brokenness and fear – and to seek his saving presence in our lives.
Put this reality in other words, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.”
But where are we to look since we don’t have the benefit, like Peter, of standing on stormy waters with Jesus, waiting for him to reach out his hand to pull us to safety? We look to the Church. We look to the People of God, called together as one Body, through the Spirit given at Baptism.
Just about a month ago, Pope Benedict greeted faithful from an Italian diocese. The Holy Father said, “The Church, the ‘People of God’, depends on Christ, of whom she is the effective sign and instrument. In her relationship with the Lord Jesus lies her deepest identity – that of being a gift of God to humankind – which prolongs the presence and salvific work of the Son through the Holy Spirit. In this perspective we can see that the Church is essentially a mystery of love at the service of humanity, with a view to its sanctification.”
So my brothers and sisters, may we open our hearts to the power and presence of God in our midst – in this gathering and in the Eucharist that we will receive. May we allow the communion of love that binds together Father, Son and Holy Spirit become the model for our lives of love and service to others. May we see that communion as the very source of our unity as Church. And may that communion of love empower us to withstand the storms of our age and to witness to the world the meaning and purpose, life and peace that only faith in Jesus Christ can give.
