Most Rev. Joseph C. Bambera, D.D., J.C.L.
Bishop of Scranton
HOMILY
La Festa Italiana Mass – September 4, 2011
23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time A
Last year when we gathered for this annual celebration, I broke the news to you that despite my name and my roots in Carbondale, I wasn’t Italian. While that reality may have carried with it a little bit of disappointment, it didn’t diminish your kind welcome of me at this event last year. Nor did it diminish – more importantly – your support and your willingness to work together – with me – to continue to build a vibrant, life-giving Church here in the Diocese of Scranton.
As an aside, some may take it as mere coincidence – but feel free to take as a sign of my gratitude the fact that I stand before you today literally draped in the colors of the Italian flag!
Thank you as well for being open to words which I have used in recent months to frame a vision for this great Diocese as we move forward. They are taken from Saint John’s gospel – from the Last Supper narrative – when Jesus bent down to the ground and performed a task reserved for servants and slaves. He washed the feet of his disciples and concluded that gesture with these words, “As I have done, so you must do.”
I believe that Jesus in this passage offers each of us a way forward as his followers. We are called to lead lives deeply rooted in service – service to God, our neighbor, and ourselves. This is path of service certainly is not an easy path, although it is one that will bring us together as God’s people.
As I look around this Cathedral today and the events of this weekend, I suspect that many of you understand and have embraced very well Jesus’ invitation to serve. I know that those who made this day possible – not the organizers and workers of La Festa, for as grateful as we all are to you – but more importantly, those who truly made this day possible – the parents, grandparents and great-grandparents of so, so many of us who came to this land decades ago with a love for this country and a lively faith in God – THEY understood Jesus’ words very well. More importantly – they LIVED them.
Our ancestors came to this land with hope. As we reflect upon our heritage, your grandparents and mine didn’t simply bring recipes and traditions from the old country. They brought FAITH – a gift that not only transforms individual lives but links us together as brothers and sisters through generations. They built community among themselves. They shared from their bounty and even from their poverty. They served – as the Lord whom they worshipped gave example.
I’m certain that not a few of us here today recall first hand – or through the history of our families passed on from one generation to the next – of stories of generosity and sacrifice, forgiveness and reconciliation. My own mother and father told many stories of life growing up in the Great Depression when strangers would knock on a door looking for food and were invited in to share a meal with the family. My father’s family owned a grocery store. He often shared with me that he and his brothers and sisters were told by my grandparents that no one was to leave that store empty handed if they couldn’t pay. They were simply instructed to put what was owed “on the books.” And family was everything in those days. Even though few of our ancestors who came to America had the benefit of years of formal education, most every one of them understood how valuable it was and is to resolve differences, to forgive and to move forward together – as one – one family and one Church.
To be certain, times have changed. Few of us would ever be courageous enough to invite a perfect stranger to sit at table with our families. Life and society seem to have placed all sorts of obstacles in our paths to challenge family unity and Christian values. Yet, for all of the challenges that surface in our day, there are still ample opportunities for us to serve one another. For as complicated as life can be, we still have the power – through faith – to live together as brothers and sisters.
The 18th chapter of Saint Matthew’s gospel, from which this morning’s text is taken, is a collection of Jesus’ sayings on the practical challenges facing the Christian community, including status-seeking, scandal, division, and the topic of today’s reading – conflict. While Jesus’ words might seem a bit technical in nature, they point out very quickly the importance of taking care of our relationships with one another. Today’s reading outlines a process of reconciliation among divided members of a community. It ultimately provides a pathway through which we then are able to serve one another in the deepest sense of love that flows from Jesus’ example.
For all that he offers, Jesus calls us to seek honesty and sincerity in all relationships, to put aside self-interest, anger and wounded pride, and take the first step in healing the rifts that destroy the sense of love that binds together family and friends, church and community. At the heart of Jesus’ words and sentiments is the challenge that gives to all of us to take up the work of reconciliation – work that begins with respect and love for every human being – work that seeks God’s justice and peace above all else.
In short, today’s gospel outlines a clear procedure designed to help us recognize our shortcomings and sin and return to the community where belong. It roots reconciliation and the forgiveness of sins in God’s mercy, and thus reveals the foolishness of those who try to set limits on their willingness to forgive them.
Jesus asks us to take on the hard, hard work of reconciliation, to be committed to seeking solutions to our problems not out of any sense of indignation or self-righteousness but out of a commitment to imitate and bring into our lives the great love and mercy of God. You know as well as I, that unconditional love and forgiveness offered in the face of pain and hurt is the most powerful tool that can be used to mend a broken relationship and move a people toward peace. It’s the lesson we have been given from the cross and it is the way of the Gospel of Jesus.
We end where we began – with words that are foundational to our vision for the future of the Church of Scranton – words that when embraced have the power to help us build vibrant parish communities of hope, consolation, justice and peace, “As I have done, so you must do.”
“As I have fed you in your hunger and need, so you must do. … As I have embraced the leper, the Gentile, the stranger and welcomed them into my life, so you must do. … As I have treasured you as a child of God with dignity, value and worth, so you must do. … As I have loved you from the cross with mercy and forgiveness and the gift of my life, so you must do.”
Every one of us in this Cathedral is here today because somebody loved us, and fed us and forgave us and passed on to us their faith in God. They likely did not say it in so many words, but they gave us such treasures because they knew Jesus in their hearts. … They felt his presence throughout their incredible journeys of life. … They experienced his blessings through their own lives of faithful service.
We will honor them best by not only by holding them in our memories this day– but by embracing the faith passed on to us and giving it life and substance through our service of one another.
