Most Rev. Joseph C. Bambera, D.D., J.C.L.
Bishop of Scranton
HOMILY
Youth Awards Mass – 2011
My friends: What a privilege it is for me to join with all of you this evening as we honor young people from our parishes and celebrate their place within and their contributions to the Church. For all of the things that I am privileged to do as Bishop, joining with you – young people from around this Diocese who have distinguished yourselves in some significant way as you seek to live your faith – gives me a great deal of hope. All of the achievements that each of you have accomplished and that have brought you to this Mass are reminders to me and to all of us gathered that our Church is indeed alive with the Spirit of God and our future is bright.
In less than two weeks, the Church will enter into Holy Week during which we will reflect upon the central mysteries of our faith as Christians: Jesus’ suffering, death and resurrection. During the Last Supper which took place during that week on the night before he died, Jesus gathered with his closest friends, he shared with them his very life in the sacrament of the Eucharist. And as he confronts his own death, he begins to lay the groundwork for the future – without him in a physical way. He lays the building blocks that will serve as the foundation of the Church. Listen to what he says: “It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you to go forth and bear fruit. … And this is my commandment: love one another.” Our second reading this evening from the First Letter of John captures the message of Jesus so well. “This is how we know that he remains in us: Love one another.”
Notice what Jesus didn’t say to his disciples: He didn’t say that the first thing you need to do is get some office space, a good secretary and a fund raiser. He didn’t say that you need to develop a code of law. That didn’t happen for centuries. He didn’t say that you should go to Rome and build St. Peter’s square and St. Peter’s Basilica. Those structures weren’t built for over 1,500 years. He didn’t even say that they should find a place where believers could come together in worship in Jerusalem.
What Jesus DID say was that his disciples should follow his example and LOVE one another. Essentially, in laying the groundwork for the future, Jesus was reminding his disciples that his plan was to create a PEOPLE who would be filled with the Holy Spirit and make his presence known throughout time.
So when the Holy Spirit was eventually poured forth following the death and resurrection of Jesus, it fell upon a PEOPLE – fishermen, tax collectors, housewives, seedy and marginal people. And the Spirit glued them together by three things: Baptism, Eucharist and Witness. And the presumption was that each one upon whom the Spirit fell had gifts to use for the spread of the Gospel and the message of Jesus.
And the scriptures remind us over and over again that while there are many gifts, there is but one and the same Spirit. We are all baptized into one body – and together we are the Body of Christ.
That is the Church – the People of God – gifted through the Spirit and called to use their gifts for the sake of the Kingdom of God. And that is what we celebrate this night in your willingness to BE the Church. Think of some of the examples of service that you have brought with you today. As simple as they may be, look at the power of such simple gestures to touch peoples’ lives. I’ll give you another example.
One of my favorite plays is Les Miserables, which ran on Broadway for eighteen years. Based on the novel by Victor Hugo, the central character is Jean Valjean, who has been released after nineteen years in prison, a bitter man. He had been sentenced to jail for stealing a loaf of bread to feed his hungry children. Freed at last, Valjean is denied food and lodging in a village, even though he has some money, because no one wants an ex convict around. Finally, a kindly bishop invites him home, offering him a meal and a place to stay. The bishop insists on putting his finest silver plates on the table used only for special guests when Valjean dines with him.
During the night Valjean wakes up, steals the bishop’s silver plates and sneaks out of the house. The police soon catch him. He lies about the silver plates, saying that the bishop gave them to him as a gift. The police take Valjean back to the bishop’s house with the stolen goods. When Valjean returns to the bishop’s house in police custody, the bishop exclaims that he is glad to see him because he wanted to give him his silver candlesticks as well. The police then have no choice but to let Valjean go free. And the amazing act of forgiveness and mercy makes such a deep impression on Valjean that he is transformed into a new person who spends the remainder of his life serving others and showing mercy to them.
What was so worthwhile to Valjean that his life was changed? Nothing particularly measurable. Not a building or a thing. What were worthwhile were the actions of the kindly bishop – the witness of his life – something that pointed to Jesus himself. He was touched by an understanding, compassionate and forgiving human being – and that changed his life.
And we remember the words of Jesus in the Gospels: “Love one another.”
And that my friends is why we gather tonight, why we worship and pray, why we serve one another in the name of Jesus – because countless numbers of people down through the ages have experienced the love and power of God – shown through his people – the baptized who are the Church.
We celebrate today your gifts and talents and achievements. And we pray in recognizing your goodness that you and all of us remember that the greatest thing any of us can ever do in life is to live out our Baptism: to love generously, forgive often, treat with compassion, respect and treasure all of life – the lives of others from the unborn to the elderly, AND your own life, and witness to the world your faith in Jesus Christ by how you live and all that you do.
That challenge is not old fashioned or out of date. On the contrary, it is the surest way to discovering happiness, meaning and purpose in your lives that you will ever find.
If you’re not sure, think about this at your young ages with so much of life ahead of you. At the end of your life, my life or anybody’s, everything that you possess – everything that you bought or built or made – will belong to somebody else. But what goes with us is what means the most: our relationships with others, the love that we have shared with one another, and our faith in Jesus.
My friends, all of us, but especially you, the young men and women whom we honor today, have been given a treasure: the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Don’t be afraid to tap the Spirit in your hearts and to allow the Spirit to bind us all together as God’s people. And as the People of God, BE the Church. BE the Church of Jesus – the visible sign of God’s love and presence in the world today.
