Bishop Bambera’s Homilies 2024

HOMILY
Mass of Remembrance – July 25, 2024
Isaiah 25:6a, 7-9; 2 Corinthians 1:1-7; John 14:1-6

A few years ago, I visited a local parish church to pay my respects to a woman whom I had known for many years. Her son’s funeral mass was to be celebrated later that morning. He died quite unexpectedly in his 40’s. Sadly, this woman also buried her husband, her parents and her only other son at a young age as well. For all the time that has passed since that experience, I have never forgotten that encounter with my friend.

When I embraced her in the receiving line in the church, I was keenly aware of her loss and the inadequacy of any words that I might have been able to offer at that moment. She, however, in her grief and pain, shared words that have stayed with me for many years. “God has taken back everything that he gave me. … But how can I ever be mad at God? … He’s carried me for all these years and has never let me down.”

Amazing words, aren’t they? … I don’t know if I could have ever uttered such words in the face of so much suffering, pain and loss and really mean them? … I’d like to believe that I could, but I’m sure. I know from what I’ve experienced myself and from opportunities to speak with so many of you, that anyone of us could just as easily yield to anger with God – to disillusionment – to bitterness – and to a whole host of feelings and emotions over which we have little control; feelings and emotions that understandably can easily consume our lives in the face of loss and grief – and particularly the stories that so many of you bring to our cathedral and to this time of prayer.

While life goes on, so many of us get stalled in a quagmire of suffering and pain that emerges against our will and that we are forced to endure as a result of circumstances that we never wanted to experience in the first place.

And yet, we’re here tonight for this time of prayer and remembrance, searching and hoping to find some sense of peace that might enable us to affirm what my dear friend was able to share in a moment of grief and loss. The question is, how does someone like my friend – and like many of you or any of us – make such an affirmation of faith and hope?

I’d suggest that it all depends upon where we look to find our peace and how we understand God’s plan of salvation and his place within our lives. So many of you know better than most that life simply does not unfold in the ways in which we’d expect or imagine. While there are joyful and meaningful moments in all of our lives, there are far more crosses looking for shoulders to rest upon than we’d like to admit. Yet, if we are humble and wise enough to probe just a bit into the mystery of the suffering, death and resurrection of Jesus, we’ll discover a pathway to hope and peace, regardless of how life unfolds around us.

Every time we gather to celebrate the Eucharist, we confront two great realities within our lives. We confront the brokenness of the human condition in the suffering of Jesus that led him to the cross. But we also confront the immeasurable mercy and love of God so evident in the Jesus’ resurrection. … These two great realities create a bit of tension, don’t they, particularly for us who gather for this annual Mass of Remembrance,? The tension that I refer to is rooted in the struggle that we confront as we seek to balance the reality of grief, loss, and death, on one hand, and the hope that our faith promises.

We are all here today because we have faced the worst that life can offer. But we are also here today because we believe, however feebly, that God somehow can and does speak to the brokenness of our lives and gives us a way forward with a certain sense of hope and even, at times, a peace that we can neither explain nor justify in the face of our loss.

The scripture passages proclaimed this evening, each in their own way, speak powerfully to our lives. Isaiah speaks of the promise of the Lord to “destroy death forever” and to “wipe away the tears from all faces.” Jesus, in the gospel passage from Saint John promises to all believers the gift of his peace – so “do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid.”

But it is Saint Paul’s’ message from his Second Letter to the Corinthians that speaks most clearly to the reality of this time of prayer. Paul is able to offer consolation to the Corinthians because of the very consolation he receives from God amid his own struggles and pain. … Notice, however, that while the comfort comes from God and reaches the apostle, it then goes from the apostle to those Christians, who in their own distress, are in need of consolation. … Essentially, Paul reminds all of us that it is indeed right for us to long for God’s consolation. But when consolation is granted to us, there is an expectation and a reciprocity that we are called to embrace. We who experience God’s consolation, in turn, are called to share such consolation, healing and comfort to others.

Isn’t it so often the case that those people who touch us the most in our suffering and grief are more often than not individuals who have experienced significant loss in their own lives. … They are so often people who have received the consolation of the Lord in their own journeys of life and who have chosen not to wallow in self-pity but to share the consolation that they have received with others. … They are people who allow themselves to be instruments of the Lord’s peace, even as they struggle to find it more fully within their own hearts. … They are people who understand the words of Saint Paul: those who have received the Lord’s consolation, in turn, encourage those who are afflicted.

Some time ago, Pope Francis spoke to this reality when he addressed families who had experienced loss not unlike those of us who gather for this annual Mass. “Among the People of God, with the grace of compassion given by Jesus, many families demonstrate that death does not have the last word. … Every time that a family in mourning finds the strength to love, … the darkness of death is confronted with a more intense work of God’s love. … If we let ourselves be sustained by faith, the experience of bereavement can generate a stronger … openness to the sorrow of other families and a new fraternity with families … reborn in hope.”

We all bring sadness and pain to this moment. And yet, amid suffering and grief, we have hope through the blessings of our faith, don’t we? … We have hope through the supportive presence of countless numbers of individuals whom God has given to us and whom we, in turn, are privileged to serve in and through our own grief. … We have hope through the blessing of our faith which, even when questioned in times of struggle, provides us with the pathway to God’s loving presence. … And we have hope because of Jesus and the power of his suffering, death and resurrection, through which we keep alive all those relationships with loved ones who have passed from this world to the next.

HOMILY
15^th Sunday in Ordinary Time – July 14, 2024

Last night, we witnessed the making of history in a tragic way with the assassination attempt on the life of our former president, Donald Trump. In the midst of that attempt on his life, which was spared by millimeters, an innocent bystander was killed, several people were wounded and the likely shooter was killed.

I would be remiss if I failed to speak with you of this moment in our history as a nation and a people. This is not a political statement in support of the Republican candidate for president. It is not a moment to point fingers. It is not a time to engage in the dreadful social media posts that have emerged in the hours since this tragic event. No – this is a moment that demands that all of us reflect upon who and what we have become in the polarized, divided and angry world in which we find ourselves as a people.

We are not responsible for pulling a trigger and taking lives. But we are responsible to set aside hatred, to embrace discourse with respect and to work to build a world of justice, mercy, forgiveness and peace. Nor can we side step our responsibility as Christians. As followers of Jesus, we have all been called to build God’s kingdom – to work for peace – to respect human life in all shapes and forms, regardless of what we believe, how we live, when we come from and what we don’t have.

If we are uncertain of what I’ve shared and its application to our lives, I’d suggest that we all look at today’s scripture passages, particularly the first reading and the gospel. They are providential and speak to what we are experiencing this day throughout our land. Simply put, God’s way of working in our world and using some the most unlikely and reluctant of individuals like you and me in the proclamation and embrace of the mission of the gospel goes back to the very beginnings of his relationship with his people.

In our first reading today from the Old Testament, we encounter the prophet Amos – an extremely reluctant soul who had no intention of becoming a prophet of the Lord. In fact, he states emphatically that he was a shepherd and a tender of sycamore trees. He rejected the title of prophet. He saw himself poorly prepared and trained for the work. Yet God called him and used him to preach to his people.

And in Mark’s gospel, Jesus sends the twelve apostles out on mission for the first time on their own to test the waters and to see how they would fare. … Another example of unlikely individuals for the task presented.

What is so remarkable about the ministry of Amos and the twelve is a common denominator in the call to discipleship. Both the prophet and the apostles knew who they were in relationship with God. While they recognized their limitations, they trusted God and God’s plan to use them in his saving mission.

Indeed, Amos and the twelve had a confidence that grew from that relationship God. They understood that they were chosen by God and provided with every spiritual blessing in the heavens. They trusted that God would not let them down, for after all, they were building HIS Church – not their own. … And that, my friends, is our responsibility as well! It is still God’s Church that continues to be built in our midst – often in spite of ourselves.

Some time ago, Pope Francis spoke words that providentially speak to this moment in our lives as Christians and as Americans. Listen to his words. “We are called to rise over and above our own varied preferences, likes, affiliations or tendencies in order to enter into the expanse of God’s horizon” in and through which we are all blessed recipients of his mercy and love.”

Everyone of us who gather in prayer today is a hopeful presence in our world because of our faith. We are reminded yet again of just how essential it is for all of us not only to affirm with words what we believe but to live out our faith in service of one another and with respect for every life made in God’s image and likeness.

That’s the heart of today’s gospel message and what it means to live as a disciple of Jesus.

May we pray for the grace to embrace the mission of Jesus – even when, like the apostles, we feel a bit ill equipped to do so. Pray too for all the victims of this American tragedy. May God bless our land and, through us, bring peace.

HOMILY
Ordination to the Priesthood – 29 June 2024
Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul

By God’s grace, this day, our brother, William Asinari, is to be ordained as a priest for service to the people of God in the Church of Scranton. For such great a gift, I join with my brother, Bishop Matthew, and this local Church in giving thanks, first, to our merciful and loving God for the particular call to the priesthood that he planted in Bill’s heart – an invitation built upon the universal call to holiness which all of us have received in Baptism. I offer thanks as well to so many of you who have helped Bill discern and respond to God’s call. I thank those who have been involved in Bill’s priestly formation – Father Alex Roche, Monsignor David Bohr and priests, deacons, religious and members of the Christian faithful from throughout the Diocese of Scranton and beyond. I thank the faculty and staff and particularly Father Philip Brown, rector of St. Mary’s Seminary, Baltimore, who join us today. I thank Bill’s pastor, Father William Langan and the faith community of this wonderful parish entrusted to the patronage of Saint John the Evangelist where we are privileged to gather this morning. And to Robert and Cathleen, Bill’s parents, I thank you for your support, your example and the gift of your son to the Church.

Finally, Bill, on behalf of the Church of Scranton, I thank you for saying “yes” to the Lord’s call to serve his Church as priests.

In the summer of 1993, 31 years ago, I traveled to Denver, Colorado, with several hundred young people from throughout our diocese for World Youth Day with now Saint John Paul II. Some of you were with me in Denver. For all the memories that I have of that experience, one will remain with me forever: the words shared by the Holy Father during the closing Mass. “Young people – do not be ashamed of the gospel. Be proud of the gospel.”

Why would he share those words with such committed young people? Why? Because the Holy Father understood that those young men and women would be challenged every day of their lives by a world that does not always appreciate, much less live out the values of the Gospel for which Jesus gave his life. … And so are we! … You know as well as I that we are confronted daily by a world that challenges us set aside gospel values that on the surface might appear too cumbersome, too complicated and out of step with society and culture.

Today’s gospel on this Solemnity of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, speaks directly to this struggle. Two thousand years ago, in a world that looked very different than our own, the same tension that we experience between love and hate, good and evil, right and wrong confronted Jesus and his disciples. In the midst of the city of Caesarea Philippi, which was filled with temples dedicated to all sorts of different gods, Jesus reflected upon his mission, the response of the crowds and his hope for a world that would open itself to the power and presence of God.

During his reflections, Jesus asked his disciples to give him a read of the crowds who are following him. “Who do people say that I am?” They responded, “John the Baptist, Elijah, Jeremiah.” Then Jesus turns the tables on his followers and asked, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter offered the correct answer as he unequivocally stated: “You are the Messiah – the Son of the Living God.” His confession of faith in Jesus became a turning point in the Lord’s ministry. From that moment, Jesus focused his efforts on preparing his disciples to lead the Church that he would establish and to proclaim the love, mercy and forgiveness of God, amid countless obstacles and competing values.

Fast forward to this gathering of disciples. What about us? How about you, Bill? Have we firmly situated our lives upon the foundations established by Peter’s profession of faith? Perhaps more fundamentally, how do we answer the question that Jesus posed to Peter, “Who do you say that I am?”

I’d suggest that we take care to respond thoughtfully. While this parish church is a safe place to be asked the question, think about how you might answer if the question were posed to you, to me or to you, Bill – at work – in school – at dinner with friends – in mixed company. It’s not impossible that we just might be a bit uncomfortable or, as Saint John Paul warned, ashamed of the gospel – as out of step with certain realities that have become normative in our land and world.

Last year on this Solemnity, Pope Francis invited us to reflect upon Peter and Paul and how they came to terms with the question posed in the gospel. Peter’s answer to the question of who Jesus was for him “can be summed up in one word: follow.” Peter knew what it was to follow the Lord. Despite his many struggles and imperfections, when Peter first encountered Jesus on the shores of the Sea of Galilee, he immediately left his nets and followed him. Having followed Jesus, Peter was able to respond to Jesus’ question with words of faith: “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” Yet, discipleship – for Peter – for you, Bill – and for each of us – demands more than an ability to articulate faultless doctrinal formulas. We first need to know Jesus as both savior and friend, opening our hearts to his words and transforming love, seeing in his life the reasons why we would seek to love selflessly, serve generously, sacrifice daily and trust deeply in God’s plan for our lives. It’s not by chance that the last recorded words of Jesus to Peter in Saint John’s Gospel were “Follow me.”

Yet, if the word describing Peter’s answer to Jesus’ question in today’s gospel is follow, for Paul, Pope Francis continued, the word is proclaim – to preach the Gospel. It’s no surprise that in his second letter to Timothy that takes on something of a final exhortation late in the course of his ministry, Paul affirms that “the Lord stood by me and gave me strength, so that through me the proclamation might be completed” and all might hear of the Lord’s message of salvation.

Pope Francis goes on to note that “Paul tells us by his own life that our answer to the question – ‘Who is Jesus for me?’ – is not a privatized piety that leaves us peaceful and unconcerned about bringing the Gospel to others.” We grow in faith and in knowledge of the mystery of Christ when we preach and bear witness to him before others. “The Church cannot live without proclaiming Jesus and sharing with others the embrace of God’s love and the joy of the Gospel.”

How providential it is that the lives and ministry of Saints Peter and Paul are offered for your reflection today, Bill, as you prepare to be advanced to the Order of Priests. The priestly ministry that will be entrusted to you this day will bear fruit in your life and in the lives of those given to your care only if you understand that your ministry is a gift from God – that it is Jesus whom you must follow and proclaim – and that it is his life and example that you must make your own.

Only when you come to appreciate and live in the unique relationship with Jesus that is given to you through the mercy and love of God – not earned nor merited – will all that you are called to do and to be as a priest be possible. That doesn’t mean that because of the Sacrament of Holy Orders you will somehow achieve a level of perfection that exceeds that of the Christian community. It does mean that while very much aware of our human weakness and frailty, God allows us – with all our imperfections – to speak on his behalf and to act in his name for the sake of his people.

Bill, today you declare your willingness to do the work of God within the life of the Church. You affirm your desire to participate in Jesus’ life as Teacher, Priest and Shepherd, by embracing his priesthood and so joining as a co-worker with the Order of Bishops in service of God’s people. So, trust in the grace of God present in this sacrament and be faithful to the teachings of the Church.

As a priest, the Church will call you “another Christ”. Remember well, however, that this title has little to do with rank or status among the People of God. Instead, it carries with it a perpetual challenge to be like Christ. Always hold in your heart the same selfless commitment to love and service that so characterized Jesus’ ministry. Live with integrity the life of celibacy, obedience and simplicity.

Bill, God’s people are looking for the same life of meaning, purpose and peace that you and I seek. They will look to you for so much. Yet, more than anything else, they will look to see in you, like the great Saints Peter and Paul whom we honor this day, someone who knows Jesus: a follower of the Lord who joyfully proclaims by his words and life the hope that is ours through faith.

So, Bill, join with us as we give thanks to God who calls you as his priest this day. Know and believe in your heart as you begin this lifelong journey, that God who has begun the good work in you will bring it to fulfillment.