HOMILY
Mass of Thanksgiving for the Election of Pope Leo XIV
Jeremiah 1:4-9; Ephesians 4:1-7, 11-13; Matthew 16:13-19
Wednesday, May 14, 2025
Six days ago, the life-giving winds of the Holy Spirit swept through our world and into the hearts of the cardinal-electors of our Church, prompting them to call forth from their midst Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost to lead the Church as the 267th successor of Saint Peter.
And so, we give thanks to God this day for our new Holy Father, Pope Leo XIV. His very election is testimony to the words he proclaimed in his first meeting with the cardinals of the Church two days after his selection as Pope. “It is the Risen Lord, present among us, who protects and guides the Church, and continues to fill her with hope through the love ‘poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.’”
In reflecting upon the historic nature of the selection of Pope Leo, our first scripture reading from the prophet Jeremiah is a reminder of the unique, challenging and miraculous ways in which God continues to work in our lives. Jeremiah protests God’s desire for him to speak on his behalf to the nations. “Ah, Lord God, I know not how to speak; I am too young.” Jeremiah gave whatever excuse he was able to muster to avoid his calling – and then conceded to the words of the Lord, “Have no fear, because I am with you to deliver you.”
While Pope Leo himself acknowledged that the call to lead the Catholic Church is clearly beyond his own limited abilities, like Jeremiah, he put aside his fears, trusted in God’s mercy and wisdom – and said yes to lead our Church.
What is so compelling, however, about Pope Leo’s election is that it not only speaks to the continuity of the papacy for two millennia – it not only speaks of the mystery of God’s plan for salvation – but in a very consoling and encouraging way it speaks to our lives – here in North America – doesn’t it?
We have an American pope! A man who was born in the same neighborhood of South Chicago – as my grandfather – was called by God to stand before us as Peter – the rock upon which Jesus chose to build his Church! … A man, who heard the same call to priestly ministry as a teenage boy in his parish church, that countless numbers of us have and will hear, is our Holy Father! … A White Sox fan who enjoys playing tennis and Wordle was able to discern the voice of God speaking to his heart and said yes to God’s plan, despite his fears and apprehensions.
This unexpected choice to lead our Church through the grace of the Holy Spirit has much to say to us today, brothers and sisters. Pope Leo’s selection is a sign to all the world that despite our shortcomings, the Church in the United States is vibrant and strong. It acknowledges that for generations, American Catholics have truly sought to embrace the Gospel with compassion. It also speaks to the goodness that has grown in the church of North America – a goodness bearing fruit in service and evangelization. Finally, it affirms the hope that is ours – especially when I look at so many of you who have joined with me for today’s Mass – the young Church of the Diocese of Scranton.
But, the choice of Pope Leo, whose very roots are among us, calls us as Christians to much more than merely celebration and pride. His election is an opportunity for us to reflect upon what we have done with the grace of Baptism that we’ve been given. His election challenges us to renew our commitment to discipleship, as noted by Saint Paul in his letter to the Church of Ephesus, proclaimed in our second reading this afternoon. “I urge you – all of us – 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.”
At the heart of today’s gospel passage from Saint Matthew, Jesus asks his disciples – and ultimately Peter – a question. “Who do you say that I am?” Peter responds, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” In reflecting upon Peter’s response to Jesus and the meaning of the gospel Jesus embodies, we start to understand who we are and what our lives are about, don’t we? Essentially, today’s gospel asks us exactly what we mean when we say the “we believe in Jesus Christ, God’s only Son and our Lord.”
In his first homily to the cardinals who elected him, Pope Leo reflected upon these same words from Saint Matthew’s gospel as well as the challenges of the world in which we find ourselves – a world in which, sadly, the Gospel message and the truth that it proclaims is often cast aside – a world where mercy is neglected and respect for human dignity has diminished. In the face of such a world, Pope Leo asserted, “We are called to bear witness to our joyful faith in Jesus the Savior … and to repeat, with Peter: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
How blessed we are to have been given another Shepherd to lead us in the spirit and example of Jesus. Let us pray that God will bless and sustain Pope Leo in his ministry to our Church and the world. And may we find consolation and hope in these simple words which he shared with us when he was announced to the world as the 267th successor of Saint Peter and Vicar of Christ.
“God loves us and evil will not prevail! All of us are in God’s hands. So, let us move forward, without fear, together, hand in hand with God and with one another other! We are followers of Christ, who goes before us. The world needs his light. Humanity needs him as the bridge that can lead us to God and his love. Help us, O god, to build bridges through dialogue and encounter, joining together as one people, always at peace.”
HOMILY
4th Sunday of Easter – May 11, 2025
Mother’s Day Adoption Mass
Most of us appreciate the scripture passages that speak of Jesus as the Good Shepherd – the guardian of God’s flock. We appreciate them even though in our day and age – in our culture – most of us aren’t at all familiar with shepherds and sheep. Why, then, does this image of Jesus resonate so much with our spirits?
I suspect that the answer is found in the very words of Jesus: “My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me. … No one can take them out of my hand.” … “I know them, and they follow me.”
What Jesus implies in these words is that there is familiarity – a God-initiated relationship with every member of his flock, regardless of how closely that member follows the shepherd or how far that member may stray. Jesus’ words capture the essence of our Christian faith, don’t they? “God – not us but God – so loved the world – so loved you and me – that he gave his only son so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.”
With a foundation for faith rooted in God’s initiative, Jesus beckons us to embrace life in a very different way than how we and our world often engage it. … He calls us to listen consciously and deliberately for his voice in the depths of our hearts – in the midst of love and joy, pain and anguish, and the cries for mercy and justice that we see and hear all around us. … And he assures us that we are always safe and accepted in the embrace of his God and Father who has loved us first.
In 2018, our beloved Pope Francis issued a beautiful exhortation on the call to holiness in today’s world. It’s entitled Gaudete et Exsultate – “Rejoice and be glad.” The Holy Father began his reflections by reminding all of us that this great goal of holiness is well within our reach. He spoke about the saints who accompany us on our journey of life and faith and then pointed out that not every saint who is worthy of our attention is already beatified or canonized. Instead, he spoke of “the saints next door.”
Listen to his words: “I like to contemplate the holiness present in the patience of God’s people: in those parents who raise their children with immense love, in those men and women who work hard to support their families, in the sick, in elderly religious who never lose their smile. In their daily perseverance, I see the holiness of the Church. Very often it is a holiness found in our next-door neighbors, those who, living in our midst, reflect God’s presence. We might call them ‘the middle class of holiness.’”
Today we celebrate and give thanks for those women – our mothers – who, by the grace of God at work within their lives, have accepted the call to holiness and have sought to live it authentically: Mothers who have given us life – mothers, who, though unable to care for the lives they bore, for love of God and life itself, entrusted those precious gifts to the care of others – mothers who opened their hearts to children desperately in need of a loving and nurturing home – grandmothers – foster mothers – and all who have nurtured and cared for life.
It is a common truth that we learn how to love from being loved and from seeing love in action. It’s as simple and profound as that. And that’s why it’s so important for us to recognize that underneath all the commercialism that can easily attach to this day, there lies a deeper, sacred reality: we honor mothers because in almost every case, our first encounter with love came from our mother. That love is hardly a sentimental love – but rather, a sacred love – a selfless, sacrificial, forgiving love – a God-initiated love that mirrors the very love of our good shepherd, Jesus.
Once again, Pope Francis demonstrated his gift of being able to tap the sentiments that so many of us embrace this day. “To love like Jesus,” the Holy Father begins, “is not easy because we are often so weak. But just to try to love as Christ loved us shows that Christ shares his own risen life with us. In this way, our lives demonstrate his power at work – even in the midst of human weakness.”
We give thanks today, then, for the blessing of those who have tried to the best of their God-given abilities to protect, support, sustain and love God’s gift of life – a blessing that has been so generously given to each of us through the lives of our mothers.
By their example, they teach us that it is possible to love as Jesus loved – generously and selflessly. … They also remind us that they – and we – become signs of the Good Shepherd’s presence in the world when we open our lives to his love and make it our own.
HOMILY
Opening of the Papal Conclave
Wednesday, May 7, 2025
Isaiah 61:1-3a; John 15:9-17
Welcome to our cathedral for this noon time celebration of the Holy Eucharist – a tradition that we have maintained in this sacred space for at least half a century. … Some of you have been coming to this mass for all those years and more. … Others typically join us from your homes thanks to Catholic Television. … And still others have made an effort to be with us this day as we pray for the cardinals of the Holy Catholic Church who, at this very hour in Rome, have begun the sacred task of electing a successor of Saint Peter as our new Pope.
For as familiar as this moment is for most of us, today this Mass assumes a special significance as we reflect upon our place in the universal Catholic Church.
First and foremost, this celebration reminds us of who we are as Catholic Christians. My presence here today as the Bishop of Scranton is not merely to add an element of solemnity to this occasion. No. My presence links us to all the People of God who are a part of over one hundred parishes in the eleven counties of this local Church.
But it also binds us to the broader, world-wide Church – to the college of Bishops – and ultimately to the Bishop of Rome, who stands on the shoulders of countless successors of the Apostles and ultimately Peter himself – who was called by Jesus our Savior to be his instrument in building the Church and proclaiming its message of life and salvation to all. … You are Peter and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the nether world shall not prevail against it.
Brothers and sisters, no matter how fiercely independent we may be, we are not an island unto ourselves. As disciples of Jesus Christ, we are all brothers and sisters united under the leadership of the Vicar of Christ and successor of Saint Peter.
We belong to a vast community, linking us to the past and the present. Through the mystery and power of God, we are a part of the communion of saints, the saints of this world and the next. We are bound to every soul who has ever been a part of the Church throughout its existence for two millennia. We are bound to our mothers and fathers, to grandparents and great-grandparents, to every heart filled with hope that ever prayed as we do this day. We are bound together because of the Eucharist that we celebrate on this altar and because of the words of faith that we proclaim in its presence: “Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again.”
And so, as members of the Body of Christ and with great hope in the power of his resurrection – a hope that permeates this Jubilee Year proclaimed by our late Holy Father, Pope Francis – we pray that the Holy Spirit – the living God – may pour forth wisdom and courage into the hearts of the cardinal-electors who have been set apart to call forth from their midst a new successor of Saint Peter.
As they turn to our God in prayer – as we do at this hour – may they be mindful in their deliberations of the great commandment proclaimed by Jesus in today’s gospel, specially chosen by the Church for the election of a new Pope.
Love one another as I love you. … Not a suggestion – but a command given by the Savior himself – with no qualifications, conditions or limitations. Love one another – even the mean-spirited, the petulant, the ungrateful, the unreasonable, the lives that are different than our own and those lives that live, as Pope Francis so often reminded us, on the margins of our world. Love as we have been loved and bring healing and peace to our world.
This command, brothers and sisters, is given to each of us. We pray that as we feebly seek to make it our own, the one who will be called forth by God in these sacred days to lead our Church will open his heart to power of Holy Spirit. May he, in turn, be for us a firm foundation for the unity of God’s people, a messenger of the truth of the gospel and a vehicle of God’s mercy, forgiveness and peace.
Previous Homilies 2025
Memorial Mass for Pope Francis April 22, 2025
2025 Lenten Deanery Holy Hour – Jubilee of Hope
Rite of Election March 9, 2025
Disabilities Mass – 5th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord January 5, 2025