By Archbishop Thomas Wenski - The Archdiocese of Miami
Homily preached by Archbishop Thomas Wenski at the Investiture Ceremony for the new monsignors, which took place March 10, 2013 at St. Mary Cathedral.On this happy occasion, I want to begin by congratulating those who are being honored today: Msgr. Jude O�Doherty, Msgr. Chanel Jeanty, Msgr. James Fetscher, Msgr. Roberto Garza, Msgr. Jos� Luis Hernando, Msgr. George Puthusseril, Msgr. Jos� Juan Quijano, Msgr. Edmond Whyte, and Father Eduardo Barrios. I also thank you all for your faithfulness to service, for your hard work over these many years, for your dedication to collaborating with me and my predecessors in our task of teaching, governing and sanctifying the people of God in this corner of the Lord�s vineyard, the Archdiocese of Miami.
It turns out that you are the last Miami monsignors to have been elevated by our pope emeritus, Benedict XVI; and you, Father Barrios, are the last in our archdiocese to receive the Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice Cross from him. In future years, I suspect that the next pope will continue to recognize the service of the priests of this archdiocese � and, to be sure, an honor given to any priest of this archdiocese also extends to all the priests of the archdiocese.
As our Church awaits the election of another who will walk in the shoes of the fisherman, our attention is naturally drawn to Rome and the conclave that will begin on Tuesday. A papal conclave, a papal election, is nothing like the seemingly never-ending political campaigns of our country. Neither is the Church a sort of Vatican Inc., with the cardinals acting as a board of directors looking to hire a new CEO. The dealings of the conclave have little to do with the love of power but much to do with the power of love.
The cardinals are not looking for a hired man but for a shepherd, a shepherd who has the heart and mind of the Good Shepherd himself. They are looking for a good shepherd who will lay down his life for the sheep. Like Benedict XVI and John Paul II and the two hundred plus successors of St. Peter before them, the new pope�s task will be to tend to and to feed the sheep. He will be entrusted to hand on the Gospel in its entirety.
That is the pope�s job � and really that is the task of each one of us who travel with him in the bark of Peter, especially those of us who have been ordained to the priesthood, commissioned in a special way to teach, govern and sanctify God�s people. The message of the Gospel is entrusted to us to share with the world, and it is not for us, or for any future pope, to alter it to suit to the changing fashions of the world. The challenge for all of us, ordained and not ordained, is not to change our faith but to live it and to allow it to change us.
In making their decision, the cardinals are not supposed to listen to �conventional wisdom.� That is why they will soon be �in conclave,� literally under lock and key. They are quite aware that they have to listen to �unconventional wisdom,� to the wisdom emanating from a single voice, the voice of the Holy Spirit. I am sure this thought inspires in them awe and at the same time a holy fear because, though they bear the title of cardinals, or princes of the Church, they are merely mortal men � that is to say, sinners to one degree or another, sinners like all of us.
At the closing of the Year of Priests, Pope Benedict reminded us that �the priest is not a mere office-holder. Instead he does something which no human being can do of his own power.� He forgives sins; he turns mere bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ. He makes Christ present in the world. He acts �in persona Cristi,� in the person of Jesus Christ.
This too should inspire awe and a holy fear in us � perhaps the same sense of awe and fear that struck us when we first heard the call to priesthood, or when we lay prostrate on the altar and listened to the Litany of the Saints moments before our ordination. At that point, and perhaps still today, we ask, as Mary did when visited by the angel Gabriel, �How can this be possible?�
Our pope emeritus, ever the theologian, ever the teacher, answered that question with a telling phrase: the �audacity of God.� Yes, the audacity of God. �That God thinks that we are capable of this; that in this way he calls men to his service and thus from within binds himself to them.�
We know that this can happen only through the Holy Spirit; the same Spirit to whom Mary entrusted her �fiat,� her �yes.� The same Spirit who made the impossible happen at the Incarnation; the Holy Spirit to whom the cardinals are praying for wisdom right now. It is that same Holy Spirit whom the bishop called upon when he laid hands on each of us at our ordination. The same Holy Spirit of God that descended upon us at baptism.
Although we are gathered here today to confer papal honors, we are reminded that the greatest title or �honor� we can receive is that of the name �Christian,� the title we received at baptism. That is our greatest dignity for it makes us children of God and co-heirs with Christ to the promises of his Kingdom.
The Gospel also tells us not to aspire to honors, or to the �highest places.� And so, as Christians, none of us should seek recognition for doing what Jesus asks of us. Jesus himself was always among us as �one who serves.� If we can associate the words �Christian� and �ambition� it should only be when �Christian ambition� describes the Christian�s passion to serve. For service is the highest calling of every Christian. Even the pope � who is the �highest� figure in the hierarchy of the Church � is rightly called the Servus servorum Dei, the Servant of the Servants of God.
Still, the Church does often honor her members, and rightly so, with titles and recognitions that, while not as significant as the name �Christian,� do serve to illuminate for us the different paths where Christian service can lead. And so today we honor these nine men who have surrendered themselves to that Spirit we all received at baptism, but who did so in a very particular way when they accepted the priesthood: Like Mary, they trusted in that �audacity of God.� And in doing so they distinguished themselves in the service of God�s people � as teachers, sanctifiers and shepherds always in communion with their bishop.
That is why they are receiving this papal honor today. And while they rightly deserve it, they are being honored not because they are any different from the rest of the priests and laity of our archdiocese, but because they are representative of all of us; of the dedication and the devotion that so well characterizes this local Church and her clergy.
We pray today for those being honored. We thank God for their example. We pray also that the Holy Spirit will guide the cardinals in Rome as they enter the conclave; that the Spirit will continue to lead the Church, the Body of Christ, throughout the world and more particularly here in South Florida, so that we may continue to be, like these men whom we honor, disciples in faith and missionaries of hope.
See photo album here.
