By Archbishop Thomas Wenski - The Archdiocese of Miami
Archbishop Thomas Wenski preached this homily during Mass Sept. 18, 2024, at the annual convocation of archdiocesan priests, Sept. 17-19.
On September 5th I celebrated the feast day of Mother Teresa at the shelter run by her sisters in downtown Miami.
Mother Teresa went home to heaven 27 years ago. Her life is a beautiful witness to that more excellent way – the way of love – that St. Paul speaks to us in today’s first reading.
Mother Teresa would urge us to recognize Christ in our neighbor — even when he appears in various disguises — sometimes disconcerting and even disagreeable ones. “People,” Mother would say, “are unreasonable, illogical and self-centered. Love them anyway.”
Today, we must recognize Jesus in our neighbor who suffers from any disease, but we must not fail to recognize him in those diseases – of mind and body – which affect and infect disproportionately the poorest of the poor. Last night, Judge Leitman gave us a moving description of how some of the poorest among us are faring in the midst of the opulence of Miami.
Today, we deal also with people who are not only unreasonable, illogical and self-centered, but also very confused. To quote Abe Lincoln briefly: “If you call a tail a leg, how many legs does a cow have? Today, when 2 + 2 doesn’t necessarily equal 4, many people cannot answer Abe Lincoln’s question correctly. I hope you know the answer: If you call a tail a leg, how many legs does a cow have? Four, because calling a tail a leg doesn’t make it so. Hopefully, our speakers today will help us be able to articulate to those who are confused among our people today why calling a tail a leg doesn’t make it one. The confused can frustrate us, they can anger us, they can drive us mad to distraction, but – to paraphrase Mother Teresa: Love them anyway – speak gently, speak the truth, speak the truth with love.
The Eucharist feeds and sustains us. It is our greatest prayer, the source and summit of Christian life.
“Prayer,” Mother Teresa would tell people, “Makes the heart large enough until it can contain God's gift of Himself.” And in the Mass, in our communion in Christ’s body and blood, we receive God’s gift of himself. But Mass leads to mission. “Ita Missa est” – Go it is the sending forth.
We cannot distance ourselves from the cares of the world or the needs of our neighbors. Prayer is a lifting up of one’s heart and mind to God, but doing so doesn’t mean one ignores one’s neighbor — as Pope Francis has said, “to ignore man’s suffering is to ignore God.”
“True worship,” Pope Francis adds, “does not exist if it is not translated into service of one’s neighbor.”
As priests, may we not fail to serve all those who, like Jesus, cry out: “I thirst”. They thirst not only for water, but for love, for compassion, for friendship. They thirst for meaning, for a way out of their confusions. “Love them anyway!”
