By Archbishop Thomas Wenski - The Archdiocese of Miami
Archbishop Thomas Wenski preached this homily while celebrating the conclusion of the 75th anniversary celebration for St. Rose of Lima Parish in Miami Shores, Oct. 15, 2023.
Last October I was here to begin your 75th anniversary year. Now I come to close it. I am happy to see Father George with us. When we began this anniversary year, no one could imagine that Father George would have had to face some serious health challenges. But God is good. And Father is making what I hope is a speedy recovery. And we are happy to have Father Luis Perez to assist Father — and, of course, we are grateful for the priests who have stepped in to help over the past several weeks.
Both the first reading and the Gospel reading speak of a banquet. In the Scriptures, “banquets,” with their ample and rich foods and conviviality, are ways of describing the happiness that we long for in heaven.
The feast we are called to share in is the eternal banquet that awaits the redeemed in heaven. But the feast has already begun here on earth. Heaven does not begin only when we die. It begins the moment we open our lives to God and decide to follow him. That is what our baptism was about: during baptism, we were asked to profess our faith (or, if we were babies, our godparents did that for us). By baptism we became children of God and members of the Body of Christ, the Church. We believe and we belong.
When someone is baptized, he or she is given a white garment that symbolizes our life in Christ, the life of grace, that is our ticket into the banquet.
But the banquet has begun, as I said, already on earth, for we are to live as children of God, to become what we already are through baptism: sons and daughters of God the Father, brothers and sisters of Jesus, our brother and savior, strengthened and enlivened by the Holy Spirit.
The Eucharist which we celebrate every day — and which has been celebrated here at St. Rose for 75 years — is an anticipation, a foretaste of that heavenly banquet that awaits us. The Eucharist is the re-presentation of Christ’s passion and death on the cross, the re-presentation of Christ’s gift of himself to the Father for our sake so that in our communion in his Body and Blood we may find the strength to give of our selves to God and to one another.
One preacher — expanding on today’s first reading from Isaiah — talked about a banquet as a description of both heaven and hell. The banquet was hell when everybody that was there saw the food, their mouths watering, but they could not eat because their elbows were frozen — so that they could not bend their arms to pick up the food and put it in their mouths. Imagine that! Lots of food, lots of drink but because their arms were frozen, they could not lift the food to their mouths.
But the preacher then went on to describe “heaven” — the same banquet with delicious and mouthwatering food and drink. The people then also had their elbows frozen and couldn’t bend them to pick up their food. But what made the banquet “heaven” was that each participant took the food in his hand and reached over to feed the person across from him.
In other words, we find hell on earth in the selfishness and greed that keep people divided — and also starving. There is a Haitian proverb, Bondye konn bay, men lezòm pa konn separe. God knows how give but men don’t know how to share. But heaven begins when we begin not to think of ourselves but of others, we live not for ourselves but for others and for Christ who has saved us.
Apropos of the Gospel reading, we could say that, since our baptism, we already have been admitted into the banquet hall — and we are here because of God’s generosity.
But there is a dress code for the banquet: the wedding garment of virtue and grace. As St. Augustine once said, God created us without our cooperation, but he cannot save us unless we cooperate.
That is why parishes like St. Rose of Lima exist. Our parishes should always strive to be communities of faith, fraternity and welcome because here we learn to work out our salvation by cooperating with God so that we grow in faith, hope and charity.
Recently, actually just this past February, Pope Francis said: "Sometimes I think that we should put a sign on the door of parishes that says, 'Free admission.' Parishes should be close-knit communities, without bureaucracy, people-centered — a place where the gift of the sacraments can be found. They have to become once again schools of service and generosity, with their doors always open to those who are excluded."
As you celebrate your 75 years as a parish community, these words of the Holy Father perhaps offer you a road map for the next 75 years. Can you grow as a close-knit community and avoid becoming a community closed in on itself? In other words, how do we become more other-orientated and less self-referential? Can you become more structured in your ministries without becoming just more bureaucratic? Can you, as a parish, remain people-centered so that your parish is a school of service and generosity to all, without excluding anyone?
After 75 years, there is much to be grateful for. This parish has produced some great vocations — both priests and religious. I will mention just two: Father Raymond Brown, who was ordained a priest when this parish and South Florida were still part of the Diocese of St. Augustine. And Father Paul Vuturo who just retired and celebrated his 50th anniversary of ordination this past May. This parish has had and continues to have great families — families that support and are supported by St. Rose of Lima School. Some of you may remember the Kinderlins — one of their sons was in the seminary with me more than 50 years ago, and a daughter became a nun and actually taught at St. Rose. You have had great pastors, Msgrs. Enright, Fogarty, and of course, Seamus Doyle.
We remember these past 75 years with gratitude. We celebrate this present moment with enthusiasm — even as we put the pandemic behind us. This parish has become much more diverse in recent years and this diversity of cultures, languages and ethnicities has enriched all of us. The parish school continues to grow and to provide an excellent faith-based education. Here children learn more than their ABCs or how to add and subtract fractions; they learn language and grammar, the language and grammar of love. The future awaits us — but we look forward to it with confidence.
At any rate, here at St. Rose of Lima, you do have a bit of heaven on earth. For here you celebrate the sacraments which are the means of grace for us. Here you encounter the living Word of God, and you feast on the Body and Blood of Christ, given to us as food for the journey of life.
For 75 years, a banquet has been prepared here. For 75 years, the table has been set. The King has issued invitations for his son’s wedding feast. If you’re here, you got the invitation, and you RSVP-ed.
