Mass is parish’s heart: Archbishop at O.L. Assumption

Archbishop J. Michael Miller, CSB, continued his tour of parishes with Our Lady of the Assumption in Port Coquitlam this February. Here is an excerpt of his Sunday homily.

On Thursday evening I began a formal visit to your parish. As is the case throughout the Archdiocese, it is always encouraging and the source of great hope for me to come to know parishioners who are so actively engaged in the worship and life of their parish. This gives concrete witness to me – and I’m sure to you as well – that your community is spiritually flourishing under the shepherding guidance of your pastor, Father Ron Thompson. I am grateful for his hospitality and that of all those who worked so hard to organize my visit, especially Angie, Julie and Lou.

The past few days have been very busy, as I was able to meet with volunteers from nearly every group that gives life to your parish. During these meetings I listened to your activities, dreams, challenges, and many contributions to living out the mission of your parish. It is inspiring to know how many of you have offered your gifts in service of the Lord for so many years. I thank you sincerely for your dedicated service.

Sometime in the next couple of months, I will send Father Thompson a report, but let me share just a few things with you now. There are four blessings in particular that I think are worthy of note.

First of all, you are blessed to have an outstanding Catholic school which is integral to your parish. You do not have two separate communities – a parish one and a school one – for the school is integrated “within” the parish family. And it is flourishing because of the extraordinary way in which it is carrying out its mission as an evangelizing community which fosters in the children a personal relationship with Jesus Christ in the family of the Church.

Secondly, I am so impressed by the engagement of a great number of parishioners in assuming responsible roles within the parish. As Pope Benedict liked to say, the lay faithful are “co-responsible” for the life of the Church.

The third blessing of your community to which I wish to draw attention is the presence of the Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia. For eight years now they have added a witness to the love of God and service to others that is invaluable. I urge you to pray for many more vocations to the consecrated life. Their Mother Superior has promised to send more sisters if we send them more vocations!

Lastly, I cannot help but remark on the beauty of your church, but especially I am inspired by the care with which you celebrate the liturgy. At Mass with the children, they were active participants: singing and reverent. It is a great credit to Father Ron that such love for the liturgy permeates your parish. Holy Mass is, after all, the very heart and centre of your community. All flows from the Eucharist and returns to the Eucharist in praise, thanksgiving and adoration.

As the above list indicates, your parish family has an abundance of spiritual gifts and good works, and for this we should all give the Lord thanks for his graces.

Reflection on the Gospel

“Do to others as you would have them do to you” (Lk 6:31). Most religions accept this simple rule, which we call “golden.” So does Jesus. But he goes way beyond that. In the Gospel he tells us that it is not enough to reciprocate in kind: to return good for good, to return love for love. Jesus invites us to a higher morality, to following him in how he loved; that is, even to loving our “enemies.” After all, he says, that if we love those who love us, we already have our reward. Everyone does that (cf. Lk 6:32). Rather, this is what he expects from his followers: “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you” (Lk 6:27).

We all know how easy it is to love someone who loves us; to return love offered, to love back. It’s not so hard to love people whom we have sought out, people like us, who compliment or flatter us, tell us how good we are, or agree with us.

My problem – our problem – is loving people who don’t love us back, who might even be against us, those who dislike us. And I’m not just referring to those who are far removed from us, like terrorists. I am talking about those with whom I’m in contact. We find it hard to love those who disagree with us, who ignore us, who confront us or who find us disagreeable and tell us so.

But Jesus tells us that these are the people whom we must love.

Loving as Jesus Loved

Jesus was not all talk. Indeed, he invited us not just to listen to his words and consider their wisdom, but to follow him. “Love one another – how? – as I have loved you” (Jn 13:34). He’s our model. He showed us how to love our enemies.

And how did Jesus do that? Show that love? He suffered on the Cross not just for the immaculate Mary of Nazareth but for the sinner Mary Magdalene; not just for the beloved disciple but for the apostate apostle Judas; not just for the women who wept as he passed on his way to Calvary but for the men who jeered him as he hung in agony. His love was for the outcast lepers as well as for the socially acceptable Martha, Mary and Lazarus, for the self-righteous Pharisee in the temple as well as for the repentant tax collector at the customs house. His love was for Herod who sought to kill him as an infant as well as for the shepherds who came to adore him as a newborn.^[1]

If we ask, did Jesus really love Herod, who sought to kill him and beheaded his cousin John the Baptist? Did he love Pilate and his tormentors? The answer must be “yes, indeed.” To some, of course, this kind of love seems unreasonable, even wrong, or perhaps only possible for Jesus but not us.

We Were the “Enemy”

But if we look more closely at who Jesus loved we should also see ourselves. The enemy is not just “out there.” It is right here, with me, within me. We have been made friends of God, first freely offered that friendship in Baptism as a gift purchased at a price. Why, then, should we love our enemies? The words of St. Paul help us answer this: “While we were still sinners/enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son” (cf. Rom 5:10). I have seen the enemy – and the enemy is me. In a profound way, I am the “enemy” whom God has saved by his amazing grace.

That’s why the love of our enemies is possible. At the deepest level, we are all people in need of the divine mercy. The good Lord has befriended me, so must I befriend others.

Conclusion

Turning enemies into friends is what the Lord did for us and, as his followers, what we must do in turn. And no matter how often we fail in this, at least never let us give up trying to follow the example of the One whose name we bear as Christians.

^[1] Cf. Walter J. Burghardt, Speak the Word with Boldness (New York: Paulist Press, 1994), 93.