The Fifth Sunday After the Epiphany

February 8, 2009

Homily for the Anglican Usage Mass

of the

St. Thomas More Society

celebrated at

St. Anthony of Padua Roman Catholic Church , 1013 Wood Street

Scranton, PA

Mark 1:29-39

            In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.  Amen

            If Jesus has healed you, show your appreciation to Him and to His followers.  This is the first message of the Gospel we heard this morning.   Jesus entered Peter’s house and found his mother-in-law ill with a fever.  Jesus addressed the situation by healing her, taking her by the hand and literally lifting her up.  Her response to this act of kindness was to serve Him and Peter and Andrew and James and John.  Peter’s mother-in-law showed her appreciation for Jesus by serving Him and His followers.

            We in the St. Thomas More Society see this dynamic in action on a regular basis.  We have learned that people from near and far are grateful for the ministry we offer to them and all others we serve.  So this month we have been the beneficiaries of two gifts.  In one case, a family from New York purchased torches for us to use in our procession.  In another, a family from Canada bought us a ciborium from which one day soon I will administer Holy Communion to the faithful.  In both instances, these people have seen fit to show their appreciation for what Jesus is doing through us by ministering to His followers in the St. Thomas More Society.

            Later this month, my wife and I will do the same thing.  That is, we will show our appreciation for the ministry of a man who has been of great benefit to the promotion of the Anglican Use.  Last year, Deacon Jeffrey Steenson, formerly the Episcopal Bishop of the Rio Grande, accepted an invitation to be one of the speakers at the 2008 Anglican Use Conference in San Antonio, Texas.  His talk was very well received and drew attention to the Pastoral Provision, the gift from Pope John Paul II that allows men like me to be ordained Catholic priests.  On February 21, Deacon Steenson will be ordained to the Catholic priesthood, and Kristina and I will be there in New Mexico to show our appreciation for his ministry to us.

            While we are there, we will not have to rent a car or pay to stay overnight in a hotel.  We will not have to hail a cab to take us to and from the airport, either.  You see, there is in Albuquerque another Pastoral Provision priest, Fr. Jeff Whorton, his wife Susan and their five children.  Two and a half years ago our Society helped the Whortons come visit us in Scranton, where they heard the late Avery Cardinal Dulles speak to the 2006 Anglican Use Conference.  Before that, Jeff and I had had many conversations on the phone and even in person as he discerned his call to the priesthood.  He was ordained a Catholic priest last year.  So when Kristina and I go out to New Mexico, Fr. And Mrs. Whorton will show their appreciation for our ministry to them by serving as our hosts.  Just as Jesus took care of Peter’s family and Peter’s family took care of Jesus in return, so Fr. Whorton will take care of my family in gratitude for how we once cared for him.

            Even so, we did not help Fr. Whorton and his family with the expectation that he might one day in the future pay us back.  Rather, our outreach to him and others like him is based on our gratitude for what Jesus has done for us.  We know full well that many of the people we aid will only be able to show us appreciation through their prayers, but this does not inhibit us in the least.  We do not do good works with the expectation of payment.  We do good works in thankfulness for God’s goodness to us.

            Most of the good we do is here in Scranton.  From the Rosaries we pray on behalf of the unborn to the Daily Mass we offer, to the Christian education we provide to young and old alike, the bulk of our mission and ministry is fulfilled close to home.  Indeed, for every gift we receive from people hundreds of miles away, we get five times the amount from people in our own back yard.  Just this past week, a local benefactor sent us a check for $1,000.

            This being the case, however, when we look at today’s Gospel, we see that Jesus sought to expand the scope of His ministry beyond the local folks who already knew Him.  His healing power brought Him instant fame so that people from the surrounding area came seeking to benefit from Him.  Peter tells Jesus in the Gospel today, “Everyone is searching for you.”  Jesus’ response should catch our attention.

            Rather than simply minister to the people who could present themselves to Him because they had heard about the miracles He had performed, Jesus insists that He and His disciples leave and go on to the next town.  He says that He must preach there, also for that is why He came.  Jesus was not content for the scope of His ministry to be confined to that corner of Galilee where He performed His first miracles.  Instead, He encouraged His own followers to think of all those from other communities who were just as much in need of the Gospel as was Peter’s mother-in-law.

            No Catholic mission is complete then, if it focuses only on people in the immediate vicinity.  The scope of every Catholic mission must encompass people from both near and far, people who we know and do not know, family members and strangers, people who will demonstrate their appreciation, and people who might not even say thank you.  If we content ourselves to reach out only to those right here in our back yard, then we will not be reaching everyone God intends us to reach, for we will not have adopted the same strategy for evangelism that Jesus Himself modeled for us.  That is why we helped people like Fr. Jeff Whorton in the first place.  And that’s why we are going to New Mexico next week.

            The conferences we have hosted and the travels we have undertaken have brought us a certain notoriety.  We expected as much because, after all, Jesus’ fame grew as He fulfilled His intention to preach in the other villages throughout Galilee and Judea.  What we do not know is exactly whom our ministry will reach.  We do what God desires us to do and then wait to see where He will send us.  This past week I received inquiries about the Pastoral Provision and the Anglican Use from people in New York, Virginia, California, and New Zealand, among other places.  That’s right, I said New Zealand—word of what we are doing through and for Jesus literally has spread half way around the world.

            What then are the implications for each of us?  First of all, make sure you show appreciation for what Jesus has done for you by ministering to His followers. This spirit of gratitude, exemplified by Peter’s mother-in-law, is contagious, and our expressions of gratitude are proclamations of the Gospel—every truly good work points to Him who is the source of all that is Good.  Second, always look for how you might expand the scope of your good works, your acts of gratitude for all Jesus has done for you.  Focus not only on those who present themselves to you for help.  Also seek out those from far away who might hear about the Church only because of what a few people in Scranton have undertaken.  When the second collection for the Church in Eastern Europe comes around, give to it, even as you drop something in the local Birthright basket each week.   If the Church must maintain its focus both locally and distantly, so each member of the Church must remember his brothers near and far.

            Finally, pray.  Between the miracles and the missionary journeys to other towns, our Gospel today tells us that Jesus got up before everyone else, went to a lonely place, and prayed.  It was here that He heard God’s call of how He was to serve.  It is in prayer that we too will learn what mission we are to undertake—how we are to show our appreciation and where we are to go to do it.  It may just be that Jesus wants to use us to call people in New Zealand!