The Sunday After Pentecost

Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity

June 7, 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

Matthew 28:16-20

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

            Every month the Anglican Use community in Boston includes in its newsletter profiles of a few of the more than 200 people beatified after their martyrdom in England.  Specifically, those martyrs all lost their lives during the English Reformation and after, especially under the reign of Queen Elizabeth I.  Many of them were priests whose names I saw engraved upon the walls of the Venerable English College in Rome, one of the seminaries at which these martyrs were trained before going home to minister as priests. These men knew what fate awaited them if they were caught, yet there never was a shortage of volunteers.  Almost certain death—that is, the most barbaric of executions—was no deterrent to their efforts to keep the faith alive in the land of their birth.

            These great sacrifices testify to the truth of St. Paul’s words that we heard from today’s Epistle.  St. Paul tells us that we are heirs with Christ of heaven above, “. . .provided we suffer with [Jesus] in order that we may also be glorified with him.” (Romans 8:17)  The English martyrs knew that if they hoped to enter heaven, if they hoped to gain their eternal inheritance, then they could not fear to suffer loss.  Moreover, they knew that those losses we suffer serve a purpose, and so those losses are a privilege, for they take place within the context of our proclamation of the Gospel, fulfilling Jesus’ call to “make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”

            Today we conclude our stewardship campaign and we will do so intentionally emphasizing the truth that the losses we suffer are a privilege, themselves given for the joy of having been appointed by Christ to participate in His mission of evangelization.  We are not yet called to suffer the loss of our lives here on earth, though circumstances could change in this regard.  No, we, rather, are called to suffer loss economically so that others may share in the riches of the Faith.  The luxuries we forego in order to proclaim the Gospel are reflected in the faces of the souls we win for Jesus Christ.

            Just as the English Martyrs saw their ministry and eventual martyrdom as an honor that had been bestowed upon them by Jesus Christ Himself; so I ask you to consider the honor we have been given in the formation of the St. Thomas More Society.  We have been blessed with the privilege of calling our separated brethren back into full communion with Holy Mother Church.  This call is intimately tied to the liturgy we are able to offer, our common experience as converts to the true faith, and the particular gifts we have to offer the Church because of our Anglican heritage.  Our pledges of support that we offer today must be seen in this light, not as a burden to be suffered, but as an opportunity to make a joyful sacrifice that brings life to the Church and issues in eternal life for each of us.

            The basis, naturally, for seeing these necessary sacrifices as a privilege is the virtue of love. The truth of the Trinitarian nature of God reveals to us that God is love and that from this love proceeds life, the life by which we were created, the life by which we have been redeemed and the life that continues to sustain us each day of our lives.  We proclaim this love as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and if we hope to share eternally in it, this love must be reflected in what we do, the sacrifices we make to bring the light of truth to those living in darkness.

            Jesus, before His ascension into heaven, reminded us that we are called to convert the nations, teaching them to observe all that Jesus has commanded, as we heard in today’s Gospel.  But He was sure also to remind us that the impetus for such work comes from making Him the object of our love.  Speaking to Peter on the beach, He asked the first Vicar of Christ if he loved Him and insisted that the natural outgrowth of such love for Jesus is the feeding and tending of Christ’s flock.  If the object of our love is Jesus, then it will be manifested in caring for those whom Jesus has appointed to our care.

            So many parishes today do not know whom they have been called to serve.  They do not know where their focus should be, how their love for Jesus should be manifested in the world. We have been blessed in that, like the English Martyrs five centuries ago, we know that our love for Jesus is to issue in reconciling people to Holy Mother Church.  Our particular call, though not exclusively, is to those who share our patrimony.  We know whom we are supposed to tend. We know whom we are supposed to feed.  We know who is supposed to benefit from our love for Jesus.  It is therefore natural that we should see this call as a privilege, as a special appointment given to us by God Himself.

            Though we have done much in the last four and a half years, I am certain that our work is not done, and it is clear that Bishop Martino does not believe our work is done, either, when we consider his kind nurturing of our mission.  By God’s providence, we who are Anglican Use Catholics find ourselves on the cusp of big changes for our mission both locally and nationally.  Even as the bishop discerns where we will be able to make our permanent home and end our nomadic existence, so the Bishop of Rome, our Holy Father, discerns how to respond to the request of an unprecedented number of Anglicans who desire union with the Holy See.  The support our ministry receives thus has implications for outside the city of Scranton.  The love we share by our sacrifices impacts many we do not even know.

            Today, as you offer your pledge, I want you to think about those people you do not know, people who because of our witness are being drawn into full communion with the Church.  I ask you to consider the glory yet to be revealed to them and how much you want them to receive it.  I plead with you to love them, for it is only by your sacrificial generosity that we are able to answer as a community the summons issued in the Great Commission.  Only by your gifts can we sustain and grow this ministry that in the past four years has reconciled to Holy Mother Church more people than any other parish in the Diocese of Scranton. That is something pretty special, and it is our mission from God.  By your love for God, make it prosper.