Bishop's Jubilee 2000 Mass Homily
SUPERIOR -- Welcome to everyone, to our diocesan jubilee celebration. This gathering gives all of us the opportunity to see ourselves in communion with each other, but also in communion with the universal church at this great time of jubilee. We need to gather as a diocese so that the 114 parishes -- parish communities in our 16 counties -- can experience the reality of being part of the larger community of parishes -- to see that our parishes are not islands unto themselves.
This jubilee, this holy year, is a wonderful time to do this. Members of our church family have come together this day from every parish, every corner of the diocese, and I believe that all of us hold in great esteem the liturgical life of our church. I trust also that each one of us is convinced that the preeminent manifestation of "church" is present in the full active participation of all of God's holy people in these liturgical celebrations. Especially on a day like today, when we unite in the same Eucharist, in a single prayer at one altar at which the bishop presides surrounded by his college of priests and by his ministers.
All of you are sitting too far away from me to recognize the little cross I'm wearing over my heart. And you probably didn't take a good look at the pastoral staff, the crosier, that I carried in the procession to the chair, the presider's chair, and then here to the pulpit -- the crosier I held in my hands during the proclamation of the Gospel. This little cross was a gift to the first bishop of the diocese, Augustine Schinner. It came from the people he served in Milwaukee at Ss. Peter and Paul Church. It was given to him when he was named bishop. The inscription, in Latin, is very clear. I wear it at Mass in the little chapel in the bishop's house where I pray for the entire diocese every time I approach that altar.
The crosier was a gift to that same bishop, Bishop Schinner, from the priests of this geographic area, carved out of the dioceses of La Crosse and Green Bay back in the year 1905. It was given to him on the occasion of his consecration and ordination as bishop on July 25th. Our jubilee celebration, this holy sacrifice of the Mass, in which I'm privileged to preside as the nineth bishop of this diocese, commemorates and celebrates 2000 years of Christ's presence in human history, and indeed we heard in the book of Leviticus, that a jubilee, a jubilee 2000, was a year of favor from the Lord and this day, this jubilee day that we celebrate as a church, is a day of favor from the Lord for us in a particular way.
Christianity, you know, has its starting point in the incarnation of the Word. God came in person. He came to speak to us of himself. He came to show us the path by which God may be reached. The incarnation of the Son of God attests that God goes in search of us and not the other way around. Jesus speaks of this search as the finding of the lost sheep. God has been poetically called the "Hound of Heaven." Through his Son, God wishes to persuade us to abandon all paths of evil. God wants us to remain on the right path to overcome the evil everywhere found in human history. God wants us to embrace the Paschal mystery, the redemption that was bought at great price, and to remind and respond in faith to God who reveals himself to us.
The chalice we are using in this Eucharist, that you will see on the altar, belonged to another predecessor or mine, Joseph Annabring. He was the seventh bishop. Most likely he used it when the City of Superior observed its 100th birthday on July 18th in 1954. That was an afternoon field Mass. It happened in center field in the Municipal Stadium. I have to admit, I'm not sure I know where that is. In his homily, he outlined the history of the church in northern Wisconsin. My reading of that homily helped me be mindful of all the good that has already been around for such a long time. Our Catholic history here has been in the making for three centuries.
When Pope St. Pius X erected our church here in 1905, virgin timbers had been whispering for nearly two and one-half centuries. The planting of the cross of Christ in the present territorial limits of this diocese. We have today a great deal for which to be grateful. All the love, the undaunted love, the sacrifices, the unremitting sacrifices that built this church in this area in which we live and carry on our great tradition. What about tomorrow, the future, the next steps on our journey of faith? The Gospel makes it clear -- go make disciples of all nations. Teach them to observe all that I have commanded you.
We indeed have a mission before us. We need to help build the kingdom of God among us. Our diocesan jubilee outreach project is a terrific example, an indication of the many ways all of our parishes, all of God's own people here will carry out this mission in weeks and months and the years ahead.
I call your attention, of course, to the location in the great hall, of these baskets carrying these symbols of projects. I remind you also that these projects are listed and explained in your worship booklet. You are all, each and every one of you to be congratulated. This is indeed a great expression of the life of our local church. In conclusion, all of us -- our important calling -- I remind us of that calling for the future and ask that that calling always be part and parcel of your lives. We are God's people.
The family of God, the new household of God, as Peter said in the second reading, they are invited to be living stones to be built into a spiritual house. Peter went so far as to give four titles of honor to indicate our unique dignity as part of that household. A chosen race -- basic to our Christian existence is our divine election. We are a community called a royal priesthood -- all of us are priests. Why? Because we all are on a mission to reconcile the world to Christ. We are all priests. Why? Because we all offer our central act of worship in which we offer Jesus and our very selves to the Father. A holy nation, consecrated to the Lord. Expected therefore to live always in a holy manner. And the most important in my mind, God's own people, a people of his own, ransomed not with perishable things, but with the precious blood of Christ God has bought us with the Blood of Christ.
Whether we like it or not, we belong to God. Why this calling? Why these fantastic titles? All these gifts that are given to us? Simply that we may proclaim the mighty acts God, who called us out of darkness into God's marvelous light. May God bless you and may this jubilee year be a time of special grace for each and every one of you, all your loved ones and family and friends. God bless you all.
© Superior Catholic Herald, 2000