Homily

One positive element of being Administrator of the Eparchy of St. Nicholas in Chicago has been the chance to learn some new things. For example, I learned that Chicago really is the Windy City. And, although from the sidewalk it may look as though many people are driving under the influence the truth is that they are just trying to avoid enormous potholes in the street. I am a member of the eparchy’s College of Consultors, a small group of priests chosen by the bishop to be his advisors. And I learned, when these priests elected me as Administrator, that they were smarter than me.

In the beginning the mail kept coming in addressed to Bishop Richard Seminack, which is only natural, of course. Then, after a month or so, it started coming in addressed to “Archbishop William Skurla, Administrator of St. Nicholas Eparchy.” I soon figured out that someone at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops had made a mistake. Archbishop Skurla is the Metropolitan Archbishop of Pittsburgh for the Ruthenian Byzantine-rite Catholic Church and he had also been named Administrator of the Ruthenian Eparchy of Parma, Ohio, when that bishop resigned. Someone in Washington must have put him down also as administrator in Chicago, or was it evidence of a hostile takeover by the Ruthenian Church, just like the Russians in East Ukraine? I was sure they would fix this mistake, but after two months I finally called to get it done.

But I started to notice that in every article I read about our eparchy I was never named as the Administrator—not even in our own newspaper, The New Star. In December, one day the rector of the cathedral said, “I will see you Wednesday night.” “Why, what is happening on Wednesday night?” I learned then that the Ukrainian Credit Union, Self-Reliance, holds a big Christmas dinner every year and they invite all the clergy from all the Ukrainian churches in the Chicago area. Except me.

When Bishop Benedict was named a week and a half ago I wanted to look up his biography, and I looked at the entry for the Ukrainian Catholic Church on Wikipedia. There they had a list of all the Metropolitans and Bishops of our Church around the world. I noticed in Ukraine another eparchy was being run by a priest, and it said, “Reverend So & So, Administrator.” I felt like we were brothers. Then I got to the Chicago eparchy. All it said was “Vacant.” Vacant? I was like the Invisible Man. So, I asked the Lord, “Is all this happening to keep me humble?” And the lord said unto me, “Do you see that problem and that problem and that problem and that problem? That is all you need to keep you humble.”

But in a different place, doing a different job, it does give me a different perspective. I went to the Christmas party luncheon that the Senior Adults’ Club of the cathedral holds every year and about 30 older parishioners attended. So I made sure that I spent some time introducing myself and talking a little bit with all of them before sitting down at the head table. I enjoyed meeting them. The next day one of the secretaries at the cathedral told me, “You were a big hit at the Seniors’ party yesterday.” And I thought, “Why? All I did was say the opening prayer.” Then I realized, it was going around the tables to meet all of them. It was that little bit of time spent in listening and talking with them. It was recognizing them as individuals and not just part of a group. It was a way to show they mattered as people with names, and faces, and identities, not just part of a crowd. It was a very simple thing for me to do, but it was an important little gesture for them. To be seen, to be noticed, to be thought of, to spend a few minutes with each. It mattered.

To be noticed, to be seen, to be thought of, to be considered to have some importance, to be listened to and spoken to—these things matter to all of us. But in the greatest of all notices, and thoughts and attention paid to; in the greatest example of respect and dignity and importance—this is found in the fact that Christ loves me, and not as a part of the sea of humanity, but as me, all by myself. He loves me not because I am Administrator, or pastor, or because of anything I do or say. In fact, He loves me despite some the things I do or say. He loves me for me, and so much so that He shares His own divine life with me, whenever I allow it to enter in. I suspect so often we are tempted to think, somehow, that Jesus loves me as part of the crowd, a member of the Church, as a member of humanity, because why else would He have any reason to care for me alone, individually. I have never done anything deserving of His individual attention. True enough. And yet He still loves me no less than anyone else on the face of the earth. That kind of undeserved attention is difficult to understand, and even difficult to accept, and yet He says it is true. So, despite all my natural inclinations, I believe it, even though it is difficult to believe and therefore often forgotten.

So how do I respond to that kind of love and attention? You know I believe that is part of the rejection or neglect of Christ in our society. His attention calls for some kind of response and that gets in the way of what our worldly masters tell us is important. Not love, but sex. Not humility, but fame. Not service, but pleasure. Not others, just self. When Christ shows us His great and loving attention, we cannot serve other masters and also love Him. So, I believe, many today will deny Him, or ignore Him, pursuing what is not Him, and trying to delight in the attention they focus on themselves. It can be easier to believe that I can get others to love and respect me than to believe that Christ loves and respects me.

We are here today because faith tells us that Christ is Risen, risen for us, but also and equally true, risen for me, and for you, and you, and you. In response, our faith and our love for Him may only move along inch by inch, each time we come to Liturgy, each time we pray, each time we sacrifice or do good in this world. But better we draw closer to Him inch by inch rather than trying to create our own world of self-importance. Because if we keep moving toward Him, even inch by inch, we will end up, sooner or later, totally in His loving care.