Homily

One of the benefits of being administrator of the eparchy was that I was able to learn a great deal more about many of our parishes, and especially those in the Chicago area. And having that information gave me the opportunity to reflect, in a different way, on how our parish is doing. Our feast day is coming up this weekend and that also provides me with the opportunity to consider our parish life together.

So what is the nature of a parish? I think many people have kind of a business model in their heads when they think about the Church. They kind of see the pope as the CEO, and the Vatican as the head corporate office in Rome. Bishops are the middle-management guys, and parishes are like the local stores of the business, kind of like McDonalds, spread out here and there across the world, except with less French fries, and no drive-up window.

Here’s what the catechism says: “A parish is a definite community of the Christian faithful established on a stable basis within a particular church. The pastoral care of the parish is entrusted to a pastor as its own shepherd under the authority of the eparchial bishop. It is the place where all the faithful can be gathered together for the Sunday celebration of the Eucharist. The parish initiates the Christian people into the ordinary expression of the liturgical life: it gathers them together in this celebration; it teaches Christ’s saving doctrine; it practices the charity of the Lord in good works and brotherly love.”

Here’s what St. John Chrysostom says: “You cannot pray at home as you can at church, where there is a great multitude, where exclamations are cried out to God as from one great heart, and where there is something more: the union of minds, the unity of souls, the bond of charity, the prayers of the priests.”

It’s not in Rome, at the Vatican, where the real work of the Church is carried on, but rather it is in every parish. Because it is in the parish where children and adults are baptized and receive the gift of divine life. It’s in the parish where sins are pardoned and the faithful are nourished by the very Body and Blood of Christ our Lord, and the Christian people celebrate the greatest prayer of all, the Divine Liturgy. It is in the parish where the Word of God is proclaimed at every service and where the Faith is taught to the people. It is where the faithful have access to a priest to pray for them, console and encourage them, instruct and listen to them, anoint and bless them in the name of the Lord. The goal of every parish is to help every parishioner to become a saint, a holy man, woman and child.

Now on TV and in the movies priests are constantly saying things like “Bless you, my son,” and “Bless you, my child” and I have no idea where they get that baloney, but indeed priests are called to be spiritual fathers but not in the first place just because they are priests, but because they serve the faithful in a parish. They have a relationship to their people, not like a store manager with customers, but more like a father in a family. The benefit of a small parish like ours is that the people have easy access to their pastor, but, just like in a real family, sorry to say, you cannot choose your father. But most of you know that I’m not too very bad as long as I take my meds.

And then the catechism talks about charity. The parish is meant to be a place where charity lives and grows. So, it is about charity in the usual way people we use that term—helping those who are less fortunate or in trouble or need. The Houston Relief collection and the Clothes for Ukraine drive are examples of this. And on a more personal level there is a lot of charitable help that takes place between you, between one parishioner and another, helping each other out through gifts and work and prayer. There’s a lot of charitable work that goes on among you, much more than I know, and what a blessing that is for our parish.

More than that kind of charity there is charity in its deepest sense, which is love. Notice in the Liturgy how many times I say let us “commend ourselves, and one another to Christ our God.” Just before the Creed I say, “Let us love one another so that with one mind we may profess.” Of course, it’s not love as an emotional feeling but rather love as desiring the good for other people, for your fellow parishioners—wishing and praying and working for their good, for their benefit, for their welfare. We have a lot of that here. There hasn’t been a fist fight in church in over two years. But we could always have more. We could always seek to love each other a little better.

So I ask you, please, that this week every day, that you pray for our parish; for the parish as a whole, and for every member in it. Pray for the grace of God to come upon us; pray that we will be open to accepting that grace and putting it into practice; pray for those parishioners who have died in faith, for those who are ill, for those who are struggling, for an increase in faith and charity, and for the guidance of the Lord to show us what we should do and how we should do it. So I beg you again, please, every day this week pray for the good of your parish and all your fellow-parishioners, and your elderly pastor.

I am blessed to be here. May it always be the same for you.