From Archbishop Donoghue

Wednesday of the 23rd Week of Ordinary Time

Mass for the Missionaries of Charity
September 10, 2003

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Dear Sisters, and Dear Friends in Christ,

When our Lord spoke out from the mountain, and announced His teaching on the law and the prophets, His teaching on the way people should live their lives, people heard words that went against almost everything they were used to thinking - not only because of their history or culture, but because of sheer common sense. Who wants to be hungry, who want to be poor, who wants to grieve and weep, and be an outcast? Who wants to love their enemies?

This was shocking language then, and it is shocking language now. The world we live in, of course, has very little use for the rules given by our Lord. Our world is obsessed with possessing, with the delights of the table and glass, and laughter and a good time are the products offered by innumerable successful and beloved enterprises and businesses. Our Lord was counter-cultural in His own time, and He is counter-cultural now.

But even for Catholic priests and sisters, and for all who are trying to lead a life like our Lord wants us to lead, these words are still very difficult, very provoking, and a measure against which we do not always stand up very well. For when our Lord tells us to be hungry, to be poor, to weep, and to love our enemies, He is also saying that we should not be satisfied, that we should not be secure, that we should not be comfortable in our habits, or presume that we are safe behind our well locked doors. And yet, as good as we try to be, all of us at times are self-congratulatory, at ease with our lives, and proud in believing that we have done all that we could, and the rest is up to God.

But we cannot surrender to even these seemingly harmless feelings of pride or security. Why? Because when our Lord tells us that it is blessed to be poor, to be hungry, to weep and to love our enemies, He is reminding us of the essential division of Original sin - the void that has been left in our natures when they were split asunder from the nature of God by man's first sin. Baptism sets us on the road to find God again, and our Lord is present with us, in His Spirit, and in His Eucharistic body to lead us on the way - but nothing can hide the fact, that in our hearts and souls, there is a great void, which will only be filled when we are reunited to that love which created us in the first place - the love which is God the Father in Heaven. To feel in any way that we are satisfied on our own - to feel in any way that we have a natural right to be filled, to be completely happy, t have everything we want - is to deny the reality of God, with whom we cannot be fully united while we live on earth. And to feel that anything here on earth is enough to satisfy us, is to deny the greatest expression of love that God has ever given of Himself - the person of His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. We cannot really know our Lord, and we cannot come to God, unless we always remember to be hungry, to be poor, to be sorrowful for what we have lost, and above all, to love others in the same way that God loves us - with our whole heart, soul, and mind.

Yesterday was the feast of one of the greatest of the missionary servants of God, St. Peter Claver, who left the security of his home in Spain, and as a Jesuit, chose to minister to men and women who were among the most miserable of their time - African slaves who had just been forcibly ripped from their homes, transported in the most terrible conditions to the New World, and from the slavery blocks of South America, had only endless labor and misery on the sugar cane plantations of the New World, to look forward to for the rest of their lives. Peter Claver heard what our Lord said, and he chose hunger, he chose poverty, he chose weeping, and most of all, he chose to be an example to the enemies of love, to carry out his ministry, and to live the vocation that God had given him.

May we too, in whatever way the Lord has led us to, understand, even as we are tempted to feel good about ourselves, that we are missionaries, and that in some fashion, we must choose poverty and unconditional love, if we are to be true to our Lord, and to His Holy Spirit, who governs the work we do. And let us always remember, that in the end, our Lord held nothing back in the sacrifice He made for our sakes, giving not only His life, but every ounce of suffering that He could endure, to give that life for our sake. We cannot live up to that standard - that is for sure - but we can keep His loving and suffering face, before our eyes, and in our hearts, no matter what works we accomplish, no matter what remains for us to do, and no matter what the world thinks about us. For this is what our Lord tells us:

Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude and insult you, and denounce your name as evil on account of the Son of Man. Rejoice and leap for joy on that day! Behold, your reward will be great in heaven.

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