From Archbishop Donoghue

Rosary Rally
October 27, 1996
Saint Catherine of Siena
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My brothers and sisters,

Practically from the first moments of the life of our Church, the Holy Catholic Church, her people have been engaged in various spiritual conversations with one another. And I am speaking not only of the great spiritual dialogues, personified in the lives and conversations of the saints, but also small things which we might not even consider - something say, as small and as seemingly mundane as a baptismal register. The Church is filled with the record of the words and deeds by which the followers of Christ have spoken and witnessed to one another - about their faith, about the trials of trying to live a life of faith, and about their hopes to win faith's reward - eternity spent in the loving embrace of God.

But what is truly amazing about this phenomenon, about this ongoing conversation which makes up our spiritual lives, and something that we don't often think about, since we are involved in the very act of doing it - what is amazing is that this great dialogue has no duplicate in human history. No other ideology, no other belief system, no other story in human history has remained as alive, as present, and as vital as the story of Christ, of His mother, of the apostles and martyrs, and of the holy men and women of all the ages of the Church - no other subject goes on being spoken and written about like this subject. And even though all the words that could be used to record the history of salvation, have indeed already been used, we somehow find a way, in our own time, to use them and speak them in new ways - and we remain profoundly interested in what these words say, and how they affect our lives and the life of the world we live in.

Of all the subjects that can be gleaned from just a simple examination of this story of our Catholic Faith, two stand out as paramount - both in their infinite "explorability" and in their immediate reality - the Presence of Christ, and the Presence of His mother. No two subjects have claimed more of the attention of believers down through the ages - no two ideas can match the endless importance of these two - of how Christ lives in His Church forever, and of how His mother forever stands at His side.

We know - because we have just reviewed them by way of reciting the Holy Rosary - we know that Jesus Christ came to earth to do definite and certain things - and we know that in every instance where He takes definite action to establish what will become the Church, the means of salvation in the world - at every instance, His mother is at His side or nearby. And it is our firm belief, that through our kinship with Mary, as human beings, we also can stand at His side or nearby, as the Lord passes by, and draws us along with Him.

With her, we hear the angel's greeting and feel the quickening of the Holy Spirit - With her we kneel at the manger, and adore the Man that God has become - with her, we pass along the ways of Christ's life-long journey - we come to the hill outside Jerusalem, and stand at her side, ready to help, as the Lord's body is lowered from the cross, anointed and laid in the tomb - and with her, we wait with absolute confidence the appearance of Christ Risen, of Christ triumphant, of Christ, the eternal King.

She is there when the Holy Spirit descends, and with the apostles she remains, as the Acts tell us, devoting herself, like them, to constant and steadfast prayer. And when she dies, Christ's promise of eternal life is so perfect in her own faith, that she is not delayed in her reward - bodily, the angels carry her to heaven, the first to be thus translated, and the proof of what we affirm for ourselves, when we say, I believe in the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come.

Dear friends, Mary's is the gift of the most perfect faith imaginable, but a faith which is within the grasp of men and women to attain. And it is summed up in what we believe about the Eucharist - about the real Presence of Jesus Christ - and about His present and actual meeting with us at the altar and in our everyday lives. For like Mary, we also are privileged to carry His Body within our own, every time we receive Holy Communion. And like Mary, we walk the paths of daily life at His side, eager to bless Him when favor falls our way, and eager to seek His assistance when life becomes, as it often does, this "exile," this "valley of tears."

Let us open ourselves now, brothers and sisters, to the grace which will pour forth upon our adoration during this Benediction - from the Body of Christ, and magnified in the glory which He accorded His Holy and Blessed Mother. And let us especially pray for those who have yet to enter into this true spiritual dialogue, this conversation of holiness which indeed makes up the lives of the saints, and which, we pray, may continue to make up the greater part of our lives as well.

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