Votive Mass of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church
Deacon Convocation
Turf Valley
October 21, 2023
Introduction
In the course of ministry, we are blessed to meet people of amazing faith and hope. Sometimes we meet them in hospitals and nursing homes, people who remain faithful and joyful amid suffering and decline. We encounter people of faith and hope in pastoral settings where they confide to us heartrending problems and challenges, all the while seeking a path forward, a path of healing and hope. Many of us have met veterans who rescued fellow soldiers and civilians in harm’s way, even when there seemed to be little or no chance of survival. We can say that these people, like Abraham, believed, hoping against hope.
What of us who are gathered together this morning in convocation? Through the Church’s sacramental life, we share in the Lord’s victory over sin and death. We are called to holiness. We are called to specific vocations: marriage and family, the diaconate, the priesthood and episcopate. We’ve been formed by the Church and are deeply involved in the Church’s life. We are called to be witnesses of Christ so as to bear witness to Christ. Indeed, we are called to be Heralds of Christ!
Hoping Amid Present Challenges
Yet, as we know, it isn’t always easy to be heralds of Christ. Yes, we do meet people of amazing faith and hope, but we also meet people who are perplexed and angry. Even prescinding from the challenges the Church is facing, especially locally, we and those we serve inhabit a polarized, angry, unforgiving culture. Whether we like it or not, this cultural environment can affect us and find its way into the life of the Church.
But let us not prescind from the challenges we are facing locally, as the nightmare of clerical sexual abuse continues to unwind before the eyes of all, including faithful Catholics, and a skeptical world. This ongoing scandal has caused many to leave the Church or at least to stop coming to Mass on Sunday. It has undermined the Church’s credibility in the minds of many.
And the temptation is to say, “Let the storm pass.” “People’s attention span is short. They’ll soon move on to something else. Then we can evangelize, catechize, and make disciples….” Or we might say: “This just isn’t the time to be talking about the Church’s mission or asking our people to support it, or saying anything at all that might seem to be controversial or countercultural.” Underlying that attitude might be our own anger and dismay. But it is dangerous to give in to this temptation. Because there will always be some excuse not to proclaim the Name above every name.
In the Gospel from St. Luke, Jesus warns against blaspheming the Holy Spirit. And we may say to ourselves, “I would never do that!” But it is not for nothing that Jesus addresses these words to us today. Giving into our doubts, anger, and excuses stretches out over time, such that we never get around to extending the Church’s mission beyond those who continue to come to Mass on Sunday. And that is how we can block out the missionary impulse of the Holy Spirit. That is how we can sadden the Spirit and ultimately blaspheme him.
The Faith of Abraham and Mary
In describing Abraham’s faith, St. Paul adds the phrase, “hoping against hope”. Abraham continued to believe in God and in the promises of God, even when the fulfillment of those promises seemed impossible – He reached old age without an heir and when God gave him and Sarah a son, God seemed to ask Abraham to sacrifice him… Even in that pivotal moment, Abraham responded with the obedience of faith.
This Votive Mass of the Blessed Virgin Mary also reminds us of the purity and strength of Mary’s faith. Kept free from original sin and remaining sinless throughout her life, Mary, it is said, conceived the Word of God in her heart before she conceived him in her womb, by the power of the Holy Spirit. Yet, Mary’s faith, again and again, was put to the test. We have only to think of what she must have experienced at the foot of the Cross as her Son, sacrificed for our sake, poured out his life. Mary, Abraham’s truest daughter, believed, truly hoping against hope!
In Season and Out of Season
This is the faith to which you and I are heirs by Baptism. This is the faith that you and I are called to proclaim, whether in season or out of season, whether convenient or inconvenient. There is no time, place, or situation where it is inappropriate to be heralds of Christ: “Jesus Christ the same: yesterday, today, and forever!”
Either Christ has conquered every sin and every form of evil or he hasn’t. Either his grace is sufficient for us or it isn’t. Either we believe when it is difficult to believe and hope when it is difficult to hope – or we don’t. Heralds of Christ hold out the light of Christ like a lamp shining in a dark place. Heralds of Christ who reflect the faith of Abraham, Sarah, and the Blessed Virgin.
Gathered in convocation, as we renew the promises made on ordination day, let us take heart from faith of those who have gone before us, let us find our joy in the Person of Christ whose heralds we are, and then let us engage those around us with gentle but persistent persuasion, not so much by what we say but especially by what we do, especially by an unfailing charity that bears witness to the One who definitely revealed the God who is love.
Mary, Mother of the Church, pray for us!