Cardinal Edwin F. O’Brien – Thoughts on Our Church

For in this Mass, we invoke the Holy Spirit not only to help us attain our goals and to overcome our fears, but indeed to keep us focused on the one thing necessary for authentic priestly formation.

In this way, we are true to the love we see on the face of Santo Niño and the still greater love to which the Cross of Magellan witnesses – that love in which we share most fully on earth in the Eucharist.

The charity, unity, and fraternity for which the family of the Knights of Columbus is known were evident not only in your wonderful hospitality but especially in the works of faith and charity that you, the Knights of Columbus in the Philippines, are engaged in.

To decide for Christ is not merely a matter of adopting new rules of conduct. No, it means opening our hearts to Christ in the power of the Spirit, so much so that we can say with St. Paul, “It is not I who live but Christ who lives in me!”

Let us pray to the Holy Spirit as we seek to be renewed as missionary disciples. Like Ezekiel, let us pray that the Spirit would resurrect us in our dryness and heeding the voice of Jesus in the Gospel, let us pray for charity – love of God and neighbor, a charity that evangelizes, a charity that bears witness to Jesus Christ our King, living and reigning with God the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God forever and ever. Amen.

And so, the Lord promises us that he himself would take care of his people. He himself would shepherd his people. And he promises also that he would send shepherds after his own mind and after his own heart. Today, we celebrate the feast day of one of those shepherds after the mind and the heart of God — namely, Pope St. Pius X.

Like Pope St. Pius X, who worked tirelessly for the Lord and the Church, you and your colleagues work from sunup to sundown, and you work in a very special part of the Lord’s vineyard. While the Lord looks with love on all that he has made, I think he has special love for those places on this earth where the poorest of the poor make their home.

Today’s Scripture readings teach us that only the food God gives satisfies our deepest hunger, namely, the longing of our heart for the living Presence of God within us, our longing to be loved, unconditionally and infinitely.

So in these days when the Supreme Knight and his family as well as yours truly, have the privilege of being with the family of the Knights of Columbus here in the Philippines, let us ask for the grace to be renewed, endlessly, in the love God has for us his people, and within “the big tent” of his love, find our path to holiness, apostolic fruitfulness, and joy.