Thursday of the 5th Week in Ordinary Time
Seek the City to Come, City-wide Mass
Basilica of the Assumption
February 8, 2024
Darkness of Despair to the Light of Hope
Several months ago, as we completed the listening phase, we joined together for an evening of prayer at the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen. That evening we gathered as God’s People, to give him thanks and praise for the blessings he has given us and to share with one another what we had heard across the many conversations we engaged in. That night began in darkness, a darkness pierced by the growing warmth of candlelight, as we were reminded in song that, “within our darkness God kindles a fire that never dies away”.
In these past months, guided by the light of the Spirit, we have engaged in a time of envisioning, an opportunity to consider together what could be, how is it that we can use the gifts God has given us so that his Presence might be better known and loved here in our City of Baltimore. Let me thank all of you most warmly for engaging in this phase, for your time, your honesty, and your openness.
As we gather tonight, we are filled with hope. God is not finished with us, God has not forsaken us, God has not abandoned us. While God’s love is ever constant, we are also aware that all things on the face of the earth are subject to change. Change is constant. In fact, the Scriptures readings of this Mass point to change – changes that are far reaching affecting vast numbers of people, and changes that are small, individual, personal.
Change can be traumatic as with Solomon and the punishment that he received, But change can also healing and restorative, as with the Syrophoenician woman in today’s Gospel.
Yes, change is constant, but constant too are God’s concern, care, and companionship. God is with us as we experience change, whether great or small. Aware of the hopes and challenges ahead of us, we turn together towards the Lord, crying out in the words of the Psalmist, “Remember us, O Lord, as you favor your people.” We do so with confidence, for we know that In Jesus Christ, the Psalmist’ prayer is answered. Without a doubt, God is with us as we “Seek the City to Come.”
God is with us
Gathered in the heart of the City, here in the Baltimore Basilica, here in our Nation’s First Cathedral, we are celebrating the Eucharist. In doing so, we are led to a core truth that is the Source of our Hope as together we “Seek the City to Come” … It is this: God is here … here with us.
God is present when his People gather in his Name. God is present and speaking to us through his living and effective Word. God is present in those he has called to minister in his Name. God is present—really, truly, substantially present in the Eucharist we celebrate. God is present here and now. God desires for us to encounter him and the power of his love and grace. God is at work and alive, capable of making all things new. Our mission is to bear witness to this truth to our neighbors throughout the City of Baltimore and its environs.
The road ahead has a goal: We are seeking God and the things of God; we are “Seeking the City to Come.” But we do this together as the communion of the Church, as God’s People. Together we share responsibility for the vitality of the Church, together we participate in the work of the Church, together we are on mission to announce to our City that God is here in our midst, yes, he is here in our City.
What is success?
I want to thank you yet again for your commitment and engagement in this process. So many of you have invested much time and effort in this important work. I am also keenly aware of the many demands placed on your time. In the face of which those demands, the last thing you might need is another meeting. My prayer is that this process, this synodal journey we are taking together, is not merely another meeting but truly a moment of renewal, a moment of grace to open ourselves anew to the amazing work that the Holy Spirit is empowering us to do here in this City and beyond.
But let’s be clear: if, at the end of these months, we have merely had more meetings and if we have merely produced yet another plan, then our time and effort will have been wasted. And if, at the end of the day, we have made hard decisions leading only to reorganization and managed decline, then all this has been in vain. I’m keenly aware that we can be tempted to see this process in that way. I’m equally aware that we can approach this process with a sense of fear, grief or despair when we think of what is to come.
But there is another way, another possibility. If we open our hearts to the power of the Spirit, and if we follow where the Spirit is leading us through the work of discernment we are doing together – then new life is possible, abundant new life in the Church throughout the City.
I believe that this process will have succeeded if we emerge with parishes where the whole of God’s People can live in communion with God and one another, where they can participate in the Church’s saving work expressed in faith, worship and service, and where they go out on mission to seek and to save the lost and the searching. This process will succeed if we are able to direct all of our energy, time, and resources not merely to preserving structures, but to serving people. This process will have succeeded when we see more and more of God’s children gathering on Sunday around the Table of the Lord, more and more of God’s people sharing in the Sacrifice of the Mass offered for the salvation of the world.
God is not finished with us yet. God is calling us, here and now, to respond to the needs around us, to the many material needs and the deep spiritual needs. God is inviting us to consider the possibility of something new.
Two suggestions for the road ahead
As we move into this final phase of Seek the City to Come, I would invite you to remain engaged, to continue participating in this process. In particular I would encourage you to do two things: First, participate in our Lenten Pilgrimage. You know, we all need a plan for Lent, that list of things we are going to give up or those good works we are going to take up. As part of that plan, include this Pilgrimage, opportunities to journey together in prayer, to grow in our love for and centering on the Eucharist, and beautiful occasions to experience the Church throughout the City in the rich diversity of her expressions.
The second is this: let us take care of one another. A most attractive sign of God’s presence is the love and concern we show to one another. So in the months ahead, let us strive to be ever more attentive to those around us, to their needs and concerns as well as to their gifts and blessings – and this includes not only members of our own parish communities but our sisters and brothers from across the city and its environs – so that we might emerge from this process ever more closely united by the bonds of charity, bound together by the love Christ has first lavished upon us.
So in these months ahead, rooted in the truth that God is here with us. Centered on our belief that Christ is present among us in this Eucharist, let us enter with open hearts to discern how we should move ahead, not only what we could do, but what we should do, as together, in the power of the Holy Spirit, we “Seek the City to Come”.