2nd Sunday of Easter
Project Rachel Conference Closing Mass
April 12, 2024
A Mission of Encouragement
At the start, let me say what an honor it is for me to celebrate this closing Mass for this Project Rachel Conference. I am so glad you have come here to Baltimore, and I hope that these days have been fruitful for you in your vital work of healing those who live in the tragic wake of abortion. The work you do is truly one of bringing life out of death.
As a priest of many years, I know how deeply abortion wounds everyone involved, but I also know how powerful it is when those who have been involved in abortion come to experience the grace that is stronger than sin and the love that is stronger than death. Your ministry reflects the loving gaze of mercy that Christ came to show on the face of the earth. The work you do extends the victory of Christ’s Resurrection, his triumph over the forces of sin and death. Standing here this morning, I first and foremost want to encourage you and offer you my heartfelt thanks for what you do day in and day out.
You Will Not Be Able to Destroy Them
In our first reading today, we once again see the Sanhedrin at work, seeking to snuff out this renegade band of upstarts that has arisen in their community. Try as they may, they cannot stop them. This new and growing community of believers seems to speak and act with a power beyond their own human capacities. Today, a member of the Sanhedrin, a Pharisee named Gamaliel, approaches the situation differently, shifting the approach that they will take. His reflection is as simple as it is deep, and like many such thoughts, contains a wisdom for the ages. In effect, he says: ‘If this is of God, we cannot stop it, and even if we could, we would not want to put ourselves in opposition to God’s will. If it is not of God, it will die out, as all purely human things do.’
Considering the cultural landscape of our own time, aware as we are of its lights and shadows, there can be a tendency for us to become discouraged perhaps even to despair. While we recognize many good and beautiful things, we also see, and see firsthand in the work that you do, the strong hold of the culture of death, that devalues, even denies, the infinite dignity of each and every human life . . . a culture that endlessly proposes the lie that choosing to extinguish life will make women free or save them from pain, all the while ignoring the enduring and often crippling anguish that these same women experience for years to come.
Tempted as we may be to give in to discouragement, the wisdom of Gamaliel offers us a source of encouragement. If something is of God it lasts; if something is of man it fades away. The truth and love of the Gospel of Life is of God; the lies of the culture of death are not. The Promise of life will endure; the false promise of death will not, in the end, endure. Naturally we also realize that we live in that space of “already, but not yet”. God’s victory has been won, but that victory is not yet extended in every time and place. In this painful gap, we can be tempted to doubt how things will turn out, where things will go. In the light of the Resurrection, let us never forget that God has one and will ever win. “Death is swallowed up in victory.” And so, take heart while you are in the world, for Christ has overcome the world with the enduring power of his Cross and Resurrection.
What Good Are These for So Many?
Even as we stand in the light of the Resurrection, we recognize how great are the needs of those we are privileged to serveand those to whom we would want to minister, if only we could. Often those engaged in ministries such as yours –as well as other works of healing and mercy – can struggle when they consider the vast ocean of need on the one hand, and the limited resources of time, talent, and treasure to meet those needs on the other. Sadly this can often lead those who give themselves generously to works such as Project Rachel to experience a sense of burnout, a feeling that they have nothing left to give, no more gas in the tank.
If we are honest, we would all say that have all found ourselves in that spot, or at least near it, at some point or another. And so today I hope we can find a source of encouragement in today’s Gospel.
Looking out at the crowd who have come to hear Jesus and have now grown hungry, the disciples question how they will be able to feed such a vast number. Spying a boy in the crowd with five loaves and two fish, Andrew says words that we might find ourselves saying, “What good are these for so many?” The needs are abundant, and the resources are scarce. Left on our own, running under our own power, and seeking only after our own schemes – this is certainly true. How will I be able to do what I have to do? What good is the little we have to offer for so many?
But then Jesus comes in and tells them to have the people recline. Jesus invites them to take the posture for a dining, as if to say, I can take what you give me, little as it is, and make it something greater—so lay back and prepare for the feast! The need is great, but greater still is the Providence of God. So we as we prepare ourselves for this great Feast, where once again the Lord takes what we offer, meager though it is, and transforms it into an abundance beyond our imagining, let us ask for the grace to stay close to him, to bring our needs to him, to free ourselves from the temptation to self-sufficiency, to recognize our dependence on him, but to trust in the abundant providence of the Father who loves us.
The work is so very important. The ministry is so very challenging. The needs are many. But as you leave here take heart: This is God’s work. It will endure. God can take the love and goodness you offer to those who need his healing and multiply that in abundance –such that many may once again know the love and mercy of God. Christ is risen! Alleluia!