Bishop O'Connell's homily for the 23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time in St. Mary of the Assumption Cathedral, Trenton
July 29, 2019 at 12:37 p.m.
Following is the homily that Bishop David M. O’Connell, C.M.’s preached on Sept. 7 in St. Mary of the Assumption Cathedral, Trenton. The bishop celebrated the Mass for the 23 rd Sunday in Ordinary Time and was also part of a diocesan response to the Holy Father’s call to observe the Day of Prayer and Fasting in Syria.
In our first reading today from the Book of Wisdom, the sacred author puts into the mouth of King Solomon a question: “Who can know God’s counsel, or who can conceive what the Lord intends?” This question we have all asked God at one time or another: “what do you intend; what is it that you want?” Yes, we faithfully pray in the “Lord’s Prayer” --- perhaps several times a day --- “your will be done on earth as it is in heaven,” but what are we praying for? What is God’s “will”?
Our Catholic faith tells us that we can find God’s will in his Word, interpreted by the Church; God’s will can also be found in the teachings of the Church and its rich tradition as well as in the guidance given by those responsible for teaching, sanctifying and leading the community of faith. God’s will is also revealed in quiet prayer. Still, at other times, the circumstances of our lives are so clear that God’s will becomes quite apparent without much effort.
It is not difficult for the human mind to discern that the indiscriminate taking of someone else’s life is wrong. We can say that here in Trenton as we have witnessed murder upon murder in our streets and homes during the past few months.
Shocking. Senseless. Tragic. The blatant disregard for life that seems more and more to characterize not only urban communities but rural ones as well --- schools, churches, shopping malls, parking lots, city streets, country roads. We ask ourselves “when and where will it end?” I believe we should first ask, rather, “when and where did it begin?” And, how? Why?
Social scientists and psychologists may be quick to give an answer, a reason for the taking of life we see all around us, blaming the economy, social unrest, drug transactions gone bad, hatred among the races, membership in gangs, carelessness or, as we heard in the murder of an Australian student in Oklahoma, boredom, the “thrill” of simply killing someone. Perhaps you ask yourselves as I frequently do, “what kind of world do we live, where human life means so little to so many?” When and where will it end? When and where did it begin?
If human society shows little regard for the child in the womb, for the sick and elderly, for those who look differently or think differently or even pray differently among us, can we reasonably expect that between the vulnerable womb and the crowded nursing home, that people for whom life holds precious little meaning here and now will ever really care about the life that occurs in between? When murder becomes a right or a choice or a law or a response to boredom, can we honestly be surprised that individual attitudes grow into communal attitudes, infecting whole societies and nations? It all begins in the human heart.
God is the author and creator of life. He gives the human heart, its first beat. He gives the human mind, its first thoughts. He gives the human eyes their first glimpse of the world he created. He gives the human soul, its first desire to live. Do you want to know his will? He has already told us clearly and directly in the Fifth Commandment that we learned as children: “Thou shall not kill.” If we recklessly ignore that commandment from God or, worse, intentionally abandon it and act to the contrary, what is left for us to heed or obey or follow? Jesus proclaimed in the Gospel, “I have come that you may have life to the full (John 10:10). Where there is no peace, there soon will be no life.
Responding to the unconscionable use of chemical weapons by the government of Syria against its own people --- the evidence of which we have seen with our own eyes across our television screens --- our Holy Father Pope Francis has urged us to pray for peace, to pray and fast on this day, September 7, in solidarity with the people of Syria and with our brothers and sisters of good will throughout the world. Where there is no peace, there soon will be no life! As your Bishop, I bring his invitation to you and ask you to join in prayer this day and throughout the days ahead for lasting peace in Syria, throughout the Middle East where the Prince of Peace was born, and throughout the world.
In these days, the leaders of our nation --- our President and our Congress --- indeed the leaders of our world are contemplating a response to the willful, senseless tragedy in Syria. Tonight we pray that God might give them the “wisdom of Solomon” to discern and ask themselves on behalf of the people of Syria, on behalf of the people of the world, “what the Lord intends.” Over Syrian 100,000 lives have already been lost, sacrificed to the insanity and injustice of human destruction and civil war there. Where there is no justice, there is no peace. Where there is no peace, there soon will be no life!
Our Holy Father Pope Francis, Jesus Christ’s own vicar on earth and Shepherd of the Catholic Church, has asked for an end to violence, making a “heartfelt appeal” to our leaders, here and throughout the world, “to help find ways to overcome the conflicting positions and to lay aside the futile pursuit of a military solution,” urging them to seek the dialogue and reconciliation that will bring peace to Syria, now engulfed in civil war. He has encouraged us with all his heart to pray for peace.
Almost 70 years ago, the great Indian leader and philosopher Mahatma Gandhi prophesied that “an eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind.” Without sight, we cannot find the path to peace. And, so, tonight, we place our prayers for peace at this altar, at the feet of the Lord Jesus, Prince of Peace, who calls us together, who spoke in Gospel of John, “Peace I leave you, my peace is my gift to you (John 14:27)” --- peace that the world alone cannot give ---and who reminded us who follow him by his words, by his actions, by his life, “I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have trouble. But take heart and have courage. I have overcome the world (John 16: 33).” May we all be “instruments of his peace (Prayer of St. Francis).
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Following is the homily that Bishop David M. O’Connell, C.M.’s preached on Sept. 7 in St. Mary of the Assumption Cathedral, Trenton. The bishop celebrated the Mass for the 23 rd Sunday in Ordinary Time and was also part of a diocesan response to the Holy Father’s call to observe the Day of Prayer and Fasting in Syria.
In our first reading today from the Book of Wisdom, the sacred author puts into the mouth of King Solomon a question: “Who can know God’s counsel, or who can conceive what the Lord intends?” This question we have all asked God at one time or another: “what do you intend; what is it that you want?” Yes, we faithfully pray in the “Lord’s Prayer” --- perhaps several times a day --- “your will be done on earth as it is in heaven,” but what are we praying for? What is God’s “will”?
Our Catholic faith tells us that we can find God’s will in his Word, interpreted by the Church; God’s will can also be found in the teachings of the Church and its rich tradition as well as in the guidance given by those responsible for teaching, sanctifying and leading the community of faith. God’s will is also revealed in quiet prayer. Still, at other times, the circumstances of our lives are so clear that God’s will becomes quite apparent without much effort.
It is not difficult for the human mind to discern that the indiscriminate taking of someone else’s life is wrong. We can say that here in Trenton as we have witnessed murder upon murder in our streets and homes during the past few months.
Shocking. Senseless. Tragic. The blatant disregard for life that seems more and more to characterize not only urban communities but rural ones as well --- schools, churches, shopping malls, parking lots, city streets, country roads. We ask ourselves “when and where will it end?” I believe we should first ask, rather, “when and where did it begin?” And, how? Why?
Social scientists and psychologists may be quick to give an answer, a reason for the taking of life we see all around us, blaming the economy, social unrest, drug transactions gone bad, hatred among the races, membership in gangs, carelessness or, as we heard in the murder of an Australian student in Oklahoma, boredom, the “thrill” of simply killing someone. Perhaps you ask yourselves as I frequently do, “what kind of world do we live, where human life means so little to so many?” When and where will it end? When and where did it begin?
If human society shows little regard for the child in the womb, for the sick and elderly, for those who look differently or think differently or even pray differently among us, can we reasonably expect that between the vulnerable womb and the crowded nursing home, that people for whom life holds precious little meaning here and now will ever really care about the life that occurs in between? When murder becomes a right or a choice or a law or a response to boredom, can we honestly be surprised that individual attitudes grow into communal attitudes, infecting whole societies and nations? It all begins in the human heart.
God is the author and creator of life. He gives the human heart, its first beat. He gives the human mind, its first thoughts. He gives the human eyes their first glimpse of the world he created. He gives the human soul, its first desire to live. Do you want to know his will? He has already told us clearly and directly in the Fifth Commandment that we learned as children: “Thou shall not kill.” If we recklessly ignore that commandment from God or, worse, intentionally abandon it and act to the contrary, what is left for us to heed or obey or follow? Jesus proclaimed in the Gospel, “I have come that you may have life to the full (John 10:10). Where there is no peace, there soon will be no life.
Responding to the unconscionable use of chemical weapons by the government of Syria against its own people --- the evidence of which we have seen with our own eyes across our television screens --- our Holy Father Pope Francis has urged us to pray for peace, to pray and fast on this day, September 7, in solidarity with the people of Syria and with our brothers and sisters of good will throughout the world. Where there is no peace, there soon will be no life! As your Bishop, I bring his invitation to you and ask you to join in prayer this day and throughout the days ahead for lasting peace in Syria, throughout the Middle East where the Prince of Peace was born, and throughout the world.
In these days, the leaders of our nation --- our President and our Congress --- indeed the leaders of our world are contemplating a response to the willful, senseless tragedy in Syria. Tonight we pray that God might give them the “wisdom of Solomon” to discern and ask themselves on behalf of the people of Syria, on behalf of the people of the world, “what the Lord intends.” Over Syrian 100,000 lives have already been lost, sacrificed to the insanity and injustice of human destruction and civil war there. Where there is no justice, there is no peace. Where there is no peace, there soon will be no life!
Our Holy Father Pope Francis, Jesus Christ’s own vicar on earth and Shepherd of the Catholic Church, has asked for an end to violence, making a “heartfelt appeal” to our leaders, here and throughout the world, “to help find ways to overcome the conflicting positions and to lay aside the futile pursuit of a military solution,” urging them to seek the dialogue and reconciliation that will bring peace to Syria, now engulfed in civil war. He has encouraged us with all his heart to pray for peace.
Almost 70 years ago, the great Indian leader and philosopher Mahatma Gandhi prophesied that “an eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind.” Without sight, we cannot find the path to peace. And, so, tonight, we place our prayers for peace at this altar, at the feet of the Lord Jesus, Prince of Peace, who calls us together, who spoke in Gospel of John, “Peace I leave you, my peace is my gift to you (John 14:27)” --- peace that the world alone cannot give ---and who reminded us who follow him by his words, by his actions, by his life, “I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have trouble. But take heart and have courage. I have overcome the world (John 16: 33).” May we all be “instruments of his peace (Prayer of St. Francis).
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