Father Douglas Freer | Diocesan vicar for Catholic education

Some of you may have heard that the Holy Father is now on Twitter.  That forced me to take another reluctant step into the world of technology, so now I have begun to figure out the world of tweets, retweets, and the like.  He mostly answers questions from the faithful, his way of being in touch with regular folks; being Pope can be a little isolating.  It was an almost unbelievable thing to the media when the Holy Father had more people following him on twitter than Justin Bieber, and that was before His Holiness had tweeted a peep.

The first question posed to the Holy Father, to my cynical mind, seemed rigged.  “How can we celebrate the Year of Faith in our daily lives?”  The Pope responded, “By speaking with Jesus in prayer, listening to what he tells you in the Gospel and looking for him in those in need.”  One thing I do like about Twitter is that the answers have to be right to the point. 

The second question, however, seemed to hit directly at the heart of where we are in the Church, in our world, and among people for whom the faith has become seemingly irrelevant and they can’t seem to see why they are adrift.  The question was, “How can faith in Jesus be lived in a world without hope?”  What a sad commentary. 

During this wonderful season of Advent we focus on hope, on expectation, on penitence, and on Jesus who comes to us as St. Bernard of Clairveux said first at Bethlehem, second at the end of time, and thirdly in His many comings to us in the Sacraments, in scripture, and in prayer.

The brief reading for Morning Prayer today is amazingly appropriate for what we are about today.  St. Paul, writing to his followers in Philippi, offers a summary of both faith and ministry.  He speaks of joy in ministry, and that is so very important.  I am convinced that part of the vocation crisis among priests and religious is because so many appear to be devoid of joy.  What kind of inspiration is there to pursue a vocation if those engaged in that vocation seemed grumpy and dissatisfied.  We should be people of joy because of the hope that is in us. 

To our about-to-be-commissioned lay ministers, make your ministry joyful, remembering that the last words of our Blessed Lord’s prayer before the crucifixion, as recorded by the disciple whom he loves, was that God’s joy would be in Him, and His joy would be in us.  Joy inspired hope for a hopeless world. 

How can faith in Jesus be lived in a world without hope?  By inspiring the joy that is in us, and so leading those around us to seek both our joy and our hope.  St. Paul goes on to mention partnership for the Gospel; this is a partnership you begin in a new and more intentional way this morning. 

The needs of the present day lead us to see a new and different reality in the Church today.  With the restoration of the diaconate and the development of professional lay ministries, as a priest I am most grateful that in many parish situations priests are free to be priests and allow others to exercise their gifts and talents for the good of the Church. 

I remember as a new pastor sitting down with a group of parish leaders to discuss the immediate need for a new roof.  As I looked around the table I realized that I was the only one who didn’t own a house, probably never would, and knew less than nothing about replacing roofs.  The challenge is that our new reality means that we need to allow change; we need to allow trained lay people to take some initiative in the life of the Church.  Some priests may feel threatened, most of us, I believe, are relieved!

            Today we have eight women, Joan, Deborah, Donna, Linda, Lucy, Janice, Patricia, and Kimberly; eight women who have allowed their lives to be majorly interrupted over these past three years.  We also should acknowledge their families who have on occasion gone without dinner, missed them when they were called away for formation, and had to endure the nights when they were cramming for exams.

As I read your paperwork and reflections on preparing for this day I was impressed by the fact that you don’t see this day like a graduation, a moment to mark your accomplishments.  It is rather a day, as you have said, when we look to see where God and His Church can use you for the advancement of His Kingdom. 

Several of you mentioned the excitement of being commissioned in this Year of Faith.  All of you, I hope, see yourselves as partners in the New Evangelization; that while being completely faithful to the Church, for a divided house shall never stand, that being fully faithful to the Church you can draw those who have drifted away back to a better embrace of the Church’s life. 

You will do this in wonderful and varied ways of ministry.  Reading about your involvement in ministry, you represent the full spectrum of our life; from catechesis, so essential for children and adults in a time when we are re-proposing the faith to those for whom it has become unimportant, to social justice ministries, to RCIA ministry, very important to me as a convert who came into the Church eight years back yesterday on the Feast of St. John of the Cross and who, 19 years ago today, was ordained as an Episcopal priest.  You also offer the gift of temporal administration of parishes, freeing the responsibility of temporal affairs from the clergy to you, professional lay leaders, and also those of you involved in spiritual direction and devotional practice, as one of you works coordinating the highest form of prayer, adoration in your parish and fostering devotion to the Blessed Mother.

So for the gift of your time in preparation for this day, thank you!  And please be assured of our prayers for you as you seek to devote yourselves to the truths of our Church and the needs of our people.  Bishop O’Connell prayed yesterday at our day of reflection for you, and he sends his greetings and the assurance of his prayers that your sacrifices and the gift of your time and talents may be vehicles for building up the kingdom of God. 

In response to the question posed to the Holy Father about living in a world without hope he said, “We can be certain that a believer is never alone. God is the solid rock upon which we build our lives and his love is always faithful.”  Joan, Deborah, Donna, Linda, Lucy, Janice, Patricia, and Kimberly, may your lives and your ministries always reflect the hope that is in you, and the joy of knowing Christ our Savior.