“Listen to the Savior, ‘I regenerated you, I set you free, I healed you, I redeemed you. I will give you life, that is unending, eternal, supernatural. I will show you the face of God.’”
— St. Clement of Alexandria
On Thursday April 19, Bishop David A. Zubik convened all the priests and deacons for a Spring clergy convocation entitled, “The Church in the Public Square: The Human Health Service Mandate and You.” The day was presented by four experts. Helene Paharik, Director for the Department for Human Dignity, spoke on the principles of faithful citizenship. She reminded us that we’re a people of the story and that Trinitarian love is the origin and destiny of the human person. Rita Joyce, a civil and canon lawyer, and Judge Maureen Lally- Green, Director for the Office of Church Relations, spoke on religious liberty and government mandates. They reminded us that as Catholics we must be moved by love, grounded in truth, practice in freedom and enhanced by prudence for the complete integration of our development as humans. Amy Hill, the Director of Communications for the PA Catholic Conference, spoke on the tough questions that face us and reminded us to be courageous and be an advocate for our faith convictions. Otherwise, she said, we run the risk of the erosion and dismantling of all that is sacred to us.
Fr. Joe Mele, the Rector of the Seminary and Director of Post-Ordination Formation for the Clergy, asked me what I found most profitable in the day. I said that I enjoyed the insights of the encyclical of Pope Benedict XVI, God is Love: Deus Caritas Est, in which being a Christian is presented not as a result of a lofty idea, but as the encounter with an event, a person, who gives us a new horizon and a decisive direction. In his writing, the Holy Father speaks of two levels of love: micro love and macro love. Micro love is loving in ‘little ways’, like St. Theresa of Lisieux. To love one person, one day, one thing at a time. Macro love is the love that transforms the ecclesial community, especially through its pursuit of justice and charity, such as love for widows and orphans, love for the sick and the needy, love of prisoners and foreigners. This love is essential to the ministry of the sacraments and the preaching of the Gospel.
Pope Benedict states, “The State may not impose religion, yet it must guarantee religious freedom and harmony between the followers of different religions. For her part, the Church, as the social expression of Christian faith, has a proper independence and is structured on the basis of her faith, as a community which the state must recognize.” Thus in these distinct spheres of Church and State, faith and reason, there is an interconnectedness. Faith gives greater clarity and purity to reason. Therefore faith is a necessary element of society and a great benefit to the State itself. Both work towards the common good. The Church is contributing to the purification of reason and the reawakening of moral values to promote organizationally and institutionally the common good. And the mission of the Church is to configure social life more correctly, respecting individual autonomy and yet cooperating with other citizens. Charity needs a formation of the heart where one is led to encounter God in Christ, which awakens love and opens our spirits to others. Christian charity must always be independent of parties and ideologies, calling us to communitarian love of the Trinity, God Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The Church must carry out its ministry of charity at all levels from the parishes, through the particular Churches, to the universal Church.
During our day at the seminary, Bishop Zubik dedicated the Bishop Michael O’Connor Hall (first Bishop of Pittsburgh) for the new John Bernard McDowell Center (auxiliary bishop of Pittsburgh of 44 years) and three other rooms that were blessed in memory of Msgr. Donald Kraus, Fr. George Saladna, and long-time rector of St. Paul Cathedral for over 30 years, Fr. Leo Vanyo. (In gratitude for the monetary gifts that these prelates left to the Diocese, the Bishop chose to dedicate these renovated areas in their names.) There is also a great hall honoring seven cardinals with ties to Pittsburgh: His Eminences John Cardinal Wright, John Cardinal Deardon, Anthony Cardinal Bevilaqua, Daniel Cardinal DiNardo, Adam Cardinal Maida, Sean Cardinal O’Malley and Donald Cardinal Wuerl. As I looked at the pictures of these cardinals, I thought of how much they have preached the Good News, written about the faith, and shepherded God’s holy people. As these Cardinal’s toil and labor on the macro level of the Church and its life, so we support them on the micro level, working together to spread the Kingdom of God. As St. Angela Merici said, “A good heart as well as a soul on fire with charity can do nothing but good and holy works.”
On this Fourth Sunday of Easter, traditionally called “Good Shepherd Sunday," the Church reminds us of Jesus, who conquered death, who leads His sheep to paradise and who is the model of authentic, self-emptying pastoral care. From the first book of the Bible, Genesis, to the last book of the Bible, Revelation, the Shepherd image runs all through Scripture. Israel’s two great leaders, Moses and David, were shepherds. Jesus in the New Testament freely applied the image to Himself. This Sunday is also designated World Sunday for Prayer for Vocations. One thinks of a wide range of vocations to pastoral service, namely, lay, religious and priestly. When humankind veers far from the ways of God, Jesus the Good Shepherd, calls us back by His care, love and concern for each and all. We hear His voice, we follow His call and we lead others in His Gentle way.” As the priests of the Diocese closed our day with evening prayer and dinner, we were, like Christ the Good Shepherd, sent out to our own flocks, to care for His sheep, to feed them, forgive them and serve them well in His name.
“Nothing is more practical than finding God, that is, than falling in love in a quite absolute, final way. What you are in love with, what seizes your imagination, will affect everything. It will decide what will get you out of bed in the morning, what you do with your evenings, how to spend your weekends, what you read, who you know, what breaks your heart and amazes you with joy and gratitude. Fall in love, stay in love and it will decide everything” (Attributed to Fr. Pedro Arrupe, SJ, 28th Superior General of the Jesuits).
