Description: Homily delivered by Father William Stetson at the Mass for the Feast of St. Josemaria Escriva celebrated at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception on June 26. The principal celebrant of the Mass was the Most Reverend Martin Holley, Auxiliary Bishop of Washington.
Bishop Holly, thank you for changing your plans to be able to celebrate this Mass for the Feast of St. Josemaría standing in for Cardinal McCarrick. Please thank the Cardinal on our behalf for the kind words and encouragement in the greeting from him that you read.
It is also a happy moment for us to have you as the celebrant of this Mass. Being from a family of fourteen children I am sure you are not fazed a bit by the commotion of the many families with children who are here to honor St. Josemaría and Opus Dei
Our Eucharist today seeks to weave together the liturgical texts of the thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time and the proper texts of the Mass for St. Josemaría. The Opening Prayer sets the tone of the whole celebration affirming what St. Josemaría always insisted: God had entrusted him with the message that all the baptized are called to the fullness of the Christian life, to holiness; and God asked him to establish an institution in the Church whose purpose would be to spread that message and to help men and women, married and single and diocesan priests to live it. On the occasion of St. Josemaría's canonization CardinaSl Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI, wrote: “The founder of Opus Dei said: I am not the one who invented anything; there is Another who acts, and I am only ready to serve as an instrument. So the name, and all the reality which we call Opus Dei, is deeply bound up with the interior life of the founder. He, while remaining very discreet on this point, makes us understand that he was in permanent dialogue, in real contact, with Him who created us and works through us and with us. The Book of Exodus (33:11) says of Moses that God spoke with him “face to face, as a friend speaks with a friends” I think that, even if the veil of discretion hides many details from us, still from some references we can very well apply to Josemaría Escrivá this “speaking as a friend speaks with a friend,” which opens the doors of the world so that God can become present, to work and transform everything.”
From the earliest days Father Josemaría would say to the men and women who came to see him for spiritual direction: everyone is called to be a saint; all are called to be apostles. Right there where you are, in the classroom, in the factory, in the office, in the home, in the street, you must and you can be a saint. And in order to make it clear that the goal of holiness is not centered on oneself he would point to the example and words of Jesus at the Last Supper: a saint is one who loves his brothers and serves them as Jesus did. The Second Vatican Council took up this same thought when it taught that the pursuit of Holiness brings about a more human way of life here on earth. Saints are not less human –not of this world—they are more human, passionately loving the world (as St. Josemaría said.
Like the prophet Elisha in today's first reading a man or woman for whom God has the first place in their life, awareness of the needs of others and readiness to help them even by going out of our way is the ordinary way of acting.
But the Christian's concern for others is not something put on or external. It arises from an interior identification with Jesus through death to ourselves, as St. Paul teaches in the second reading from today's Mass. I recall being shocked when for the first time I heard Msgr Escrivá say: “You must be another Christ, Christ himself.” The first part of his words was common spiritual teaching, and implied imitating the example of Jesus. But the second part –you must be Christ- seemed daring. It was. But it is the clearing teaching of Our Lord in St. John: “I am the vine, you are the branches,” He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me and I in him.” A life of prayer and reception of the sacraments means entering into the life of Jesus in a real way, not merely in an imitative way. Pope John Paul II referred to it as a process of divinization.
Although this spiritual teaching of St. Josemaría was a very high one he also made it clear that the pursuit of this high goal was intended by God to be compatible with the fulfillment of the ordinary dirties of everyday life in the world. He gave a very homely example in his book Furrow: “You are writing to me in the kitchen, by the stove. It is early afternoon. It is cold. By your side, your younger sister –the last one to discover the divine folly of living her Christian vocation to the full—is peeling potatoes. To all appearances –you think—her work is the same as before. And yet, what a difference there is! It is true: before she was only peeling potatoes, now she is sanctifying herself peeling potatoes. (#498.) And to complete the thought, through her work she is serving others out of love, as Jesus washed the feet of the disciples and served them at the last Supper.
Today's Gospel presents us with a series of paradoxes regarding love of God and love of others: mother or father, son or daughter; or love of self. Jesus' words present a challenge to us that can not be resolved by reference to merely human love. Sometimes it seems to me that Christian love has been reduced to sentimentality or almost as bad to justice. God asks more; He asks for everything. He does not hide from us the price of such a total love: it is nothing less than the Cross. St. Josemaría frequently reminded people of this high goal and he taught that it can only be resolved in practice through a life of intense dialogue with God in prayer and wise spiritual direction.
This is God's message of holiness that he wanted St. Josemaría to teach and Opus Dei as an instrument to spread in the Church. In the homily at the canonization of St. Josemaría Pope John Paul II called it a noble ideal to which to dedicate one's life. The extended family of Opus Dei, the faithful, cooperators and friends of the Prelature and the priests of the Priestly Society of the Holy Cross are meant to be a leaven of holiness and a fire of evangelical zeal in the home, in the workplace, in the parish and in all sectors of society where Christians live, work, relax and pray.
As Cardinal Ratzinger wrote learning more of the life of St. Josemaría leads to a better understanding of the “inner character of Opus Dei, this surprising union of absolute fidelity to the Church's great tradition, to its faith and unconditional openness to all the challenges of this world, whether in the academic world, in the field of work, or in matters of the economy, and so forth. The person who is bound to God, who has this uninterrupted conversation, can dare to respond to these challenges, and no longer has fear. For the person who stands in God's hands always falls into God's hands. And so fear vanishes, and in its place is born the courage to respond to today's world.”
The magnificence of this Basilica dedicated to the Immaculate Mother of God, whom St. Josemaría loved with all of his heart and to whose intercession he turned for help in accomplishing the mission God had entrusted to him, reminds us to do the same. Mary our Immaculate Mother lead us along the path of holiness to the heart of your divine Son.
