| Homily
for the 28th Sunday in Ordinary Time: October 14, 2007
Installation of
Father Patrick Walker as Pastor of St. Anthony’s Church,
Manteca
In St. Luke’s
Gospel, Jesus made a Samaritan a hero of faith. The Samaritan
was considered by the Jews as an outcast, not a true Jew.
But it was the Samaritan who returned to give thanks after
being cured along with nine others who did not return. Today
I would imagine that the hero of this story would be someone
like an immigrant without papers. But I would like to suggest
a little different approach by saying that there are some
in our society who look upon Catholics and the Catholic Church
as Samaritans, outcasts, outsiders in the post modern world.
Worse than opposing us on so many issues, many of them consider
the Church to be irrelevant. The Church has nothing important
to say to today’s world. In fact, Religion is the basic
cause of most of the evils in the world.
The reality, of course,
is that most of the people in the world have some kind of
belief in God. Christians and the Followers of Islam make
up 55% of the world’s population. Christians and Moslems
working together could make significant changes toward peace
in the world.
The truth in many
religions of the world is that there is more to the reality
of human experience than just what we hear and see. There
is something beyond our bodies and our everyday experiences
in the human condition. There is a transcendent reality of
God. As Catholics we believe that Jesus rose from the dead,
that He reigns at the right hand of God the Father in the
glory of heaven and that there is a promise for us of resurrection
and eternal life with God in Christ.
The Church which is
founded on this Faith (we are a Church of the Faithful) is
a firm advocate in the world of the goodness of the human
condition, the dignity of the human person, the care of the
poor, the protection of our environment, and the promoter
of social justice because she envisions life, death, relationships,
personal integrity and the human race all in light of eternal
life. The Church stands as a beacon for the sanctity of all
God’s creation.
Today as I install
your new pastor, Father Pat Walker, he knows that his priestly
ministry is to preach the word of God, to celebrate the sacraments,
especially the Holy Eucharist, and to be a shepherd in the
pastoral care of the people. But I would like to add that
in an overarching manner he stands in your midst and in the
community as a prophetic witness to the transcendent reality
of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit and to the deepest meaning
of life, death and resurrection.
Today more than ever
the Pastor as a spiritual leader is called to be a prophetic
witness to the reality of God and the goodness of human life.
Last Update October 14, 2007
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