Welcoming the Lord

Most of us are aware that we cannot celebrate Mass without a priest.  While this no doubt makes our priests feel needed, it can have the unfortunate side effect of leading some of faithful to think that Mass is something that the priest “does” for the rest of the Church.  In reality, the Mass is something that we all do together.  The priest is here to preside over the Mass, but each of us also has an important role.

We are one.  Our Catholic faith does not allow the distinction of “us” versus “them.”  On Sunday we gather in one Lord, one faith, one Baptism.  Yet, we are many.  When we gather, it’s also to witness to the commonality of our faith, evident in the many parts that make up the one Body.

Whether we are Hispanic, Native American, African American, European, or Vietnamese, we stand side by side around the table of the Altar and sing our thanksgiving to God.  And while that song may sound different in our different cultures, this Eucharist, this thanksgiving, is the song of our hearts.  The late Joseph Cardinal Bernardin wrote that we leave Mass, “carrying the tune we have heard.”  A tune that resonates within all of us, because we share one heart.

Before we are anything else – any ethnicity, nationality or citizenship – we are the Body of Christ, sisters and brothers by our Baptism.   (CCC 1207)

Our faith teaches us that Christ dwells in every member of his body, that we can find him in the people who gather with us here every Sunday.  We are not strangers who have gathered – even if we’ve never met – we know each other, because each one of us carries Jesus in us.

What an awesome responsibility each of us has, bearing Christ as we do.  All of a sudden we begin to understand that our presence here is not just about “coming to Church,” or “going to Mass;” it’s about gathering and welcoming each other and recognizing that in offering hospitality to each other we are offering it to Christ himself.

Through the week, all of us are scattered throughout our community.  On Sunday, we reconnect with the other members of the Body.  Smiling and saying hello.  Sharing the stories of our lives and our concerns and expressing the love of Christ that binds us one to another.

This is not irreverent in church, because it’s the way we welcome the Lord in our midst.  Jesus said, “Where two or three are gathered in my name, there I am in the midst of them” (Mt 18:20).  His presence in each of us is one of the ways that he reveals himself to us at Mass.  Reverence requires that we recognize him and respond to him.

Gathering and offering hospitality to each other is an important way we prepare for the celebration of the Mass.

A Royal Priesthood

Most of us are aware that we cannot celebrate Mass without a priest.  While this no doubt makes our priests feel needed, it can have the unfortunate side effect of leading some of faithful to think that Mass is something that the priest “does” for the rest of the Church.  In reality, the Mass is something that we all do together.  The priest is here to preside over the Mass, but each of us also has an important role.

The first part of the Roman Missal, the big red book which contains the prayers we use at Mass, is called the “General Instruction.”  It says that “the celebration of the Eucharist is an action of the whole Church,” all of us.  It goes on to say that “this people nevertheless grows in holiness by its conscious, active, and fruitful participation” in the Mass.

The Second Vatican Council called everyone who gathers for Mass; be it priest, deacon or the lay faithful, to “full, conscious, and active participation.”  As a matter of fact, the world’s bishops said that this was to be the, “aim to be considered before all else,” in our celebration of the Mass.  The bishops were so concerned about this as they recognized that this kind of participation “is the primary and indispensable source from which [we] are to derive the true Christian spirit.”  It is by our taking part in the offering of the Mass that we are to become more and more like Christ.  It is our primary path to holiness.

The Council fathers insisted that our participation in Mass is both a right and a duty by reason of our baptism, because through baptism, to quote St. Peter, we have become “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people.”  We all share in the priesthood of Christ; you and I in the royal priesthood and Father in the ministerial priesthood, and it is Christ who offers his sacrifice to the His Father whenever we, all of us, celebrate the Mass.  The priest is the Presider of the Mass; but we are all the celebrants.    

Sometimes we may think that our presence or our participation doesn’t much matter.  But each one of us is important to the celebration of the liturgy.  We each have a job to do that no one else can do for us.  Only together can we offer God proper worship.

A New Bishop

By now you’ve heard that Pope Francis has assigned Bishop John Charles Wester, current Bishop of Salt Lake City, as the new Archbishop of Santa Fe.  But why did we need a new Archbishop?  What was wrong with the old one?

By Church Law, bishops must submit their resignation to the Holy See upon reaching their 75^th birthday.  Rome then works to identify a new bishop for the diocese.  This may take anywhere from a few months to a year, or more.  If the retiring bishop is healthy he may continue to serve, as has Archbishop Michael, until the new bishop is named.

Just like everyone else, clergy members eventually retire.  In most dioceses, deacons and priests retire at the age of 65 or 70, although they may continue to serve (usually in a smaller capacity) if they are healthy and they and their bishop decide it’s in the best interest of the Church.  Cardinals don’t retire per se, but after they reach 80 they can no longer take part in voting for a new pope. 

After Archbishop Sheehan retires, he will remain here in New Mexico after Bishop Wester is installed.  As “Archbishop Emeritus” he will be available to assist parishes that need a priest and help the new Archbishop as needed. 

Bishop John Wester will be the 12^th Archbishop of Santa Fe.  He will be formally installed at a Mass at the Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi on June 4^th.  Archbishop Elect Wester was born and raised in San Francisco and was ordained to the priesthood in 1976.  The 64-year old bishop was named Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of San Francisco in 1998 and Bishop of Salt Lake City in 2007.

Many are curious what the difference is between an Archbishop and a Bishop.  Every corner of the earth is part of a diocese, most people know that.  What most don’t know is that several dioceses are grouped together and are overseen by one bishop.  That bishop is the “Metropolitan” of that group of dioceses and he is called an Archbishop.  The Metropolitan Archbishop of Santa Fe has then certain obligations not only to the Archdiocese of Santa Fe, but also the Dioceses of Gallup, Las Cruces, Phoenix, and Tucson: in effect all of New Mexico and Arizona.  Quite a job, indeed. 

Join us in praying for Archbishop Elect Wester and for our outgoing Archbishop, Michael Sheehan.  Let us thank Archbishop Sheehan for his 22 years of service to the people of the Archdiocese of Santa Fe and welcome Bishop Wester.  May God continue to bless both of them and our diocese.