Archbishop's Homilies 2001

Mass for Migrant Chaplains of the Archdiocese

Celebrated by Archbishop Denis Hart
at St Cyril & Methodius Slovene Church, Kew,
on Thursday, 6th December, 2001, At 10.00am

Introduction

My dear Friends,

I am delighted to be with you as Migrant Chaplains in our great Archdiocese. In your selfless work, for some of you over many years, we have the key to why our people who have come here and settled in Melbourne are so well joined in our great Archdiocese. Father John Raccanello keeps telling me of the needs of the Chaplains; the support, which Chaplains need through each other, the importance of recognition by the Archdiocese that the work that you do is completely irreplaceable.

As members of your community become older they have an even greater need of the Sacraments. You are providing them lovingly, with faith and with tremendous energy despite the challenging way in which you have to travel many miles at inconvenient times to be with them.

Thank you for all that you do as in this Mass I unite my prayers to yours that the Lord will strengthen us for our work, that all in our Archdiocese, priests and people, will recognise the irreplaceable value of all that you do and that together we may be united in professing our faith in Jesus Christ.

So that we may prepare our hearts for this celebration, let us call to mind our sins.

Homily

My dear Brothers in the Priesthood,

You are our valued migrant chaplains, some who have served for many years, others who are more recently with us, enriching the people of God with a remarkable diversity, all united in faithful service to our Lord, Jesus Christ.

Together we will say at the consecration, "This is my Body, this is my Blood", and through our words bread and wine will be transformed into the Body and Blood of our Saviour, given for us and for our people.

Also we emphasise that each one of us is given as a victim for service humbly we come before the Lord and yet I as a new archbishop want to express my deep, deep appreciation for all that you are and do.

It is particularly our privilege to provide enthusiasm, joy and inventiveness in carrying forward the initiatives which the Holy Father has put to us at the beginning of this year.

The Pope writes: 'I have often stopped to look at the long queues of pilgrims waiting patiently to enter the Holy Door of St Peter's. In each of them I tried to imagine the story of a life, made up of joys, worries, sufferings; the story of someone whom Christ had met and who, in dialogue with him, was setting out again on a journey of hope.'

This journey we all took must now bear fruit. The Pope looks back warmly to individual events he recalls the youth pilgrimage, the children's pilgrimage, the great ecumenical celebration at St Paul's Basilica, and his astonishing personal pilgrimage through the Holy Land. And he reminds us that the point of it all was to begin our journey again: Duc in altum! Put out into the deep!

Particularly, it is a matter of enthusiasm. The Holy Father says in Novo Millennio Ineunte No. 1, "put out into the deep" (Luke 5:4) to "live the present with enthusiasm" and to "look forward to the future with enthusiasm in the certainty that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever." (Hebrews 13:8)

To start out anew from Christ is to start out with a Person. We all know how a new love in our lives is truly a fresh start; a new love for Christ is a start that puts all other loves into context, enhancing what is good in them and exposing what is less worthy.

This fresh start is primarily a pastoral initiative. The Pope says that such a plan will enable the proclamation of Christ to reach our people, mold communities and have a deep and incisive influence in bringing Gospel values to bear in society and culture. (No. 29)

To do this the Pope lists certain priorities for each local Church. First comes holiness. To be holy is to belong to God, the Holy One. Holiness in life and holiness in death should be normal for all of us as Christians, not just for far-off saints from early Christian periods. Then we must teach people how to pray. Christ's life is a prayer and the universal hunger for spirituality is a cry to be taught to pray by the divine Teacher.

Archbishop Fulton Sheen emphasised the need for regular prayer before the Blessed Sacrament as drawing us to the source, which is Christ. Surely more effective than trying to pray in our room surrounded by other items which compete for our interest.

Our communities must become genuine schools of prayer where the meeting with Christ is expressed not just in employing help, but also in thanksgiving, praise, adoration, contemplation, listening and ardent devotion until the heart truly falls in love. (No. 33)

The Sunday Eucharist is the profession of faith in the Resurrection and should be at the heart of the week. 'Confidence, creativity and perseverance' from priests in offering the Sacrament of Reconciliation is the next priority. Then comes building not on private efforts but on the primacy of God's grace. Finally, true listening to and real proclamation of God's Word is the key to the new evangelization, particularly in addressing the diversity of cultures while not compromising the integrity of Church teaching.

This is truly a great gift the Pope has given us. In the new millennium all diocesan and parish plans and programmes will begin from the foundation given in these remarks on holiness, prayer, Mass, Penance, Grace and Scripture. We have a starting point: a truly relevant framework for our times has been crafted for us.

This will and should sound challenging. We often fall into thinking that the great age of faith has passed away, that the martyrs and saints who gave their witness are not around in great numbers now. But the Pope reminds us that millions upon millions of people celebrated the Jubilee. People of all ages and especially young people gave witness of holiness, prayer and grace, heard the Scriptures and received the sacraments. They are our confidence that the new beginning has truly arrived and that the Church, like her God 'ever ancient, ever new', has indeed started afresh in Christ.

 

+ Denis J. Hart,
Archbishop of Melbourne.