Already it is June, and summer upon us. Only our eighth graders are already “done,”
though, and even for them that illusion will soon be shattered by the summer
work that precedes the start of class for every high school student. I will not be the one to break that news to
them, leaving that task to their parents, and instead content myself simply to
congratulate them and share their joy.
Though school is indeed winding down and vacation
season starting up, I am eager for you to be aware of important things this
month that bring more work for us all, even as we dust our hands of our spring accomplishments.
First is the ongoing work of staying informed about
the reality of what is occurring in our country that affects our lives as the
Church. The HHS mandate confrontation
has spread to a wide level of rhetorical assault on the life and work of the
Church, and this hostility pervades the bulk of published information that is
around us.
As I intimated at the end of my Masses last week, the
Church in the United States has not been hijacked by a right-wing conspiracy,
and Catholic bishops are not trying to force anything on anyone. But to know this, one must turn away from the
newspaper, television, and many other common sources of information, and turn
toward our own fathers, the bishops themselves.
Cardinal Wuerl has established a website for you to
learn what the Church says about what the Church is doing, www.preservereligiousfreedom.org. His emails, along with editorials published
by the Catholic Standard illuminate and reveal realities that would otherwise
be withheld from you.
I would never suggest that you listen only to the Church’s leaders and
spokesmen about this. I would insist,
however, that you give them also the opportunity to speak, teach, and explain. Then, use the intellect God gave you when He
made us in His own image to evaluate the truth of what our Bishops say, the
love that motivates them, and the humility of their assertions. Compare that, then, to the tone, tactics, and
goals of all who accuse the Church, make your own decision, and act upon
it.
Second and more local, but not less important, is the
work of rejoicing in the Priestly ordination of Patrick Lewis, a son of Saint
Bernadette. He will be ordained Priest for
the Archdiocese of Washington along with four others at the Basilica on
Saturday, June 16, at ten o’clock. Then Father
Lewis will offer his first Mass of Thanksgiving here on Sunday June 17 at
eleven o’clock.
I invite and exhort all of you to turn out for both
events, reflecting our pride and pleasure in the great work God has wrought in
one of our own. A priestly ordination is
an exhilarating event, and to have a connection with one of the men ordained
enhances that experience. A first Mass
is a poignant and beautiful thing, too, and bears with it graces and joys that
go far beyond the Plenary Indulgence that is available to all who fully and
faithfully participate. Come, show your
joy.
Father Lewis will doubtless feel that he, too, is “done”,
like our eighth graders – done with his formation and preparation. But he knows that even now he has one more
year of graduate study in Rome to finish his degree, and that the life and work
to which Christ has called him is only just beginning. He will not shirk that work.
So should we all remind ourselves that our work is a
call and a gift from God. It is our work
to be faithful to Christ and embody Him in the Church in our own nation, not
avoiding adversity, but resisting it. The
quiet, but not solitary, work of informing our consciences is every Catholic’s
summer reading assignment. It is our
work, too, to raise up faithful sons to be holy Priests, and sons and daughters
to be vowed religious. Even as we
rejoice in the summer’s gifts, let us be about our work.
Monsignor Smith
