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Back on July 22, 2000 I was interviewed by The News Journal regarding Son Rise 2000. They called it a beach side pilgrimage. Your bishop wants to say "welcome to all beach pilgrims." Welcome to all the Catholics from Delaware and the Eastern Shore of Maryland. Welcome to Catholics from neighboring dioceses who vacation here in Ocean City. Welcome to our non-Catholic brethren who want to celebrate 2000 years of Christianity with us. Welcome to our non-Christian brethren who want to respect our traditions or learn more about our religion. Today, our beach is your beach. Today, the doors of our hearts are open wide to welcome all as Christ. Jesus is the reason for our gathering. Jesus is the name of our Jubilee. Jesus is the Son Rise that broke into human history 2000 years ago and forever made a difference. For the past 2000 years Jesus is the way God has done things. For Christians in the new millennium Jesus must be the way we do things.
I have spoken publicly that this Son Rise 2000 event is a significant opportunity for our diocese to celebrate the past, present and future of our Roman Catholic faith in this local vineyard. What we celebrate here this weekend, what we do here today goes on forever. What we take into eternity, what lasts forever, is our relationship to God in Jesus Christ.
Time changes, events alter the course of history, people's moods change, the stock market changes, the weather changes, the seasons change, but Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever.
Many months ago when Son Rise 2000 was being proposed and planned some people said it would never happen. As I look out at this sea of faithful people on this beach of faith I am stirred to say how true it is: "if you plan it they will come!" That is because Son Rise 2000 is not about me or you or our diocese. It is about the everlasting love of God poured out in Jesus Christ. That love story which began in Bethlehem 2,000 years ago is what we celebrate on this beach today. Jesus is the focus of your pilgrimage. Jesus is the Eucharist that gathers us together today and makes such a difference in our Catholic faith. Jesus is the Son Rise that helps us rise above our unconverted selves and through saving grace make a difference in this world for heaven's sake. Son Rise 2000 is for the glory of God and from where I stand it's plain to see that God is an expert in the glory business. Of course, God had some wonderful help with the leadership of Fr. Ray Weisman and Fr. Tom Protack and the Son Rise 2000 planning committee.
I speak for the entire diocese when I say thank you to them for their hard work, creative planning and endless hours of commitment to this Jubilee event. (I will ask them to please rise and I ask that you join me in applauding their efforts for the glory of God.)
On the liberty bell at Independence Hall in Philadelphia is inscribed these words: "Proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants."Long before those words became part of our national history, God inspired Isaiah to proclaim them as part of God's plan for salvation history. From Isaiah's lips to the chosen people's hearts, the prophet makes it clear that his mission is to proclaim how God intends to intervene in the history of the chosen people and liberate them from the Babylonian exile. The divine action will result in bringing glad tidings to the lowly, healing the brokenhearted, proclaiming liberty to the captives, release to the prisoners and comfort for all who mourn. What the prophet Isaiah is teaching the chosen people is that God desires them to practice liberation, healing and comfort as part of their religious Jubilee celebrations after they return home. From this oracle came the great Suffering Servant songs where the mysterious destiny of suffering and glorification is fulfilled in Jesus Christ.
The gospel reading from St. Luke indicated that Jesus knew as much and accepted that as his mission when he returned to Nazareth where he was raised and reads the passage from the book of Isaiah. Then he adds, referring to Jubilee's relevance to the people gathered in the synagogue, "Today, this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing."I take that to mean that the promises of Jubilee cannot be fulfilled in isolation, but only as part of a community.That truth was revealed to St. Paul and sealed on his heart when he received his mission to evangelize the Gentiles. He passed it on to the Christian community at Ephesus when he wrote in the second reading:
In him you too were chosen; when you heard the glad tidings of salvation, the word of truth, and believed in it, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit who had been promised."The breadth of Jubilee liberty was extended to those Gentile converts who became part of a larger community of Jubilee people. Now the Jubilee mission of Isaiah and Paul and Jesus has been passed on to us.
The question must now be asked: how can our Christian community carry on this Jubilee mission of liberation in the new millennium?
I would like to suggest that our particular way of living prophetically the oracle of Isaiah, of bringing the promise of the messianic vision of Jesus to fulfillment in our own time and of evangelizing and re-evangelizing with the converted spirit of St. Paul is to be deeply committed to the well-being of all people of the human family. That means being persons for others.
Our nation's Catholic bishops articulate this Jubilee vision in their new pastoral letter, "In All Things Charity: A Pastoral Challenge for the New Millennium." In this letter the bishops challenge all people of faith to greater solidarity with those in need. Here is my vision of what that looks like.
With 12.7 percent of the U.S. population living in poverty, the need for Jubilee justice is great. Although unemployment is at its lowest point in decades, and many who have never worked before have been helped to find jobs, low wages leave many families unable to afford rent, groceries, shoes, school supplies, medicine or bus fare. In the midst of an unprecedented economic boom, far too many of our sisters and brothers are being left behind. Jubilee justice must also extend to the prisons where criminals are incarcerated without any chance of correcting their criminal behavior. Others, who may be innocent are waiting to die on death row.
Jubilee liberation must also extend to the new immigrants who are being rejected and humiliated by the children and grandchildren of a generation of former immigrants. Jubilee justice is the antidote to an attitude that wants to close our borders in order to protect the disease of excessive consumerism and "me-first" politics. The gospel language of love, and sacrifice and tolerance needs to be spoken here and sometimes it requires us to use words.
Jubilee liberation must also extend to the unborn. We who enjoy the grace of life must protect those who's right to life is threatened by the evil of abortion and this is a great evil of our time. We must also protect the children who are born and then abused or neglected or forced into child labor. We must also uphold the dignity of women who are devalued in some cultures because of their gender. Disciples of Jesus in the new millennium must pledge themselves to advocate for public policies that promote human dignity for all.
At the end of every Evangelical Crusade, the Rev. Billy Graham asks people to get up out their seats and come forward to re-commit their lives to Jesus Christ. At the end of this Son Rise Mass you are going to join in a prayer of consecration to the B.V.M. She is the patroness of the U.S. In this prayer we are going to entrust ourselves and our country to her maternal care and protection.
I want to encourage others to lean on the Holy Spirit. Be bold in asking for courage to evangelize the unchurched and reaching out to the hurting, alienated and the lost Catholics in your families and in your circles. There are still to many people who are too busy to practice their faith or be part of a community of faith.
The Jubilee year 2000 calls for a Catholic witness that transforms unjust social structures, lights new fires in dying Catholic parishes, and restores equality among all God's children.
I pledge myself to work with you in this renewal of our Catholic faith. I will stand here at the end of Mass and be here for anyone who wants to come forward and stand on the side of the gospel of Jesus by making a radical commitment to Jubilee values at the beginning of this new decade. I commit myself to work with you not only for the expansion of parishes, creating new parishes and building new schools but also for the deepening of our faith lives. I feel truly blessed to be among you as your Bishop. As we celebrate the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000 with this Son Rise event, I accept it as a once-in-a-lifetime moment to be both a prophetic voice and presence in creating God's kingdom here on earth.
Let the Jubilee canticle be sung today and everyday: Jubilate Deo! Give thanks and glory and praise to God. Let us sing it with our voices and our lives as our way of proclaiming that Jesus Christ is the Son Rise of our lives - yesterday, today and forever.
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