My dear friends in Christ, we find ourselves once more on the threshold of the holy season of Lent — 40 days of more intense prayer and penance that helps us to prepare for the joy of Easter. It is the acceptable time to renew our journey of faith, both individually and collectively, as we reflect on God’s Word and celebrate the sacraments, especially the sacraments of Reconciliation and the Most Holy Eucharist.

   The days of Lent have a special quality different from the other days of the year. They call us to attention! They remind us that we live and breathe in the holy presence of God. They invite us to the interior journey of conversion. The threefold traditional Lenten practices are as valid today as they have been through the centuries. Through almsgiving, prayer and fasting we seek to follow the way of the Lord who came not to be served, but to serve others. We do so quietly and unobtrusively, not for human approval but for God’s. “Your Father who sees what is hidden will repay you.” (Mt 6:18)

   During the Lenten season, we seek forgiveness of our sins. We do this best through sacramental confession — a sobering moment of truth for each of us. We observe the rules of the Church regarding fast and abstinence which dispose us to open our hearts to God. We show our concern for others by sharing our material and spiritual gifts with them. We recognize the importance of Sunday Mass as a family. We reflect often on the prayers of the Mass and are nourished by God’s Word and the worthy reception of His Body and Blood in the Eucharist.

On World Marriage Day, Sunday, Feb.  12, I had the pleasure of celebrating Mass at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception with more than 80 couples observing their anniversaries. The homily I preached on that occasion is printed below.

Throughout the course of the liturgical year, there are many occasions of joy celebrated here in our Cathedral. Each has its special character. Today as we gather, we do so with joy, to give thanks to God for the gift of His unfailing love in the sacrament of Matrimony. We celebrate in a very special way the love of God which has united and sustained your own married life for 25, 40, 50 and 75 years. And so at the very beginning let me offer my prayerful congratulations and best wishes to you. Thank you for the witness of your lives.

   Strengthening marriage and family life needs to be our common priority. The witness of your love — at times both of joy and sorrow — is a great gift to the Church and to society. Through the accomplishments and challenges of your married life you have remained united in a covenant of love with your spouse, journeying together in a partnership of life, blessed by the Lord with the abundant grace of the sacrament of Matrimony. For this, we thank the Lord today.  And we thank you for your faithfulness to the vows you took so many years ago and for being an eloquent sign of the sacredness of Christian marriage, a sign so desperately needed in our contemporary society.

   Our culture places a great stress on marriages and family life today. Current attempts by the government to abridge our religious freedom should be a concern to all people of goodwill — Catholic and non-Catholic alike. Likewise, attempts by some to change the definition or understanding of what exactly constitutes marriage should be a concern. In the midst of all this, you are called to witness to the covenant of marriage and the creative power of married love.

   These assaults, and others, against marriage and family life may cause us to become discouraged. But I look out at you, at your deep faith and I am filled with hope. The teachings of Christ about the indissolubility of marriage may not be popular today. It is a teaching easily rejected if one is not willing to heed the words of Jesus in the Gospel.

   St. Paul’s description of love in his First Letter to the Corinthians is often chosen as one of the readings at the marriage liturgy. I am sure you are familiar with it. St. Paul describes authentic Christian love as patient and kind, not jealous or boastful, not arrogant or rude, a love which does not insist on its own way, is not quick tempered, does not brood over injury or rejoice in wrongdoing (cf. 1Cor. 13:4-7). It is a love that never fails. This love has a face and name, Jesus. He lived this love perfectly and revealed it most intensely when He embraced the cross and gave His life for us. Jesus’ great act of self-giving love is present for us on the altar at every celebration of the holy sacrifice of the Mass.

   You know far better than I the sacrifices that are necessary, the self-giving love that is required in an authentic Christian marriage. You know the challenge and the cost of being kind and patient, of not holding a grudge, of forgiving one another, of showing respect and putting the interests of your spouse before your own interests and of doing all of this day in and day out over many years. Indeed your initial “yes” to each other on the day of your wedding has been followed by 25, 40, 50 and remarkably 75 years during which you repeated that “yes” and recommitted yourself to each other in fidelity and love. It is so fitting that we celebrate your self-offering in marriage at the table of the Lord’s self-offering. It is here you are joined to Christ’s sacrifice, His “yes” to the Father’s will. And from here you receive the grace for your love to remain constant and faithful.  

   In the plan of God, the mutual love of husband and wife is to be “an image of the absolute and unfailing love with which God loves us.” The marriage covenant between a man and a woman is to be an image and symbol of the covenant which unites God and His people and a sign of Christ’s love for His bride, the Church. Jesus gave His life for her. God’s love is faithful and irrevocable and those who have been married “in Christ” are called to remain faithful to each other forever. Did not Jesus Himself say to us: “What God has joined together, let no man put asunder”?

   Your fidelity to one another, your love for each other is a sign of the steadfastness of God’s love and fidelity, a sign of the power of the Holy Spirit at work and a testament to the beauty and power of God’s grace which has enabled you to be true to each other in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health. Your witness to Christian marriage gives us hope for a new culture, inspired by the Gospel, which values, promotes and respects the dignity and sanctity of marriage and family. For all of this we are so very grateful.

   Today, I pray that your hearts, filled with thanksgiving and with renewed dedication, will continue to help you live in fidelity — fidelity to one another, fidelity to Christ, fidelity to His Gospel, fidelity to your children, and fidelity to the society that looks up to you as an authentic model of true Christian love.

   As we gather at this Eucharist, let us quietly thank God for the gift of His love — the love He has infused into your hearts that you have shared with your children and transmitted to them as life.  We celebrate the gift of your marriage which is modeled on His own sacrificial and generous love — the generous love of Jesus Christ for all of us — a love that never fails and lasts forever.  

   Thank you for giving of yourself each day. Thank you for being a sign to all of us of the faithful and irrevocable love of the Lord Jesus. Happy anniversary! God bless you.
   
   If you have an intention you would like me to remember in prayer during the coming weeks, please forward it to me at 240 E. Onondaga St., Syracuse, NY 13202.

Each year on the third Sunday of October the Church Universal celebrates World Mission Sunday.

From the earliest days of the Church, men and women have answered the command of Christ to “go and teach all nations,” bringing His message of salvation to people of every time and place. On this occasion, Our Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI invites all of us — bishops, priests, deacons, men and women in consecrated life and the entire laity — to reflect on the urgent need and importance of the Church’s missionary activity in our own time. He reminds us that World Mission Sunday offers “the entire People of God an opportunity to renew their commitment to proclaim the Gospel and to give pastoral activities greater missionary perspective.” (Benedict XVI, Message for World Mission Sunday.)

In November 1965 towards the end of the fourth session of the Second Vatican Council, a decree on the Apostolate of the Laity was promulgated.  In that decree, we read about the special and indispensable role that lay people have in the mission of the Church.  Every activity of the Mystical Body of Christ is an apostolate which the Church exercises through all her members though in various ways.  Although there is a diversity of ministry, there is a unity of mission.

I carried these thoughts with me during the past weekend. It began with Confirmation on Thursday evening at Holy Family in Fairmount when I confirmed members of our special religious education program. There were also Confirmations this weekend at St. Patrick’s in Chittenango and St. Vincent de Paul in Syracuse where a number of eager young men and women indicated their readiness to complete the sacraments of Christian initiation and assume adult responsibilities in the Church.