‘Each and every one of us comes from God and belongs to God’

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Editor’s note: The following is Bishop Lucia’s homily from the Jan. 18 Mass for Life.

Dear sisters and brothers, it is a joy for us to gather here this morning in this Year of Jubilee; this year in which we pray in a particular way for the restoration of rights. If we go back to the early days of Jubilee, and as I say early days, I am talking about the Book of Leviticus. In the Book of Leviticus, we read, “You shall treat this 50th year as sacred. You shall proclaim liberty in the land of all its inhabitants, it shall be a jubilee for you when each of you shall return to your own property, each of you to your own family.” (Leviticus 25:10)

Now, in the Catholic Church, since the 15th century, the Church has celebrated Jubilee — in the beginning at the interval of every 50 years, but now every 25 years. And what’s really significant about that for you and I is the theme of “Jubilee,” which is all about the restoration of rights.  During the time of Jubilee, going back to the Old Testament, it was first about debt forgiveness, about re-setting one’s life and starting anew.

It was also about the restoration of land involving family heritage — returning the land that maybe had been taken or used by others but now going back to its original owner — those original tenants, so to speak. And again, it was seen in the context of the land itself as being a gift of the Lord. But also, even without the idea of land rights, giving the land a chance to breathe … a time of rest; allowing it, as we say, to go fallow in agricultural terms.

Jubilee is about freedom, as well. For instance, if you were an indentured servant or more commonly, I suppose, called a slave, you could be set free. In fact, you were supposed to be set free, and it was all about justice, equity, compassion. And where we get that notion from is because who each and every one of us is in the eyes of God, that each and every one of us comes from God and belongs to God. That each and every person, no matter who he or she is, is made in the very image and likeness of God.

That’s literally what the Jubilee was meant to remind people — that we weren’t property or its equivalence. Each one of us, as the prophet Isaiah says, “has been called by name,” and we, you and I, each one of us, even those we can’t stand, are precious to God. It’s also a reminder, during such a year of one’s focus on divine provision in our lives. This past week, I had the privilege of being on retreat with the bishops of New York state, and I found myself praying over one thing, sometimes, even as bishop, I think, well, I’ve got to do it all. It all depends on me. No, it depends on God. What about divine provision?

And then finally, keeping holy? We say, keep holy the Sabbath. But what does that really mean? But that we’re really called to walk with God. So again, inviting us to consider, how do we keep the Sabbath? How do we walk with God, especially, at the beginning of each week on the Lord’s Day?

Now I share this background with you, because if you and I go into the Catechism of the Catholic Church in paragraph 2270 we read, “Human life must be respected and protected absolutely from the moment of conception. From the first moment of his existence, a human being must be recognized as having the rights of a person — among which is the inviolable right of every innocent being to life.” The most fundamental right we all have, beginning at our own conception in the womb, is the right to life.  And that’s what we’re here again to proclaim today. Not to throw it into people’s faces, as much as to remind people of that good news, of the Good News of how valued the human person is.

For me, that’s why (and I know people get nervous when we use this term) life is a seamless garment. But for me, the idea of a seamless garment begins at conception. How do you and I literally treat life through all its stages? How do we care for life and share that good news? As Jesus said in today’s Gospel, “the Spirit of the Lord is upon me. He has sent me to bring good news.” And what is the spirit of the breath of life? So how are you and I, who are infused with that breath of life, how do we go out now as pilgrims of hope? How do we share that hope with others? Think you see where I’m going with this, that if God breathes life into us, the challenge is how we breathe life into one another.

Here’s the catch, it’s actually found in the Gospel for this Saturday, which we also could have read, but I chose the one for the Holy Year, in today’s (Saturday) Gospel. It’s the call of Matthew, the call of Levi. Now, for many people, Levi would have been persona non grata. He was nobody. He’s a tax collector. He was just plain no good. But he wasn’t no good in God’s eyes. Because, as I read in a commentary this morning, here’s what Jesus didn’t say when he saw Levi at his customs post. “Traitor. You’re such a sinner; you’ve abandoned your faith and let your people down.” Those things might well be what some of Levi’s neighbors have been saying to him. It might even have been what he said to himself. That’s not what Jesus said. All he said was follow me. When he saw Levi, he looked inside his heart and offered him a chance to start over.

Brothers and sisters, in my own meditation this morning, I was reflecting upon whether we intend to or not, sometimes we can be like that elder brother in Luke Chapter 15, the lost son. We can be a little smug, ‘Well, I’ve done all this for you, and look at the way you’re treating this person.’ Today, we see, and Pope Francis said this the day after he opened the Holy Door, when he opened the Holy Door in Rebibbia Prison. He said, “No one is confined to their mistakes or too lost to be saved. No one is confined to their mistakes or too lost to be saved.” And so, brothers and sisters, as you and I go out from this place to proclaim the Gospel of Life here in the streets of Syracuse, we are being called to be ‘pilgrims of hope.’

As Pope Francis wrote in a beautiful reflection, he challenged us not to surrender to the night. Think of that. Not to surrender to the night, not to surrender to the whispering, the backbiting, the looking down upon others. And this is what Pope Francis said, “Do not surrender to the night. Remember that the first enemy to conquer is not outside, it is within you. Therefore, do not give space to bitter, obscure thoughts. This world is the first miracle God made. God has placed the grace of new wonders in our hands. Faith and hope go forward together. Believe in the existence of the loftiest and most beautiful truths. Trust in God the creator and the Holy Spirit, who moves everything toward the good in the embrace of Christ, who awaits every man and woman at the end of their life. Believe he awaits you. The World walks, thanks to the gaze of many men and women who have opened up reaches, who have built bridges, who have dreamed and believed, even when they heard divisive words around them. Never think that the struggle you engage in here on Earth is completely useless. Ruin does not await us at the end of life, a scene of the absolute is beating within us. God does not disappoint. If he has placed hope in our hearts, He does not want to crush it with continuous frustration. Everything is born to flourish, and an eternal spring. God also created us to flourish. I remember that dialog when the oak tree asked the almond tree ‘Speak to me about God’ and the almond tree blossomed. Wherever you may be, build. If you are down, stand up. Never stay down. Stand up. Allow yourself to be helped to stand up. If you are seated, set out on a journey. If boredom paralyzes you, banish it with good works. If you feel empty or demoralized, ask the Holy Spirit that the Holy Spirit may fill your emptiness a new, work for peace among people, and do not listen to the voice of those who spread hate and discourse. Do not listen to these voices, as different as they are from each other. Human beings were created to live together, in conflicts. Be patient. One day, you will discover that each person is the custodian of a fragment of truth. Love people, love them one by one.  Respect everyone’s journey, be it linear or troubled, because everyone has their own story to tell. Each of us, too, has our own story to tell. Every child born is the promise of a life that once again reveals itself to be stronger than death. Every love that springs up is a powerful transformation, which yearns for happiness.”

So, sisters and brothers, as we continue today our pilgrimage, our pilgrimage for life as ‘pilgrims of hope,’ bearing that hope to those we meet along the way, let’s simply pray as we continue our Eucharist, “Jesus help me today, to take the next step into the full life you have for me, and help my name to do the same.”