We All Have One Origin
Homily - 40TH ANNIVERSARY of the Dedication of
ST. IGNATIUS LOYOLA as the CATHEDRAL of the DIOCESE OF PALM BEACH
Sunday, October 6, 2024
As I mentioned at the beginning of Mass this morning, we are celebrating three occasions on this Oct. 6, the 27th Sunday of Ordinary Time. They are the 40th anniversary of the dedication of St. Ignatius Loyola Church as the cathedral of the Diocese of Palm Beach; Respect Life Sunday, on which we begin the annual program for respect life this year under the theme of “I came in order that they may have life”; and we welcome to the annual Red Mass our judges, lawyers and those in the legal profession of Palm Beach to ask the Holy Spirit’s continued guidance upon them in their important work of protecting all of us with the law. The readings for today have something to say to us about each of these occasions.
In the second reading from the Letter to the Hebrews, we are told that “He who consecrates and those who are being consecrated all have one origin.” The letter is referring to Christ becoming one of us and giving His life in order that we might have life. As we celebrate the consecration of this cathedral 40 years ago for the Diocese of Palm Beach, we reflect that this cathedral was consecrated in order that each of us might realize that this space is used for us to come together and pray as the family of God and that it exists for each and every one of us as consecrated persons. As we celebrate 40 years of this cathedral parish and 40 years of our Diocese of Palm Beach, we are all the more aware that God created us and that when we turned away from Him, He redeemed us. He did not turn away from us, but ultimately sent His Son, who became one of us. Indeed, “He who consecrates and those who are being consecrated all have one origin.” It is in this cathedral that we celebrate Christ truly becoming one of us in the Eucharist as we receive him as our food for life.
The first reading for today, from the Book of Genesis, speaks of respect for life. It reminds us that God created us in His image and in His likeness so that we could have a true relationship with Him through each other. It reminds us of the sanctity of life from the very beginning in God’s plan of the creation of the world. A man and woman give themselves to each other in a permanent commitment in order that, through them, new life might come into the world. We are meant to live in communion as does God in the Trinity, and not in isolation. As we recall the creation of the world, we recall that the first man and woman, Adam and Eve, rejected God’s gift and rebelled against Him. They broke the law of God as God had created things to be, as we were made in God’s image and likeness. When it was rejected, God ultimately became one of us, as we read in the second reading today. The gift of marriage, which brings with it the gift of life, reminds us of the sacredness of every single human life from the moment of conception until natural death, and how that life must be protected since it is from God and a reflection of God Himself. Today as we celebrate Respect Life Sunday, we renew that commitment to the life of every single person as created by God. Christ came in order that we might have life.
The Gospel from St. Mark reminds us, in a vivid manner, how God’s law has been ignored and of our deep gratitude to our judges, lawyers and those in the legal field who do not separate law from God’s natural law. The scribes and Pharisees, who prided themselves on following the law, to win the esteem of others, try to trap Jesus over and over again by questioning Him about the law, and sometimes His seeming breaking of the law. That is the case today as they approach Jesus and ask: Is it lawful for a husband to divorce his wife? Here is where Jesus shows that He is the master, not only of the law, but of life, the life of God Himself. He asks them: What did Moses teach? And they respond that Moses permitted divorce. The answer of Jesus is an honest and riveting one, but one that goes to the heart of the matter and the reality of sin from the very beginning of creation. Jesus makes very clear that Moses broke the law of God by permitting divorce. He gave into the hardness of the hearts of the human person in a more convenient approach. Jesus stresses that, from the beginning, as we read in the Book of Genesis this morning, God created man and woman for an exclusive union, which cannot be broken. What Moses did was an example of how the law of God can be broken and enshrined as the right thing to do. We see that happening in so many different ways today, where political correctness is the hardness of heart.
This leads us to an important reflection on a law, which is before us on Election Day. Amendment 4 would alter the constitution of Florida so that abortion can be performed in the most devastating and destructive manner. It is important for all of us to vote No on this amendment. Jesus had no problem in proclaiming that Moses was not following God’s law in the law that He put forth in His own day and age. How much more should we not be surprised that in our day and age many laws are put forward which go against the law of God. While we surely should be understanding and sympathetic of people in difficult situations of all types, that does not nullify God’s law or give us the ability to change it. We must always remember that when this happened, God did not change His law, but He became one of us to show us the manner of how to live it, and in that way, saved us by His own sacrifice of life. Amendment 4 is seriously flawed ethics and seriously flawed law.
In this context, I again want to express my deep gratitude to all of our men and women who give of themselves to work in the judicial and legislative arena and for placing the law of God at the center of what law is all about. We are very grateful to these fine and dedicated men and women. I want to congratulate all of you here at the cathedral on 40 years of being signs of the temple of God by coming to this temple and supporting each other in faith, receiving the Eucharist as the center of our lives, knowing that we live in communion. I also thank all of you for your commitment to the sanctity of life from the moment of conception in the mother’s womb until natural death. Jesus became one of us in order that we all might have life. He who consecrates and those who are concreated all have one origin. May God’s life, reflected in His law, continue to be the center of who we are as made in His image and likeness.
Most Reverend Gerald M. Barbarito
