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RESPECT LIFE SUNDAY
October 7, 2007
On this Respect life Sunday and National Children's day we gather in this church to seek to understand more deeply the preciousness of God's gift of life and the great responsibilities it entails.
Wherever you go in the United States these days, you find people who are convinced that our country is living through a profound moral crisis. That crisis is experienced in different ways in different places. Some communities have become aware of it through drugs, crime and murderous violence on their streets. Others point to our skyrocketing rates of illegitimate births, divorce, and sexually transmitted disease. Some communities claim that a large part of our problem is the pornography we find on television, in the movies and on the internet.
Pro-life people have been aware of this moral crisis perhaps longer than many of our fellow-citizens. When we look at life in America after Roe v. Wade - a society with the most permissive abortion laws in the developed world - we see a lot of destructive things. We see the human carnage of over a million innocents killed every year. We see the terrible physical and emotional wounds inflicted on women in deep distress by the abortion industry, and by pro-abortion groups who treat every unintended pregnancy as the moral equivalent of a bad toothache. And now that women have been freed of involuntary pregnancy through abortion, some would say that it is time for the elderly and the terminally ill to be freed of involuntary suffering and dependency through euthanasia. Seeing all that, we wonder just what kind of a people we have become.
Although some people in the Jewish community consider it irreverent to compare the holocaust to any other act of violence, I find this testimony of a German citizen very powerful:
"I lived in Germany during the Nazi holocaust", the man said. "I considered myself a Christian. I attended church since I was a small boy. We had heard the stories of what was happening to the Jews; but like most people today in this country, we tried to distance ourselves from the reality of what was really taking place. After all, what could anyone do to stop it?
"A railroad track ran behind our small church, and each Sunday morning we would hear the whistle from a distance and then the clacking of wheels moving over the track. We became disturbed when one Sunday we heard cries coming from the train.
"We grimly realized that the train was carrying Jews on their way to the death camps. Then week after week that train whistle would blow, and we decided the only way to keep from being so disturbed by the cries was to start singing our hymns. By the time that train rumbled past the church yard we were singing at the top of our voices. If some of the screams reached our ears, we'd just sing a little louder.
"Years have passed, but I still hear that train whistle in my sleep," he said, "still hear them crying for help. God forgive all of us who called ourselves Christians, yet did nothing to intervene.
"Now," he said, "I see it happening all over again in America. God forgive you, for you have blocked out the screams of millions of children. The holocaust is here. Your response is the same as it was in my country. SILENCE!"
Becoming aware of a moral crisis does not, by itself, resolve the crisis. But it is the first step toward serious work on the problem. And that is how we should look at today's sense of moral crisis in American life: as a wake-up call, perhaps long overdue, to see what is at the core of a good and virtuous life.
The moral crisis of American life today is the belief that our happiness is a function of our wealth, our possessions, or our social status. Is that what makes us happy? No, what makes us happy (if we are honest) are faith, families, and friends; what gives us the greatest human satisfaction are obligations fulfilled, kindnesses performed, wounds healed, and insights gained. It is all about our relationship to God and the well being of the other person.
We are a society with a more slender grasp on the cause to which our ancestors pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor, because we have emptied "freedom" of its moral content and filled the vacuum with a radical individualism that is a sure prescription for endless conflict.
In defending the right to life of the unborn, in providing assistance to women in crisis, in refusing to be intimidated by the claims of the sexual revolution, in challenging the lethal logic of Roe v. Wade, we are, first and foremost, obeying the Lord's command that we be servants of the least of his brethren. But we are also working to give America a new birth of freedom. We are building on the great American traditions of hospitality to the stranger, of defending the underdog, of expanding the community of those who are protected.
When we continue to defend the dignity of human life and just treatment of all human beings from conception to natural death, we continue the work Christ expects of his disciples and servants. We cannot, we must not, be indifferent to the challenges we face in our nation. We look to Our Lady of the Rosary to appeal before the throne of God on our behalf.
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18th Sunday of the Year (a)
Deacon Conference July 31, 2005
This morning as I was eating my breakfast I was watching the reporter on the national news describe the incredible starvation of the children in Africa. The pictures were indescribable. I felt many emotions: personal helplessness at the overwhelming need for food and care, great sadness of the pain and sorrow I saw on their hollow faces, as well as guilt for the food that I was eating which I took so much for granted. You have been reflecting on the same social justice themes in these last days and may have experienced some of the same feelings as I did. None of us should go away from here with any satisfaction that we can simply put it out of our mind and return to the sports page as we thoughtlessly eat our meals.
The gospel today is about feeding the hungry and there are several ways we might look at Jesus' response to the problem he faced when he saw the multitude before him.
The simplest explanation is to say that it was a miracle when Jesus multiplied loaves and fishes to take care of their needs. Maybe it was like a sacramental meal. Some feel that those present received only the smallest morsel of food, and yet with that were strengthened for their journey and were content. It was not a meal where people glutted their physical appetite; but a meal where they ate the spiritual food of Christ.
An explanation suggested by some scripture commentators is that each pilgrim did have some small provisions for the journey. But no one would produce what he or she had, for they selfishly - and very humanly - wished to keep it all for themselves. Perhaps when Jesus produced his little store and began to share it, anyone who had anything was moved to do the same and there was more than enough for all.
The miracle was turning a crowd of selfish men and women into a fellowship of sharers. Changing not loaves and fishes but men and women.
Spiritual writer Louis Evely wrote The Gospels without myth. Here is his comment on today's miracle: "The way to teach modern man what Jesus had in his heart is not to ask him to abandon his responsibilities and wait for a miracle. We live in a world which allows its poor to die of hunger - but it is a world which also has sufficient wealth to feed the hungry and which has a Christian faith that commands it to share its goods. It is therefore wrong to believe in the miracles of the loaves if we are thereby dispensed from sharing our own bread."
A few years ago Parade magazine told the true story of a couple who were planning their December wedding. They could have spent a lot of money. Some surveys say that the average wedding in America costs $22,000. The couple was paying for the wedding themselves, both had good jobs, so they could afford a rather elaborate celebration but they wanted to us their wedding funds for something special and lasting.
So, after a simple church wedding followed by cake and refreshments at the church, the newly married couple took their 70 guests on a shopping spree at Toys R Us to buy holiday gifts for needy children. They gave each guest $15 to spend, although many spent more of their own money. It didn't take long for other shoppers throughout the store to start buying and donating toys to the wedding party. When the store rang up the last purchase, the wedding guests had bought $2400 worth of toys - enough to fill three trucks which were driven to the local Toys for Tots center.
The same couple celebrated their second wedding anniversary collecting groceries for a food pantry.
You have spent the last few days studying what has been called the Church's "best-kept secret," her social teaching. This teaching takes us beyond a narrow focus on the Ten Commandments. Many of us have never listened to Leo XIII declaring the right of workers to a living wage. We never heard Pius XI recommend that workers share in ownership and in profits. We never heard Pius XII insist on the strict right all humans have to whatever material goods they need to develop as human beings. We never heard John XXIII declare that farmers should share in the rewards of industrialized societies. We heard, and forgot, Paul VI telling the United Nations, "War, never again!" We have not heard John Paul II denounce unbridled capitalism or the danger of "having" over "being."
We are called by Christ to become the Eucharist we receive at this altar: giving thanks for what we have received by sharing those gifts - our talents, our riches, ourselves - to work our own miracles of creating communities of joyful faith.
A few days before his assassination, Martin Luther King Jr. called his mother to tell her the title of his next sermon: "Why America May Go to Hell." Thirty seven years later that title is still a reality. We do not celebrate Eucharist to get away from the rest of the week. We celebrate Eucharist to deepen our oneness with the Bread of Life, and in so doing to get courage from Christ to be Christ in our acre of God's world, to lessen the hungers of the human family. Each time you leave this house of God, you re-enter a paradoxical world: unbelief lives side by side with faith, fear with hope, hate with love, death with life. When one American child out of five grows up below the poverty line, dare we still say that the fault lies with the poor themselves? When perhaps three million are homeless, can we forget that the main cause is that the poor are being squeezed out of the housing market? When more blacks are in jail than in college, can we disclaim all responsibility, and call these descendants of slaves lazy or inferior?
My brothers and sisters, after 44 years of being a priest, I realize that I, like the priest in Jesus' parable, I too have passed the half-dead on the other side all too often. I cannot tell you what God expects of any of you; that you have to hear from the Master, from Christ. But this much I dare say. All of you are people of faith; many of you are people with power, are movers and shakers. Each of you must ask yourself what I have to ask myself: Where I work, where I spend my day, is that place different, better, more human and Christian, more "for others" because I am there?
When you receive Christ today in hand or on tongue, simply repeat the words of Paul when he was knocked to the ground on the road to Damascus. Simply ask the Christ within you, "What shall I do, Lord?" What…shall…I…do?
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Cathedral of the Holy Spirit
Bismarck, North Dakota
April 19, 2005
A few years ago when I was pastor of a parish in St. Louis, we always welcomed special feast days with the ringing of the church bells. One time a new person moved into the neighborhood and when he heard the bells ringing on a feast day he called up and wanted to know what was going on up there. The pastor answered the phone and answered, "Everything."
When we rang the Cathedral bells this morning, no one called to ask what was going on because the answer was pretty clear. We had joyful news. At 5:49 p.m. in Rome white smoke poured from the Sistine Chapel chimney signaling that the cardinals had chosen a successor to Pope John Paul II. Shortly thereafter the bells of St. Peter's Basilica began pealing continuously to confirm the election.
Then at 6:40, Chilean Cardinal Jorge Medina Estevez appeared at the basilica balcony and intoned to the crowd in Latin: "Dear brothers and sisters, I announce to you a great joy. We have a pope." He continued: "…the most eminent and reverend lordship, Lord Joseph Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church Ratzinger." The crowd in the square burst into applause. We simply had to ring our bells too.
My first opportunity to meet him was in 1994 when as a young bishop from St. Louis, I attended a month long conference of American bishops in Rome. Many outstanding theologians were invited to give presentations to us during our time there. Cardinal Ratzinger was one of the lecturers. I had my own preconceived notions of this man but I was surprised to see this rather shy, quiet spoken person who spent a great deal of time with us listening intently, explaining his theology and answering our questions. It was clear that he was a worthy prefect for the doctrine of the faith.
Last December the bishops of our province (Minnesota, North and South Dakota) visited the congregation for the doctrine of the faith and once again Cardinal Ratzinger was there, patiently responding to our questions and helping us with some the challenges we were facing back home. Certainly all of us will have an opportunity to come to know him much better in the coming months and years.
We read in our second reading from the letter of Paul to the Ephesians that "we can be children no longer, tossed here and there, carried about by every wind and skill in proposing error. Rather let us profess the truth in love and grow to the full maturity of Christ the head." Pope Benedict the XVI will lead us to be strong in our faith and not to be swept along by every wind of teaching. We will find him to be very close to the strong teaching of his predecessor.
The Holy Father is called to teach, to govern and to lead his people to holiness of life. Every good teacher knows that the best instruction begins in silence. The first and most profound silence is that of reflective prayer, listening to the word of God and responding to it in one's heart. The second is the silence of listening to those one is to teach, in order to know them. I do believe we will see these two great qualities in our new Pope. He will be both a man of prayer and a good and patient listener.
The gospel of John reminds us that "It was not you who chose me, it was I who close you to go forth and bear fruit." Truly it was the Holy Spirit who chose Pope Benedict XVI through the instrumentality of the college of cardinals: just as the Spirit was present when John XXIII was elected; just as the Spirit was present when Paul VI was elected; just as the Spirit was present when John Paul II was elected. We must support him in prayer so that he will be able to go forth and bear fruit and to lead the church.
Thank you God for the gift of Pope Benedict XVI. May he spend and be spent in the cause of your kingdom on earth.
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Cathedral of the Holy Spirit
Bismarck, North Dakota
During this holiest of weeks we focus our attention on the saving events in the life of Jesus: his passion, death, and resurrection. That is why it is rather striking that the readings for this Chrism Mass take us back momentarily to the beginning of Jesus' public ministry, back to Nazareth, his home town. There in the synagogue he opens the scroll and reflects on the words spoken by the prophet Isaiah over seven hundred years before his coming: "The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; therefore he has anointed me."
Kings, priests and prophets were anointed with oil to signify the special mission they received from God. We continue that tradition in our church by anointing not only persons but also places with holy oil. Today is the day we bless or consecrate that oil used in anointing. I will first bless the oil of the sick which will be used to bring comfort and support to the infirm. Then I will bless the oil of catechumens, which will be used in the preparation of those seeking to be baptized in the church. Finally I will consecrate the chrism oil which will be used to anoint the newly baptized, to seal the candidates for confirmation, and to anoint the priests and bishops at ordination. It will also be used in the rite of anointing when I dedicate churches and altars, which I did last Thursday at St. Patrick's in Dickinson. Our priests and deacons will carry these oils to every parish in our diocese.
In addition to the blessing of the oils, it is a day for our priests to gather with their bishop to renew their commitment to each other and to rededicate themselves to Jesus Christ in whose priesthood we share.
My brothers, it is a good day to be reminded of the special relationship that you and I are called to share. The Church speaks of the bishop as father, brother and friend of priests. It is a challenge for every bishop to live up to that calling from Christ through the Church, because building the trust that allows the bishop to be father, brother and friend is no easy task and ultimately only the Holy Spirit can bring this about.
Problems in recent years have caused misunderstandings and tensions between priests and bishops. Any harm done to the spiritual sacramental bond between us is very serious indeed. This bond is at the very center of this celebration and that is why you are called to renew your commitment and to be a faithful co-worker with me in all things. Without you I am like a human being without arms. I have the chief responsibility in the diocese for preaching, for liturgy and prayer and for pastoral governance, but I cannot fulfill these responsibilities with effectiveness and with joy unless I have you with me.
I ask a lot from you. You often find yourselves in the middle of diverse, and sometimes conflicting, expectations from your people. At times you feel that you are in the middle, trying to hold the parish or institution together, striving to make everyone feel valued and respected. You are frequently tired physically and drained emotionally because of the many individual, family, and community problems you must deal with. There is more work to do and fewer, less energetic priests to do it.
Unfortunately, sometimes I have become so preoccupied with crisis intervention that I take you for granted or unwittingly neglect so many of you who function effectively but need - and miss - my direct, personal support and encouragement. Please forgive me for that. I hope I have never caused you to ask "Does anyone care? Is it really worth it? Is it really worth being a priest?"
Let me read a Letter from Pope John Paul II that he wrote in 1979. I read it several years ago at the Chrism Mass, but it is worth hearing once again:
Dear brothers, you who have borne "the burden of the day and the heat," who have put your hand to the plow and do not turn back, and perhaps even more those of you who are doubtful of the meaning of your vocation or of the value of your service: think of the places where people anxiously await a priest, and where for many years, feeling the lack of such a priest, they do not cease to hope for his presence. And sometimes it happens that they meet in an abandoned shrine, and place on the altar a stole which they still keep, and recite all the prayers of the Eucharistic liturgy; and then, at the moment that corresponds to the transubstantiation, a deep silence comes down upon them, a silence sometimes broken by a sob…so ardently do they desire to hear the words that only the lips of a priest can efficaciously utter. So much do they desire Eucharistic Communion, in which they can share only through the ministry of a priest, just as they also so eagerly wait to hear the divine words of pardon: "Ego te absolvo a peccatis tuis!" So deeply do they feel the absence of a priest among them!...Such places are not lacking in the world. So if one of you doubts the meaning of his priesthood, if he thinks it is "socially" fruitless or useless, reflect on this!
We must be converted every day, we must rediscover every day the gift obtained from Christ himself in the Sacrament of Orders, by penetrating the importance of the salvific mission of the Church and by reflecting on the great meaning of our vocation in the light of that mission.
To my mind these are words each one of us must hear from time to time to remind us of the incredible gift that the Father has given to those of us who share in the priesthood of his Son.
We must allow the image of that soothing, fragrant oil, to flow luxuriantly into what is listless and broken in our lives today. Let it penetrate and loosen what is bound. May it leave its gleaming mark on us, ready to be instruments of its healing effect on the people entrusted to our care.
The oils we bless today will be the means by which you will continue to touch, heal, and send forth many people. It is the privilege of the priest to participate in this way in Jesus' healing power and ministry. You are the instruments he has chosen to continue his saving mission.
Your hands will touch infants and adults with the oil of catechumens, through which God's power will penetrate and raise them up as his beloved people. Your hands will touch those who are ill with the oil of the sick, bringing both to body and soul God's healing and saving power. Through the anointing with chrism, God will send forth women and men to live confirmed lives of faith and service. We acknowledge many young people, recently anointed with the chrism oil or preparing for the holy sacrament of Confirmation, who are here today. Chrism will also be used to anoint those called by God to serve in the ministerial priesthood.
This celebration, in fact, anticipates a year full of service to God's people. You who have received the anointing of ordination have the privilege of carrying on Jesus' mission for and with the local church here in Western North Dakota.
Priests often have a special awareness of being the instruments of God's healing, reconciling grace. It is an awesome thing to be so used by God - but it is not without its share of suffering. On Friday we will recall in a vivid way that Jesus was both priest and victim - for the salvation and new life of others.
My brothers, our recommitment today is an expression of our willingness to participate in Jesus' mission with renewed fidelity and enthusiasm. We have known periods of questioning and doubt. We have walked through the valley of darkness with our people - the dark valley of moral dilemmas, of physical and spiritual sickness, of injustice and oppressive structures. So, the question, "Is it worth it?" may still haunt us.
In all this, the Church asks us today to keep our eyes centered on Jesus as he comes upon the clouds of darkness. We are to watch him with great hope and love as he embraces all who need his care. The transformation that our eyes behold in this Eucharist - the transformation we see and experience each day in our ministry - evokes a promise that we will sing forever of the goodness of God.
I want to say that I am proud to be your bishop. I can truly say that I have never regretted answering God's call to this diocese and, if it is God's will, I hope to serve here in some capacity until I am no longer able. I pray each day for you, as I know you do for me. Let us continue to love and support one another even as we deepen our faith in and love for the Lord, whose priesthood we share.
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HOMILIES FROM BISHOP PAUL A. ZIPFEL
“Freedom from and Freedom for”
posted: 4/20/2005
Election of Pope Benedict XVI
posted: 4/20/2005
Liturgy for North Dakota Legislators
posted: 1/14/2005
Fourth Sunday of Advent (A)
posted: 12/21/2004
Respect Life Sunday - October 3, 2004
posted: 10/4/2004
Ordination to the Permanent Diaconate
posted: 9/30/2004
SERRA Club Mass - August 4, 2004
posted: 8/6/2004
Presentation at Mayor's Prayer Luncheon
posted: 5/10/2004
Passion/Palm Sunday April 2004
posted: 4/5/2004
Mass of Chrism April 5, 2004
posted: 4/5/2004
Thanksgiving Message 2003
posted: 12/2/2003
Feast of All Souls
posted: 11/4/2003
FEAST OF ASCENSION
posted: 6/2/2003
A KIND OF LOVING, FOR ME
posted: 6/2/2003
Holy Thursday 2003
posted: 4/17/2003
Bishop Ryan High School Liturgy
posted: 2/19/2003
Fifth Sunday of the Year (B)
posted: 2/8/2003
Thirty-third Sunday of the Year - A
posted: 11/20/2002
Feast of the Assumption
posted: 8/21/2002
Town & Country Celebration
posted: 6/11/2002
Pentecost Sunday
posted: 5/20/2002
MASS OF CHRISM
posted: 3/29/2002
THIRD SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
posted: 3/11/2002
FEAST OF THE HOLY FAMILY
posted: 3/11/2002
FEAST OF MARY THE MOTHER OF GOD
posted: 3/11/2002
MEMORIAL SERVICE HONORING DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING
posted: 3/11/2002
ASH WEDNESDAY - 2002
posted: 3/11/2002
FIRST SUNDAY OF LENT
posted: 3/11/2002
SECOND SUNDAY OF LENT
posted: 3/11/2002
THIRD SUNDAY OF LENT
posted: 3/8/2002
The official site of the Diocese of Bismarck, North Dakota
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