Homily Red Mass  - Respect The Person Of Every Single Man And Women 
 

SFC, 10/27/05
 
My brother priests, sister and brothers in Christ,
 
“Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of the faithful and kindle in
them the fire of your love” We gather this evening for the
celebration of this special Mass to ask the Holy Spirit for His Gifts
that we can continue our journey of faith one more year with renew
enthusiasm in the service of God and His people.
 
We specially ask for everyone involved in the judicial profession
as they, you all, play an essential role in pursuing the common
good of society. 
 
As always the readings of the Mass are a good source of wisdom to
review our life and find new ways to improve it. The 1st reading is
taken from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah. It contains the
announcement of the future coming of the Messiah, who will bring
‘glad tidings to the lowly, to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim
liberty to the captives and release to the prisoners, to announce a
year of favor from the Lord...’
 
The prophecy was fulfilled with the coming of Christ. So our first
reflection today is on the person of Jesus Christ because ‘In Christ
this prophecy finds its fulfillment, for he is the Anointed, the
Messiah, whom God has sent to his people in their tribulation”
(Navarre Bible, St. Mt. 4,18-21).
 
We turn today to contemplate the face of Christ. Christianity is the
religion of the followers of Jesus Christ, so it makes sense that we
get to know and try to imitate the life of Christ. In the words of
Pope John Paul II, “Christ considered in his historical features and
in his mystery, Christ know through his manifold presence in the
Church and in the world, and confessed as the meaning of history
and the light of life’s journey” Tertio Millenio Adveniente, 15.
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One of the greatest challenges to the Catholic Faith as Pope
Benedict XVI said in his inaugural homily is to open the door of
our lives to the person and teachings of Jesus Christ: “Today, with
great strength and great conviction, on the basis of long personal
experience of life, I say to you, dear young people: Do not be
afraid of Christ! He takes nothing away, and he gives you
everything. When we give ourselves o him, we receive a
hundredfold in return. Yes, open, open wide the doors to Christ –
and you will find true life” 4/24/05
 
It is a challenge because it becomes personal. We in our society
have no problem having faith. We believe in God but we would
like God to be a nice person out there, who is like a grandfather,
who is good and nice but has no direct influence in our daily life. 
 
Today we ask for the grace of discovering, once again, that Christ
is bringing good news! ‘glad tidings ... a year of favor from the
Lord” and that if we listen to Him, we will find ‘true life’!
 
The 2nd reading of today’s Mass talks to us about the ‘gifts’ that
Jesus brings to us through the coming of the Holy Spirit. St. Paul
talks about different gifts, forms of service, workings but the same
Lord. Gifts that have different manifestations: wisdom, knowledge,
faith, healing, ‘But one and the same Spirit produces all of these,
distributing them individually to each person as he wishes’ and all
of them ‘for some benefit’.
 
This gifts are a clear manifestation of the action of the Holy Spirit
in the life of the Church but we cannot forget that they should be a
source of unity as they are coming from God, ‘all have the same
divine origin’ and that they are oriented towards one goal, ‘the
common good’. (Cf. Navarre Bible, I Cor. 12,3).  To make it more
clear St. Paul uses the image of the human body, so the Church is
the ‘Mystical Body of Christ’.
 3
 
Among the many things that can help us to keep unity in the
Church without compromising the richness of the gifts of the Holy
Spirit we have the truth. Jesus himself said that He is the way, the
truth, and the life (St. Jn. 14,6). 
 
The understanding of human nature and our actions must be based
in the truth of God and his Will as creator and father. God created
the human person in his image and likeness: “There is a common
truth of a single humanity present in every man” (Cardinal
Ratzinger, Truth and Freedom).
 
The Church teaches that there is one objective and universal
truth. “The Second Vatican Council point out that the ‘supreme
rule of life is the divine law itself, the eternal, objective and
universal law by which God out of his wisdom and love arranges,
directs and governs the whole world ant the paths of the human
community. God has enable man to share in this divine law, and
hence man is able under the gentle guidance of God’s providence
increasingly to recognize the unchanging truth” VS, 43.
 
The truth about the human person that is especially important to
love and respect the dignity of the every single man and woman. 
 
Finally the passage of the Gospel gives us a roadmap of Christian
life in the world. Practicing our faith means to be poor in spirit,
merciful, clean of heart, peaceful, children of God.
 
The Beatitudes, from today’s Gospel, are a call to Holiness,
which is the goal of our life. “Life according to the Spirit, whose
fruit is holiness (cf. Rom 6,22; Gal 5,22), stirs up every baptized
person and requires each to follow and imitate Jesus Christ in
embracing the Beatitudes; in listening and meditating on the Word
of God; in conscious and active participation in the liturgical and
sacramental life of the Church; in personal prayer; in family or in
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community; in the hunger and thirst for justice; in the practice of
the commandment of love in all circumstances of life and service
to the brethren, especially the least, the poor and the suffering”
Pope John Paul II, Christifideles Laici, 16.
 
It is a real challenge, but we know that trying to live like this is
will give us real happiness. “Blessed means happy, fortunate, and
in each one of the Beatitudes Jesus begins by promising happiness
and pointing out the ways of achieving it... Our Lord points here
to the ways that can lead to limitless and endless happiness in
eternal life, and also to happiness in this life...” In Conv. 3.25.2
 
So, today let’s ask for the grace of God to get to know Christ, to
put our gifts to the service of God and His people and to practice
the beatitudes as a way of life based in the Truth of God.
 
May the Blessed Virgin Mary help all of us and especially all of
you in the legal profession to be faithful and generous in our
commitment to God. Amen.