Be A True Witness - Bishop Barron's Keynote at the Good News Conference

[Applause] thank you everybody that's very nice thank you well God bless you all thank you that was very nice and um love this conference delighted to be part of this from the beginning and to see it succeeding over these years is just a source of great joy for me and a source of Hope for the church so thank you everybody for being here um as you can tell I got a little bit of a cold so I'll be uh sipping some little water during this hope my voice makes it through the night um I thought before getting to my formal talk well course have maybe I could just give you the homy I was planning to give earlier tonight I thought I'd tell you a little bit about uh the Senate uh I've been on a bit of a roller coaster the last about six weeks or seven weeks um I met with the priest of my dicese at Lake okaboji Iowa anyone know where that is it's a resort you know it's a nice little town and the priests of my dicese go there yearly for a retreat so I gave a series of talks uh in okaboji and then I went directly from okaboji to RAB boji was uh the pope had called all the CED members over for a retreat so we went to a place called sakurano which is just North of Rome a retreat center and we spent three or four days there listening to Spirit ual talks and attending the Liturgy and in many ways the Senate began on the retreat because during the afternoons we gathered into these small groups and began the process of you know talking through some issues the Senate began formally I think on October the 4th lasted till October 29th so it was um it was a bit of a slog I must say the Senate I was at the Senate five years ago on young people and that too was four weeks and it was tough getting through it um they really work you in Rome and I I was used to this they work you from Monday through Saturday you get one day off a week during the Senate uh the day goes from about 8:45 a.m. till 7:30 p.m. with a little break in the afternoon for a Roman Siesta but it's a it's a long haul and it lasted uh four full weeks I'd say most of the sinid members at the end were kind of exhausted we were kind of worn out the best thing about the CATE I really mean this is um the variety of people that you meet so there there were Bishops cardinals lay people this time that was a novelty of the Senate from all over the Catholic world and what strikes you is there's probably no other organization on the planet that could assemble such a remarkably International CR prow as the Catholic church can um and that's a that's a privilege I remember on the retreat you'd get your food with there's this giant dining room and you'd go in and there tables like this and you had no idea there's a French speaking table a Spanish speaking table there was a Swahili speaking table and you just took your place and you know did the best you could but it was um marvelous experience of the universality of the church I love that about it the day um proceeded usually with small groups as the main focus so think the tables just like this 10 or 12 people we were assigned in the beginning and then every week we we kind of shuffled around so the groups changed I was with gosh among many others the Archbishop of Hong Kong the Archbishop of vilus in Lithuania I was with bishops from Malaysia from Ghana um from Canada from the US um from where else in Asia there were several Australia of course so extraordinary experience and we'd be around these tables we were instructed that you had to bring as I knocked it over you had to bring a 500w prepared statement to the small group so we had to entertain a particular question and they didn't want us just sharing off the cuff we had to come with this prepared statement and then we read them all around you know 12 people around the table and then in another round we were able to respond a little bit and then of course each table would report um to the to the General Session so that's kind of how the CATE preceded if you've ever dealt in your place of work with this kind of small group dynamic that was the idea this Senate was easier than 5 years ago because we were in the Paul V 6th audience Hall if you've been to Rome you know where the pope has his big Wednesday audiences uh in his giant Auditorium and they cleared out I don't know maybe maybe half the space of this room they cleared out the chairs set up these round tables and so we were a little more spread out in all the previous senates you were in the Senate Hall maybe you've not seen that but it's very claustrophobic kind of steep the Theater seating and this it's like the the worst middle seat on the airplane is where you sit and five years ago we had to wear the cassic uh every day so it was kind of hot and it was uncomfortable this time we were told we could just wear the the black suit like this and we were sitting at these tables so it was a bit more physically uh comfortable I'll tell we we each had the opportunity to see the Pope the pope was not there all the time as he was five years ago five years ago he was there at the Senate all day every day he's you know diminished a bit physically and he just he's in the wheelchair all the time so he'd come in for know two or three hours maybe a couple of days a week but when he came in we took the opportunity to go up one by one to to greet him so I went up and sat down across from him and we spoke Spanish and um had a little small talk and then he kind of leaned into toward me in this sort of conspiratorial way and he said now you you were from Chicago originally and I said that's right and he said um I remember reading a report about you when you were in Chicago he used the word inform in in Spanish which is means like a formal report I'm like what did the report say you know and he said it like that kind of and he said you know what it said I said no no tell me he said it said you are the new Fulton Sheen well I I say that not to get that Applause honestly I say I was so relieved I I thought he was gonna fire me or something I read this report on you but anyway it was nice I mean he he does know I think about word on fire and the work that we do so that was a that was a a a thrill I mean to hear that let me tell you the pope asked us you know not to talk much about the the stuff of the Senate the Really Work of the Senate so I won't do that I'll just share a couple of just maybe overarching themes to my mind and and you would guess this from if you read any of the preliminary work on the Senate people who have felt for different reasons marginalized uh from the church that their voices have not been heard that they want to be heard they want a place around the table um lay people especially who have felt marginalized want in around the table where decisions are made in the church and so this whole idea of cidality that's I think really what most people mean by it is involving more and more people in the governance of the church and and my reaction you know we we heard that over and over and over again was fine because I I think in our country we've had these senal structures for a long time I've been in three dases Chicago LA and now my own in Winona Rochester and you know the consultation of the lady takes place at all sorts of levels from Finance councils to to pastoral councils to Chancery offices my own Chancery office is 90% lay people majority women most Parish councils I know of are 90% or 100% lay people majority women now my point there is not to dismiss this concern but to say I do think in our country we have a lot of what people were calling for at the Senate now a point that I made often both in the small groups and one time in the plenary session was I get it I I get the desire for more people to be involved in the in the governance of the church but I would keep reminding folks but for 98% of the Ley right I mean so let's say all the positions that can be filled by lay people were filled in the governance of the church you're still talking about a tiny percentage of lay people 98.7% are meant to transform the world right that the task of the Le according to Vatican 2 is to go out into the secular order of finan and politics and business and entertainment and everything else and to crisy it and so what I cautioned a few times at the Senate was there's such an odd intra preoccupation of how to get inside the governance of the church when I think Vatican 2 and the popes after Vatican 2 have been emphasizing odd extra right the Le going out into the world so that was a theme that that um surface quite a bit a second thing that concerned me a little bit there was a lot of talk about Mission and you know the mission of the church and the church doesn't have a mission it is a mission all that wonderful language from Paul v 6 and I think that's gotten into people's minds and hearts they got that message which is good but as I read the documents and heard much of the conversation too often I thought Mission seemed to be uh the you know the amelioration of political and economic conditions in the world important stuff social justice and I'll say more about it tonight in my talk but I I I worried at times that we didn't hear the language of eternal life and Grace and salvation and Heaven and Hell and the cross and Redemption you know the the the properly Supernatural Dimension and what I argued both in the in the at the tables and at the plenary session was yes the supernatural lifts up the natural right ainus says that right that that Grace doesn't destroy nature it it perfects it it elevates it and so yes of course we're more committed to social justice we're more committed to the poor the more we understand the supernatural dimension of the church's life so that's a point I made I a number of times those are just a couple of themes uh I'll share with you at the moment we're Midway through the process we'll meet again next October uh we all said to the organizers of the Senate please make it shorter next year because we all thought that being away from our dases for five weeks was a lot so we'll see what happens next year when I think they're going to take the themes that emerg during this first round around and then try to focus them so anyway just wanted to give you a little flavor of the Senate um I'm I'm G to publish a piece relatively longer piece on on the Senate sharing some of these ideas it'll come out I think next week okay and now to my talk I love the theme you chose with witness because it speaks to something everybody that is really distinctive to Christianity Christianity is not a philosophy though it can incorporate philosophy it's not primarily a mysticism though it can incorporate mysticism it's not a religion that comes welling up out of natural experience though it can accommodate that Christianity is about something that happens and there were Witnesses of it something happened and there were Witnesses of it without that Christianity falls apart I've said before uh what distinguishes the gospels from any other form of religious literature whether it's it's Sufi poets or it's Buddhist uh sages or Confucian philosophers the difference is the gospels are grabbing you by the lapels and telling you something happened the other religions might talk about ethical principles and and mystical intuitions and and deep philosophical ideas all of which are fine but there's something sort of musing and reflective about them then there is the gospel mind you gospel uan gelon good news something happened something happened and there were witnesses to it and they were so overwhelmed by what they saw that they wanted to grab Everybody by the lapels and tell them about it that's Christianity now what happened Jesus happened happened Yeshua this first century Jew they saw and heard his teaching and his preaching they saw his healing above all they saw him die and they saw him rise from the dead now look at that first one that they saw him die it was very important for the ancient Romans who knew how to put people to death by the way they were expert at it it was very important for them that a crucifixion be public it was meant as a deterrent and that's why Jesus is crucified right outside the walls of Jerusalem we say Mount Calvary you know the word just means a skull it's like a little rise in the ground near a quarry they think kind of a garbage d dump area but the idea was to crucify him right by the city Gates so anyone coming and going would see him can you imagine everybody what it was like for the first followers of Jesus especially his disciples to see him die I mean how devastating it must have been here's the one think of the road to a story you hear an echo don't you in that we thought he was the one who was to rule in Israel but but obviously he was not this one who I mean claimed to be the Son of God who spoke and acted in The Very person of God the mashiach of Israel the anointed one the great davidic warrior that's what we thought he was and then we saw him die in this horrific way he didn't die in his bed you know from a long illness he's brutally put to death by the Romans how utterly devastating it must have been but then they saw something else didn't they these Witnesses these first Witnesses they saw Jesus risen from the dead you know I just came across this a couple days ago Graham green the great Catholic novelist right by the end of his life he'd been sort of alienated from the church but you know his great novels the power and the glory and the end of the affair and you know he's a Catholic writer he said one of the things that led him to accept Christian faith was the account in John's Gospel of the two disciples running to the tomb remember that that John and Peter run to the tomb and John outran them and got there first but then waited for Peter and graah green said such a weird thing to put into a story unless it was vividly remembered that the peculiarity of that moment when these Witnesses came and first saw the empty tomb you remember to the detail in John of the of the burial clause and and the the head covering rolled up by itself why would you if you're just telling a Mythic story why would you include a detail like that unless it was vividly remembered one of the great Clues I think to the reality of the Resurrection it's in Acts chapter 10 we always read it on Easter Sunday one of those early charismatic uh proclamations you know the things that happened up in Galilee and and the baptism that was offered by John and then the stuff that happened down in Judea you remember all that stuff that's how the speech begins it's like if I were to say to you you know I started the other other day I was up in uh in Baltimore then I drove to Washington and got on a plane and flew here to Orlando would you think for a second I was telling you a myth or a legend no no you say oh what happened next so you're Baltimore then Washington then Orlando yeah then what happened you would assume correctly I was telling you about something that happened something real well that's exactly how that charismatic Proclamation commences all those things about Jesus of Nazareth and then there's there's this line that it always takes my breath away attend to it this coming Easter when you hear it we who ate and drank with him after his resurrection from the dead let that sink in so he's talking about something real Galilee and Judea John the Baptist remember all that and then the Jesus yeah yeah remember all that we we ate and drank with him after his resurrection from the dead that's not how myth makers talk that's not how people who are trading in Legends talk you know how they talk by the way a long time ago in a galaxy far far away but see that's exactly the clue correctly that that I'm now going to tell you an archetypal tale I'm going to tell you a legend a myth it's like once upon a time that's my clue that well this didn't really happen it's an archetypal story and then there's the gospels that don't talk that way they say things like you know it was pontious pilate who put him to death and and isn't it wonderful every Sunday we repeat that he was crucified under Pontius Pilatus a a a a datable Roman Governor we have physical evidence of his existence how powerful that is this Jesus we're talking about he was crucified under Pontius Pilatus and we ate and drank with him after his resurrection from the dead we are witnesses to it you know I thought of this everybody often when I was in Rome I stated at the North American college I don't know if you know where that is on the geniculum hill so it's just a little bit south of St Peters and the The Knack we call it the North American NAC is built on the top of the geniculum and then on the top of the neck the fifth floor they have these guest rooms where where Bishops tend to stay when they go there so my room lovely place and these windows that look beautifully out on St Peter's Basilica it's so like at night with the lights on it I would just I would just Muse at the window looking at the Dome of St Peter's and I often thought underneath that Dome lies shmon bariona this fisherman from karum who one day met Yeshua from Nazareth and Yeshua gave him a new name Simon sh Shon bar Simon son of John from now on you're going to be called keas Rocky rendered in Greek is Petros and Latin is Petrus Peter and on that rock I'm going to build my church and and by God it it occurred to me night after night as I gazed out at that Dome there he is under that Dome there he is Petrus keas Shimon bariona who knew Jesus who was a witness to his death and Resurrection who ate and drank with him after his resurrection from the dead and he lies there underneath the most beautiful grave marker in the world and that's what St Peter's basilic is isn't it it's saying Peter's here Peter's here Peter is here this guy that knew Jesus you know that line from first letter of John he said I speak to you of the word of life well okay I I can imagine any philosopher or religious Mystic saying that but then he adds the word of life that we looked upon that we saw with our eyes and touched with our hands now that's the difference everybody a witness a witness who saw him touched him ate and drank with him after his resurrection from the dead that's the still shocking revolutionary novelty upon which Christianity rests don't let it turn into a vague philosophy don't let them turn Christianity into one religion among many it's based upon Witnesses who saw the resurrection they saw Jesus risen from the dead now what makes that something more than just wow what an extraordinary one-off event that is it's because they interpreted it right away in light of Israel what is Israel the People Israel but God's rescue operation right after sin had had messed with the beauty and integrity of God's creation he sends a rescue operation this People Israel whom he's going to shape according to his mind and heart gave him Covenant law Torah Temple prophecy all these great institutions and then Israel dreams that one day a mashiach an anointed one would come who would represent the Fulfillment of all of the institutions of Israel who would be the temple in its fullness the place of right praise he'd be the Fulfillment of Law and Covenant he'd be the prophet par Excellence he'd be David par Exelon who would finally deal with the enemies of Israel what they saw and Paul Paul of course who was sha Rabbi Shaul until he saw him revisit Paul's letters sometime read them as though you reading them for the first time here's this Shaul on fire with the traditions of his of his fathers he's a he's a on fire Israelite and he wants to do damage to these Christians because they're making all the these crazy claims and so off he goes the acts of the Apostle says breathing murderous threats and then he saw him he witnessed the resurrected Jesus he saw and you know everybody even from a sheerly historical standpoint I don't know how else to explain how you get from Sha breathing murderous threats to the Apostle Paul how do you get there how do you explain that he witnessed something he witnessed the same thing Peter did same thing John did same thing the apostles did and they understood something God has dealt with the enemies of Israel but not the way they expected that Roman cross would represent every lousy negative cruel hateful aspect of the sinful world this symbol you know if if you you get on our wrong side we're going to hang you on this thing until you die and it's about the worst way to die that human beings have ever devised and so this thing was meant to terrify the world it summed up everything wrong with Humanity in our cruelty and violence and hatred Yeshua this friend of Peter and John and James was crucified on on one of these awful instruments of torture and God raised him from the dead which means what everybody that God's love and mercy are more powerful than anything that's in the world more more powerful than Rome than anything Rome can throw at them more powerful than any hatred any cruelty any violence any Injustice our God is more powerful and that's why and this this process begins even in the New Testament period when Paul talks about I I displayed before your eyes Jesus crucified that that's a weird thing to say in the first century what do you mean you're displaying someone crucified that's like the ugliest gross most most disgusting thing you could show but look how we still do it here I'm standing before you as a bishop of the Catholic church and I got this thing in in Gold because that's a taunt see I'm saying that's meant I wear that as a taunt we say well this is a nice religious symbol no no no it's a taunt you think this scares us we're going to put gold on it because we realize realiz God is more powerful than this awful thing think of that everyone when you when you see a [Applause] cross that's what it means you know I had the privilege a few months ago I was over in London and uh I gave a talk at the at the parliament not in the parliament but it was in the Parliament building area and um at the end of it I reminded them I said you know have you guys looked recently at the Union Jack which Lies Over the parliament houses the Union Jack is a is a Confluence of Three Crosses all right so think about that for a second fluttering over the the uh government center of this great world power is the cross on which this young Jewish rabbi was put to death in the first century how weird that is isn't it how strange that is but it's done there too if you properly understand understand it as a taunt God's Mercy is greater than anything that's in the world that's what they witnessed that's what they witnessed to that's what we still need to witness to okay that's the first part of my talk but I don't worry it's going to be quick the second part so you say Okay Bishop I think I get that I think I get these sort of lofty ideas about the nature of Christianity but what about me what about my life well let me do the translation now maybe you've heard me say I've quoted a number of times Dorothy Day the foundress of the Catholic Worker movement said everything a baptized Christian does every day everything should be directly or indirectly related to the Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy I remember I read that years ago and and it's one of those lines that just changes you everything a baptized Christian does every day should be directly or indirectly related to the Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy you see the translation now what does this mean that they witness to that God's mercy conquers all evil God's love and mercy are greater than anything that's in the world so our job now as we witness to Christ is to become channels of that Mercy to the world that's our job that's Christianity that's what it looks like when you translate these loftier ideas into life so what I want to do I'll do it real briefly don't worry I won't go plowing through each one and you know if you don't know the Corporal and Spiritual Works just Google them or ask Siri just says hey Siri what are the Corporal and Spiritual Works and they'll pop up but I just want to say a word about at least some of them Corporal Works the first three I'll group together feed the hungry give drink to the Thirsty and clothe the naked and I love about that I love how concrete those are that's a word our present Pope used a lot I think correctly the concrete oh I'm a person of Mercy yeah that's nice fancy talk but on the ground what does mercy look like it looks like feeding the hungry giving drink to Thirsty people and clothing naked people you know I lived in um Santa Barbara California for six years when I was auxiliary out there so one of the most exclusive beautiful places to live in the whole country Oprah and Prince Harry lived about 15 minutes from where I lived but I guarantee you I know this for a fact about 10 minutes from where I lived there were also hungry and thirsty people it's true of everybody in this room I don't care where you live I don't care how exclusive a neighborhood 10 minutes from where you live there are hungry and thirsty people what are we doing now to feed them and give them drink soup kitchens shelters for the homeless those exist within easy Striking Distance of everyone in this room how much time are we spending there how many donations are we giving when we prepare a meal can we double what we need freeze half of that and then bring it down to the homeless shelter or the soup kitchen you know clothe the naked um I think you can do a lot of interesting spiritual work when you go into a in your closet go into your closet like everybody in this room it's true for me um there are a lot of things in that closet I haven't worn in probably four years know I mean someone once said there there should be an expiration date on clothes like there is on food like if you've not worn that thing in a year it it's time to give it away I propose that as a spiritual exercise to you go into your closet and look at your shoes and shirts and pants or dresses or whatever you got in there how much do I really need and can I give the rest to those who do desperately need clothing the naked who are among us even now you know that line has been attributed to both Ambrose and Milan and John christone if you have two shirts in your closet one belongs to you the other belongs to the man who has no shirt one of those lines again that changes your life when it sinks in think of it again there are two shirts in your closet uhhuh One belongs to you the other belongs to the person with no shirt you know when Pope Francis he got he got criticized a lot for this but unjustly when he spoke some years ago about the universal destination of goods remember that people said he's a Marxist it's not mark that's aquinus right that we have a right to private ownership says aquinus but when it comes to the use of our private property we must always have the common good first in mind that's not Marx that's Thomas aquinus and aquinus stands in the tradition going back to Jesus and to Isaiah and to Amos and Hosea and the Hebrew prophets clothe the naked there are people within 10 minutes of where you live I guarantee you who need clothes can we do something to address that problem next one shelter the homeless gosh when I was in LA I I started there in 2015 um and you'd walk around downtown LA near the cathedral and you'd see a lot of homeless people but six years later when I left I think the problem was 10 times worse 20 times worse maybe homeless people all over the place in California but you know that every city every major city in our country now that's a very real pressing need calling out for Works of Mercy go back to Dorothy Day again she said writing back in the 30s that she didn't like Roosevelt's New Deal how come because it it made everything a government program instead of something that we should be doing ourselves it's makes it more challenging not less right what are we doing to address that issue to shelter the homeless next one visit the imprisoned again what are we doing we're embodying this this taunt that God's Mercy is greater than anything in the world so don't believe it when they say no no these are intractable impossible problems God's love is more powerful so let's get to work let's join his army visit the imprisoned my model here is Johnny Cash right Johnny cash who played in prisons a lot and when he was asked one time how come you play in prisons he said well first they're the best audience but then he said secondly and it's an entirely satisfactory answer it seems to me he said because I'm a Christian right it's good answer Christians visit the imprisoned um when I was in California there was a there was a a youth detention center in Oxnard um and you'd see these kids that were like 15 16 covered in tattoos they had committed violent crimes and I remember one of the chaplain there told me there are third and fourth generation gang bangers in that prison their grandfather their great-grandfather was a gang member you know on the Other Extreme I used to go to the Loke federal penitentiaries about 45 minutes from my home and you know who was there for a Time the Watergate criminals I think Charles ol and Holderman erckman were in the Lomo Penitentiary U my point is trust me wherever you live within Striking Distance there are the imprisoned do we visit help them intercede for them and of course not just those in federal penitentiaries but people imprisoned by their by illness imprisoned in their loneliness we know imprisoned people all around us do we visit them relatedly visit the sick you know all kinds of people we know right right around us who are sick empowered by the cross become a witness of Mercy the last one I think of my dear father uh bury the dead um my father is a good Irishman went to a lot of wakes and when he would come home from the Wake he would almost invariably say we were little kids he would say Corporal work of mercy and I think the first time I heard the term Corporal work of Mercy he must have learned that in Catholic grade school but it got deep into his heart that when you went to a wake what were you doing you were helping to bury the dead yep that's a work of Mercy can we follow up though we all know people who've recently lost a loved one can we help them continue that process of burying the Dead with our caring visits and our and our concern so those are the seven corporal Works of Mercy that's what Witnesses do people that believe in the power of the Cross I'll close with this a little reflection on the Spiritual Works of Mercy first one counsel the doubtful now listen everybody we're going through a crisis right now of young people disaffiliating from our church we know that I've talked about it a lot what do you hear from them time and again I never had my questions answered I I had a lot of doubts about religion you know it seems to be an odds with science and it seems like a lot of nonsense and I asked questions and no one had answers and I think you know they're not lying about that that was a real failure of our church that we were not there to perform a work of Mercy which indeed it is to counil the doubtful if people are wrestling with the great questions and we're not there as Elders in the community to help them that's failing in a work of Mercy relatedly the second one is instruct the ignorant I used to tell my students at mundeline now that's what I do as your teacher they never really cared for that but you know I I love the fact that this is seen properly as a work of Mercy you know that that wonderful Any teacher in the room knows this that when you present something in such a way that that someone's mind and heart open up and you teach them physics or chemistry or history or whatever it is but when you instruct the ignorant you you open their minds and hearts to to the world of value epistemic value aesthetic value moral value that's a work of Mercy that's a work of Mercy because one thing that God's love conquers is the darkness of ignorance the darkness of self-absorption and when when you as a teacher either formally or informally can open that up you bet that's a work of Mercy third one admonish Sinners that's something Witnesses do monio in Latin means to warn right to admonish a sinner is to warn a sinner it's a work of Mercy isn't it someone's heading toward a cliff and we don't say a thing shame on us everyone in this room myself included we know people who've been going down a very negative path of self-destruction and if we and again fellow sinners in this room we love this approach to sit in judgment you know like the church lady we sit in judgment on Sinners to admonish Sinners it's not that it's not judgment that's cheap and easy admonishing a sinner is getting down into the into the muck and the mud of someone's dysfunction and be willing to walk with them not just to to scold them from a distance but to warn them and to walk with them get them backed away from the cliff whether it's forms of addiction whether it's types of sin and may I say this everybody in kind of a self approach one of the many faces of the worst crisis in the history of the American Church namely the clergy sex abuse crisis is a failure in this and as priests have to bear a lot of responsibility Bishops too a failure to admonish Sinners did we see things and look the other way did we see things and not warn so that's a work of Mercy that's not being judgmental it's a work of Mercy when you warn a sinner I bet everybody in this room right now can think of some somebody that you know who's who's hurdling down a very bad path what's the merciful thing to do relatedly fourth work of spiritual work of Mercy forgive wrongs gosh how how Central to the teaching of Jesus forgiveness was forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us everyone in this room i' be willing to wait every single person myself included there's somebody that we need to forgive and we can't bring ourselves to do it right there's some wrong that was done to us and we're still nursing it we're still kind of Quasi enjoying it and we're still still holding a grudge against the person that caused it how much human suffering is caused by this failure and mercy that's what forgiveness is it's not Justice see Justice is is just kind of eye for an eye you know let's set let's get the thing correctly balanced again that's justice but see Mercy mocks Justice the letter of James says right a work of Mercy is to go beyond Justice think of someone right now that you need to forgive do it as a work of Mercy fifth Comfort The Afflicted in a way boy that's maybe the easiest one because there's so much Affliction right all around us physical Affliction psychological Affliction spiritual Affliction Financial Affliction they're Afflicted people everywhere do we take the time to comfort them that's a work of Mercy that's what witnesses to the Risen Christ do last two here's here's really my favorite of the Spiritual Works of Mercy I think about it a lot bear patiently the Troublesome there are a lot of troublesome people right there are a lot of let me give you another word annoying people whether you're on an airplane and someone's talking too much and annoying you or whatever it is there are plenty of annoying people around there's a line from Jose mariaa I've always loved he said instead of saying gosh that person's annoying me you should say gosh that person is sanctifying me right that for some reason the Lord has sent this Troublesome person to call forth from Me Greater patience and greater love and maybe maybe what I'm finding so annoying is something wrong in me right that needs correction that needs Improvement um don't miss the opportunity of being Sanctified by annoying people rather see it as an act of mercy and again every day this is easy one to find right every day last one pray for the living and the dead now can I just give one little angle maybe we haven't thought about enough about the crisis of people staying away from Mass so said and I stand by it it's a spiritual disaster when you stay away from the source and sum of the Christian Life when you regularly stay away from a connection to God when you say I I don't care about the mass anymore is that bad for you yes it's very bad for you but with this in mind staying away from Mass which is the greatest form of Prayer is a failure to do a work of Mercy maybe the mass is not primarily for you maybe you're going to mass is for the sake of the person that you are praying for at that mass a living person sure or maybe someone that's died and that your attendance at mass and your prayer at mass is benefiting both the living and the dead therefore when you stay away from Mass you're failing in this great work of Mercy to pray remember a line from Merton seven story Mountain I've never forgotten as a young kid he's exploring these ruins of medieval monasteries in the south of France and he's kind of exulting in how mournfully beautiful they are but then he says of course he's writing from within the walls of of a trapis monastery he said I wonder now how many of those medieval monks prayed me where I am today and it's a beautiful line it's and I've never forgotten since I read it but it speaks to this that the prayers we offer now who knows the effects they're having maybe long after we're gone but staying away from prayer that's a failure in Mercy I remember when I was at mundeline and students would come to me and say oh Father I'm I'm finding pray in the office you know it's just so difficult I'm not getting anything out of it I say I don't care I don't care if you're not getting something you're not praying for yourself primarily when you open up that office as a priest you're praying for the church you know that that wonderful mournful um Psalm we pray it at night prayer every every Friday and it's the most sparing Psalm about someone that's just lost and friendless and they feel like they're lying among the dead and their only companion is Darkness it's just terribly dark Psalm and years ago A very wise teacher said to me when you're praying that Psalm maybe you don't feel that way but trust me somebody right now in the body of Christ feels exactly that way and you're praying for him or you're praying for her to pray for the living and the dead everybody that's not something trivial not just having nice thoughts about someone that's a work of Mercy okay so what are witnesses to this uh cross do I'm I'm a successor of the Apostles as a bishop that's the the title that moves me the most as a bishop I'm a successor of the Apostles when we were sitting in the cnid we were in the Paul the 6 audience Hall which is just south of the Bernini colonade just south of the Basilica you know what stood there in the first century was the circus of Nero and that's where Peter was put to death he was crucified there Legend says upside down and you know the Obelisk which stands now in the center of St Peter's square that was in the uh circus of Nero likely it's one of the very last things St Peter saw the witness the witness who who saw Jesus die saw him risen from the dead and then bequeathed that great witness to the world and it's carried all the way down over 20 centuries to Orlando Florida and this gold cross which is a sign that God's Mercy is more powerful than anything in the world and there's the program everybody to join jesus' army is to do the Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy so let's get to it God bless you [Applause] [Music] all

Channel: Bishop Robert Barron

Views: 57,540

Keywords: bishop barron, word on fire, powerful sermon, good news conference, catholic keynote, catholic speaker, catholic speech, evangelization, new evangelization, catholicism, catholic, catholic church, catholic motivational speaker, catholic talk, the good news conference, bishop robert barron, bishop barron keynote, bishop barron speech, corporal works of mercy, spiritual works of mercy, works of mercy, good news conference 2023, mission of the church, witness, be a witness

Id: niiYuFqyA8Q

Length: 52min 18sec (3138 seconds)

Published: Thu Feb 29 2024