ARCHDIOCESE OF PHILADELPHIA

As a community of faith and Christian love, we gather in response to an immense catastrophe that has struck our nation. It is not a theoretical disaster. Hurricane Katrina has touched the lives of thousands upon thousands of our brothers and sisters—some whom we know, most of whom we do not.

Brothers and sisters have been struck by the fury of nature. Many have lost their lives and we pray for their souls, that God will give them eternal salvation. Untold thousands have lost their homes, their possessions, above all, their loved ones. They depend on others. They depend on us for the necessities of life. And we are proud of the new wave of human solidarity that has now washed our entire country. We are deeply grateful for the worldwide response of concern, of charity, of mercy, of personal involvement.

It is in this situation that we listen to God’s word presented to us in Saint Paul’s Letter to the Romans: "Love one another with mutual affection... Do not grow slack in zeal... Endure in affliction, persevere in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the holy ones, exercise hospitality.... weep with those who weep."

We hear the affliction of our brothers and sisters. We hear their anguish. We hear thousands upon thousands of people expressing the sentiments of the psalm: "I lift up my eyes toward the mountains; whence shall help come to me? My help is from the Lord, who made heaven and earth."

We know that the Lord will help our brothers and sisters, but we know that His help presumes also our own: our prayers, our generosity, our willingness to bear other people’s burden in solidarity, in charity.

Saint Paul says: "Help bear one another’s burden and thus you will fulfill the law of Christ." How important are the needs of our brothers and sisters—food and drink, housing and healthcare, human sustenance in so many forms. But also the encouragement of human solidarity when profound discouragement sets in.

We do not have the answers to the mystery of human suffering, the mystery of God’s permissive will in allowing human catastrophes. But we offer to our brothers and sisters the fruit of our faith, which is generous love and concern—the type of persevering support that does not wear off in a day, a week, a month. The catastrophe that we have seen becomes a gigantic challenge to our faith and to our way of life.

The Gospel today puts everything into perspective. It gives us the final word to explain why our brothers and sisters are important for us—the final word of Jesus that explains what our true relationship should be with one another.

In the Gospel of Saint Matthew, Jesus speaks to us in the context of the last judgment. What He tells us is of immense importance. It is this: there is a unity, a oneness, between Himself and those who share humanity with Him—those who are His brothers and sisters. What we do for them, we do for Him: "I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me.... Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of the least brothers of mine, you did for me."