ARCHDIOCESE OF PHILADELPHIA

Dear brother Bishops, Priests and Deacons,
Dear Consecrated Members of the Church,
Dear Serrans,
Friends in our Lord Jesus Christ,

Serra International: Lay Collaboration in the Church,
Lay Collaboration with Christ

            The great value of our gathering together today is the fact that we are assembled in the name of Jesus, the Son of the Eternal Father, the Son of Mary. We gather together as members of His Church called to fulfill a mission for which we are empowered by His Church.

             We gather at an historic moment in the life of the Church and the life of Serra International. Serra International is conscious of the mission that the Church has recognized for it - a holy mission, an ecclessial mission, a vital mission. There is great need for priestly vocations, for holy priestly vocations, and for a ministry of lay support for our priests. In addition, in a different but related way there is a great need for vocations to the consecrated life. In supporting also this important work Serra has given a great measure of assistance. There is, moreover, a pressing need for the holiness of the laity, and Serra is called to contribute to this.

            This is the context in which we gather for this International Convention. It is important for us to recognize at this time the enormous challenges that face the Church of Christ. It is important for us to recognize the enormous challenges that face Serra International.

             It is also important for us to recognize the beauty of Serra International, to understand how Serra is a part of the greater lay apostolate in the universal Church. It is important to recognize how the role of the laity in Christ's Church is fulfilled in a particular way in and through Serra.

            May I share with you my own original contact with Serra International? It goes back to the time of my ordination to the priesthood. My brother Paul was a married man at the time. He was a member of Serra. Eventually he became the father of twelve children before his very premature death from cancer when he was only 51 years of age. What so impressed me at the time was how my brother Paul, like so many other dedicated lay people, had this deep interest in promoting the priesthood of Jesus Christ. He, like his fellow Serrans, had his own individual and particular vocation in the Church. His was the vocation to Christian marriage. Yet he had the time and the passion to promote the vocation to the priesthood through prayer, through good works, through the activities of Serra International. How impressive this is because Serra is so linked to the faith of the Church, to an understanding of the value of the Eucharist in every vocation, and the necessity of the Eucharist in the life of all Christians. It was from this generous involvement of my brother and so many other dedicated Catholic lay people that I was able to understand for the first time the wonderful objectives of Serra: their great love for the priesthood and their desire to see the Eucharist made available through worthy ministers to the people of God. And in the course of the years, in promoting the vocation to the priesthood, as a primary objective, they also contributed greatly to assisting and supporting and promoting the vocation to the consecrated life, which is so helpful in sustaining not only the priesthood but all vocations in the Church.

             And so the great inspiration for Serra is part of the vision of the Church for the laity. A particular expression of the Church's activity is given to the laity so that they might contribute to the overall Eucharistic mission of the Church and to the good of all. The work of the laity has been so beautifully explained by the Second Vatican Council but the Second Vatican Council has its roots in the perennial teaching of the Church. It has also been faithfully implemented by succeeding Popes.

            At this time I would like to share with you some words of an impressive talk given a number of years ago by Pope Paul VI. The Pope was quoting the Gospel of Saint Matthew, the passage where Jesus says to Peter, "You are Peter and upon this rock I will build my Church." Well, as with every Scripture quotation we are free to emphasize a particular word. And that day Pope Paul VI chose to emphasize the word "my," saying "You are Peter and upon this rock I will build my Church." He emphasized that word "my" to show that the Church belongs to Christ. And then he went on to explain that Christ vindicates possession of His Church. He lets every generation share in the mission of His Church-and what a privilege it is! Jesus gives the Pope great authority in the Church for the purpose of serving others. And yet, it is only for a season.

             The Lord does not permit anyone to possess His Church. He does not permit anyone to change the constitution of His Church. He does not permit anyone to take over His Church. It is "my" Church, Jesus says, and this is a very sobering thought for all of us. Whereas this expression emphasizes our privilege of working together with Christ, it also injects a great deal of realism into the way that we proceed. We are servants of Christ's Gospel. In God's great love, we are able to contribute something that will last. As Jesus says: "I have chosen you, so that you may go forth and bear fruit, fruit that will last." So, we truly have wonderful opportunities to spread the Gospel, to build up the Church. And yet, the last word is with Christ. Christ alone possesses the Church. At the end of each pontificate, Christ entrusts His Church to another steward, another servant Pope who is to act only in His name. The same principle applies to all of us.

             This helps us to have a better understanding of the importance of our own stewardship in the Church. We are all stewards of the mysteries of God. Our talents and all our gifts are to be used in accordance with the mission of the Church as determined by Christ and as proclaimed by the living teaching of the Church.

            And what a privilege it is for us to be associated with Christ and His word! I cannot emphasize this enough. We are joined with Christ in His work of salvation, in His prayer and worship, in His activity of evangelizing the world, bringing the Gospel to all peoples, into all strata of humanity, and into all cultures. And what a privilege it is for us to serve the Church in the name of Jesus, to assist those in spiritual and material need, to communicate Christ's compassion all around us!

            All our works are part of the Church's life. They are not unrelated individual works; they are not the unrelated works of individuals, parishes or groups. We are all part of the one mission that belongs to the universal Church and therefore to Christ.

             Here there are two important principles to be stressed as we discuss this aspect of the Church. The first is, then, that the Church belongs to Christ. Christ knows what He is doing in guiding and governing His Church. Once we acknowledge this fact, we see that there is no contradiction whatsoever with our second principle, namely, that the members of the Church contribute something real and wonderful to the work of Christ the Head. And this is what we are involved in: contributing something real and wonderful to the work of Christ the Head. Christ lives in us and works through us, and Christ is willing to use us fully. In a real way, Christ needs us. The two principles go together; they complement each other. First, the Church belongs totally to Christ as His work. And yet, secondly, Christ is willing to need us in order to bring His work to completion.

            Here I would like to explain our collaboration in the Church, because it is very important, and I would like to explain it in the words of Pope Pius XII in his encyclical on the Church, Mystici Corporis. What do we mean when we say that Christ needs us? The Pope explained this in these beautiful words: "As Jesus hung on the Cross, He not only fulfilled the justice of the Eternal Father . . . but He also won for us, His brothers and sisters, an unending flow of graces. It was possible for Him personally, immediately, to impart these graces; but He wished to do so only through a visible Church that would be formed by the union of people, and thus, through the Church, every individual would perform a work of collaboration with Him in dispensing the graces of redemption. The Word of God willed to make use of our nature, when in excruciating agony, He would redeem mankind; in much the same way, throughout the centuries, He makes use of the Church that the work begun might endure."

            Pope Pius XII went on to clarify this very important principle, saying: "Because Christ the Head holds such an eminent position, one must not think that he does not need the Body's help. What Paul said of the human organism is to be applied likewise to the Mystical Body: 'The head cannot say to the feet: I have no need of you.' It is manifestly clear that the faithful need the help of the Divine Redeemer for He has said: 'Without me you can do nothing.' And in the teaching of the Apostle, every advance of this Body toward its perfection derives from Christ the Head. Yet this too must be held, marvelous though it appear: Christ needs His members."

            This truth-that Christ needs His members-is spectacular. Stated 64 years ago by Pope Pius XII, in the encyclical Mystic Corpis, it explains so much about the meaning of collaboration in the Church. Incidentally, this encyclical was one of the rich sources of the documentation of the Second Vatican Council. How impressive this truth: Christ needs His members! How important its consequences.

            The Pope then further explained: "Jesus Christ wishes to be helped by the members of His Body. This is not because he is indigent and weak, but rather because He has so willed it for the greater glory of His unspotted Spouse. Dying on the Cross, Christ left to His Church the immense treasury of the redemption. Toward this she contributed nothing. But, when those graces come to be distributed, not only does Christ share this task of sanctification with His Church, but he wants it, in a way, to be due to her action."

            This leads us to confirm the immense value of our collaboration in the Church. The Pope helps us to understand this, by saying: "Deep mystery this, and subject of inexhaustible meditation: That the salvation of many people depends on the prayers and the voluntary penances which the members of the Mystical Body of Jesus Christ offer for his intention, and on the assistance of pastors of souls, and of the faithful, especially of fathers and mothers of families which they must offer to our Divine Savior as His associates" (Mystici Corporis, 16, 54-55). In all of this, the main concept is that we are valued associates in the work of Christ; we assist Him in the application of His work of redemption.

             We see then what a great contribution the laity are able to make to the Church, and the members of Serra International are honored to play a particular role in this regard. The mission of the Church then must be always before our eyes. The challenge of making our contribution must motivate us constantly.

             And so with these thoughts we turn to this Convention of Serra International which is now drawing to a climax and will reach its summit in the celebration of the Eucharistic Sacrifice. The purpose of this Convention, like others, is to regroup our strength, to rededicate ourselves to the mission which we now see more clearly and appreciate more deeply. On the occasion of this Convention it is therefore necessary to enter into a holy exchange with fellow members. Every gathering in the Church is one of dialogue. But our dialogue is not meant to be mere talk. It is directed to salvation and therefore to God's glory. In his first great encyclical, Ecclesiam Suam, Pope Paul VI offered to the Church a new category of dialogue. He called it "the dialogue of salvation." In this type of dialogue we recognize a variety of complementary charisms being exercised. We perceive the incompleteness of our own charisms and insights. Here at Serra International we are blessed to enjoy also the richness of input from different nations.

             Our Convention is hence a moment to look to each other with a new attitude, a new openness, a new docility to grace. It is a moment to ponder in admiration the Church's mission in which we share. It is the moment to see our structures in relationship to our mission and to its achievement, always knowing that our mission cannot be separated from the mission of the universal Church and that of Christ.

            In our exchanges and deliberations, the limits of our own human wisdom emerge clearly. We recognize the value of our own insights into the whole apostolate of vocations, and yet we recognize that the combined wisdom of the Church has so much more to teach us. We come with an attachment to our own ideas regarding the structures that serve our organization. At the same time we realize that the combined international insights of all our members assist us in all the important areas of our reflection. And so as we face all the challenges of Serra International, the challenges of our mission and the ways we fulfill it, we realize that it is not our strength and wisdom on which we rely but the power, light and strength of the Holy Spirit working in the Church.

             I like to share frequently a personal experience I had during the years that I worked in the Vatican Secretariat of State. On one occasion there was a significant challenge, a significant problem that we were facing.. I remember my superior at the time telling me that he would refer the matter to the Holy Father, who was then Pope John Paul II. The essence of his report to the Holy Father was that this serious situation had not been resolved. The problem remained despite all the efforts that had been made toward its resolution. After referring the matter in audience to Pope John Paul II, my superior shared with me the Holy Father's comments on the matter. He began by saying to me, "Do you know what he told me after I said to him 'Holy Father, we still have this problem'"? He went on to relate that the Pope said very simply: "We have not prayed enough."

            Behind that response of John Paul II was a whole attitude of understanding what the Church is, how she works in total and complete dependence on Christ, and how she does not make up her own solutions but relies on the power of God. Dear friends, it is exhilarating to reflect on how much God offers us though prayer. It is exhilarating to ponder how the great challenge in the Church today of finding worthy ministers of the Gospel and worthy celebrants of the Eucharist depends on God's own plan for the implementation of His design for the Church. And so, really, all of us are constrained, certainly invited, to repeat what John Paul II said: "We have not prayed enough." The great treasure of the priesthood, the great treasure of consecrated life in the Church, the great treasure of holiness for the laity-all of these treasures are dispensed in conjunction with prayer. Jesus himself said, "Pray the Lord of the harvest to send laborers into His harvest."

            What I would like to mention at this time is that the need for prayer in our lives, in the life of the Church and in Serra International is complemented by another need: the need for purification. What we are able to accomplish through prayer and through the purification of our hearts is simply extraordinary. Prayer and purification are able to supply for many lacks in the Church. I can remember, during one of the Synods of Bishops, an intervention by Cardinal Vlk of Prague who spoke about the life of the Church in the Czech Republic-at that time part of Czechoslovakia- during the era of communism. The Cardinal mentioned how the Church was restricted in every way possible. She had no external means to fulfill her mission. The Church had no access to the media. She had no Catholic press. The Church had no possibility of conducting schools. The Church had no opportunity to gather the faithful for any activities outside of the church building, outside of Mass. And yet with this repression and all these limitations the Church had to go on. And the Cardinal said that in spite of the fact that we had nothing, we had everything. Because we had the word of God, we had the sacraments, we had the presence of Jesus, we had the indwelling of the Spirit of God. And so the people of God were able, notwithstanding the repression and limitations to fulfill their essential role of being the Church. God was in charge. It was Christ's Church and Christ was repeating during those years "my Church," just as He had said so many years before during His earthly life: "Upon this rock I will build my Church."

             Because the Church belongs to Christ, it is Christ who tells us what contributes to furthering the mission of His Church. It is Christ who tells us what is effective, what is necessary, what produces fruit. In other words: what works. And Christ has done this in a very special way through the teaching of the Second Vatican Council. I would like at this time to draw your attention to an extremely important principle of the Second Vatican Council. It is the principle of supernatural effectiveness, in other words, what works in God's plan. The Second Vatican Council explained this principle in a very special way when it treated the question of ecumenism or the restoration of Christian unity. Certainly the Second Vatical Council was very much in favor of dialogue. It recognized its great importance. But it is the dialogue of salvation, the dialogue about God, about Jesus Christ, about the will of God for His Church. It is not a dialogue of sterile and stubborn personal positions, but of prayerful seeking God's will. But what the Second Vatican Council emphasized even more than dialogue was the need for purification, the need for holiness in the Church. Here we have some of the most splendid reflections of the Fathers of the Second Vatican Council.

            Vatican II wanted us to understand what it is that really contributes to the restoration of Christian unity. What is it in God's plan that contributes on our part to rebuilding, to restoring the unity of divided Christians?. On this subject the Second Vatican Council is eloquent. It points out that the soul of the whole ecumenical movement, what is rightly called spiritual ecumenism, consists in a change of heart and holiness of life along with public and private prayer for the unity of Christians. Vatican II insists that this is what is so absolutely essential in working for such a high goal as the unity of Christians. In other words, prayer, purification of heart, and holiness of life are necessary if we are to obtain a goal that is so important. God does not give us this extraordinary gift of full Christian unity without our fulfilling His conditions. It is the same way, dear friends, with our work for vocations. The Second Vatican Council urges explicitly: "That all Christ's faithful remember that the more purely they strive to live according to the Gospel, the more they are fostering and even practicing Christian unity. For they can achieve depth and ease in strengthening mutual brotherhood to the degree that they enjoy profound communion with the Father, the Word, and the Spirit." This text is mind-boggling in its beauty and its depth. It helps each of us to understand our Christian vocation. What Vatican II is telling us, dear friends, is that holiness of life, the way we are living the life of the Most Blessed Trinity, makes a difference in a pragmatic way to what we are going to achieve in fulfilling the great objectives of the Church. Certainly the promotion of vocations is one of these. Certainly all our efforts on behalf of the priesthood of Christ, on behalf of God's plan to supply worthy ministers and consecrated Religious for His Church-all of this depends on our fulfilling God's plan for us to live in holiness of life.

             We are further stuck by those words of Vatican II that assert that "there can be no ecumenism worthy of the name without a change of heart. For it is from newness of attitudes, from self denial and unstinted love that yearnings for unity take their rise and grow toward maturity. We should therefore, pray to the Divine Spirit for the grace to be genuinely self-denying, humble, gentle in service to others....." What the Second Vatican says about the achievement of true ecumenism we can rightly say about the success of our efforts for vocations and our service of the Church. There is no worthy vocation apostolate without a change of heart, without prayer, without holiness of life, without the purification of our hearts whereby we live the life of the Most Blessed Trinity by grace and charity.

             Dear friends, our assembly today, which is an assembly of the Church, rejoices in hope. We see the challenges ahead of us, we experience various difficulties but we have our eyes fixed on Jesus, whom Saint Paul identifies as "our hope." And in this Christian hope that we are living together we find joy: the joy of being associated, all together, in Serra International, the joy of fulfilling a role of working together in an apostolate in which the Church empowers us. In our differences and in our various charisms we experience mutual esteem because we all belong to Christ's Church. In our challenges, in our hopes, in our resolutions, in the renewal of our commitment to a mighty goal, we are sustained by an unbreakable trust that comes from the realization that we share in the mission of Jesus and His Church.

            A number of years ago, as I mentioned earlier, Pope Paul VI reflected on the Gospel of Saint Matthew, quoting those words of Jesus to Peter, "You are Peter and upon this rock I will build my Church." In commenting on these words, Pope Paul VI explained that in the Church even the Pope's very special powers are given to him by Christ only for a season. Dear friends: we must not miss a very important lesson. While we have the great privilege of participating in the mission of the Church and are given the opportunity to make a contribution and sometimes a great contribution to Christ's Church, it is only for a season. This gives us a great sense of humility, dear friends, a great sense of how our mission, whatever it may be in the Church, is limited and therefore to be accomplished urgently. Our personal role is a gift of God and it is exercised in the Church of Christ but it is only for a season.

             With this realization, we know that it is up to us to collaborate with great zeal and devotion, always placing our trust in the Lord, always relying on Christ to assist us to do His will. It is He who makes the life of the Church possible. It is He who, working through His Holy Spirit, infuses dynamism into the Church; it is He who accomplishes the objectives of the Church. But we share, we are His partners, we are His collaborators, we are His co-workers in the Kingdom of God. As we reflect on this great reality, the fact that the Church belongs to Christ, and that it is He who guides her and directs her, He who gives her stability and strength, we realize that all the obstacles that present themselves to us are to be faced with great serenity and loving trust. Everything is to be done for Jesus. Everything is to be accomplished by His strength. Everything is for His glory.

            From the last book of the New Testament, the Book of Revelation, we begin to understand how the victory of Christ has already been accomplished. Christ is already, through the mystery of His Passion, Death and Resurrection, victorious. It is only a question of the unfolding of this victory in time. And we, dear friends, are called by God to participate in this victory. And we do this by faith. Saint Johns tells us that this is the victory that overcomes the world, our faith (1 John 5:4).

            Finally, as we pursue our work in Serra International and in the Church as we meet our challenges and face our problems, we must always remember the question that Jesus addressed to the two blind men who were seeking His assistance. They came to him asking for mercy, asking to be healed. Jesus' question to them was very direct and it is the direct question that he poses to all of us this afternoon. He said to them and now He says to us: "Do you believe that I can do this" (Matthew 9:28). This then, dear friends, is our final challenge: the challenge of our faith. Our response can be nothing other than, "Yes Lord we believe that you can do this. We believe that you can work through us if we will accept to recognize that it is your grace that accomplishes everything. We believe that with your help our work in Serra International will be fruitful and our mission in the Church successful. Yes, Lord, we believe that you can accomplish in us what you desire. We believe, we accept the conditions of prayer and the purification of our hearts, and we submit to you in love".