ARCHDIOCESE OF PHILADELPHIA

Father Kevin Moley, Pastor of this Parish,
Father Patrick F. Woods, Redemptorist Provincial,

What a joy to gather with so many of the faithful of Saint Peter’s Parish and the Archdiocese, and with the Redemptorist Community here in Philadelphia. We celebrate the feast of our own Saint John Neumann, fourth Bishop of Philadelphia and outstanding son of the Redemptorist Order.

Our being together, in this holy place of Saint John Neumann’s burial, to celebrate the Eucharist is a great grace for all of us.

We celebrate his holy memory. We celebrate his holy life. We celebrate, above all, the powerful grace of Jesus Christ, the Chief Shepherd of the Church, who made John Neumann such an effective Bishop and shepherd of the Church of Philadelphia.

During these days our thoughts are still filled with Christmas joy as we continue our celebration of the Christmas mystery—the mystery of the Incarnate Word of God. Let us recall how our Christmas celebration began. We heard the Gospel of the Lord in which the angels announced to the shepherds the birth of Jesus. The angelic message: "For today in the city of David a savior has been born for you who is Christ and Lord." We remember how the shepherds went to Bethlehem and found the Child Jesus with His Mother Mary and His foster father Joseph.

It was a wonderful experience for the shepherds to adore the Child, but it was also an extraordinary experience for Mary and Joseph to present the Child to the shepherds so they could acknowledge and adore their Savior. We can imagine that in the years to come Mary and Joseph must have spoken to Jesus about those shepherds and about the night of His birth when they came to visit Him.

At any rate, we know that Jesus was faimiliar with the lives of shepherds and with sheep. In His own teaching He compared Himself to a shepherd. He said: "I am the good shepherd. A good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep." To be a shepherd, to be the Good Shepherd, was very important for Jesus. It explained so much of what His life was all about. And what was it all about? To lay down His life for His sheep, for us, for the members of His Church.

In the course of time, beginning with the Apostles, Jesus chose certain men to continue His ministry of being a shepherd, a good shepherd to His people. Down the centuries Jesus chose different men for this particular pastoral role in His Church. One of these men was John Neumann. He came from his native Bohemia to the United States. He was ordained a priest; he became a Redemptorist and afterwards the fourth Bishop of Philadelphia. He is buried in this church. His life in our local Church is the life of a faithful shepherd of God’s people who laid down his life in love for the flock. His life was short. He died young, at only forty-eight, but he was old enough to have fulfilled his role as a good shepherd laying down his life for others.

The Sacred Scriptures which we have proclaimed today help us to understand the greatness of Saint John Neumann by understanding the origin of his vocation, the aim of his ministry and the inspiration of his life.

His vocation came from God. We can compare it with the vocation of the prophet Jeremiah whom we encounter in our first reading. God’s words apply also to John Neumann: "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I dedicated you, a prophet to the nations I appointed you." And God’s further words to Jeremiah were also verified in John Neumann: "To whomever I send you, you shall go; whatever I command you, you shall speak. Have no fear before them, because I am with you...says the Lord."

To fulfill this his pastoral vocation, John Neumann left his home in Europe, embraced difficulties and laid down his life in order to bring the Gospel of Jesus Christ into the lives of others.

Like Saint Paul, John Neumann could say: "For we do not preach ourselves but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your slaves for the sake of Jesus." John Neumann’s vocation was that of a shepherd. He was chosen to know and adore Jesus Christ and then to communicate Him to the world. His world included Philadelphia and all her immigrant peoples.

John Neumann could communicate Christ—he could tell the story of His birth, life, Death and Resurrection—because he had first found Him in the arms of the Virgin Mary, where, like the shepherds of Bethlehem, he adored Him.

And in the Eucharist, and in the wonderful practice of Forty Hours’ Devotion, which he introduced into the United States, John Neumann continued his contact with Christ and his adoration of the God whom he represented and proclaimed.

Everything about John Neumann is reminiscent of today’s Gospel, which constituted the inspiration of all of John Neumann’s life and ministry. John Neumann heard and embraced these words of Jesus: "All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age."

John Neumann knew that the power belonged to Jesus, but that Jesus was sharing it with him. He, too, was to be a shepherd of God’s people, reflecting the love, compassion and undersanding of the Good Shepherd, and so it was.

Today, dear Friends, Saint John Neumann reminds us of God’s presence—"I am with you always." He encourages us, in our own way, to take our measure of responsibility for communicating Christ to others. But he reminds us also that, in order to communicate Christ to others, we must retrace the path of the shepherds, find the Child in the arms of His Mother and adore Him.

And when, like the shepherds, we have adored the Child, we will begin to recognize Him more clearly in others and serve Him in the poor, in the immigrants, in all those in need, all those for whom Saint John Neumann gave his life in loving service.

And, finally, today, we praise the grace and power of our Lord Jesus Christ, who alone could and did raise up the little Bishop John Neumann to be a good and great shepherd of His people. Amen.