2012 Archive

1. May 6

   Living in the kingdom of God

   Our political, social, ecclesial and often even our family lives seem divided and fractured these days. What the church puts together in a seamless way — respect for human life at every stage of development or vulnerability, justice for the poor and the migrant, condemnation of oppression and violations of human and religious freedom, the rejection of violence as a means of solving conflicts — fits into no political platform. Many seem purposely to create division or exploit divisions already separating people. The resurrection of Jesus from the dead, celebrated during the 50 days between Easter and Pentecost Sunday, is the antidote and the cure for the present impasse that destroys lives and separates people; but living with the risen Christ in the universal kingdom of God entails a huge shift in perspective, a displacement of the horizons that form habitual ways of living and thinking.

2. April 22

   Easter homily

   The Gospel just proclaimed brings us to the scene of an empty tomb on the third day after Jesus’ crucifixion and death. We see and hear Mary of Magdala, John the Beloved Disciple, and Peter, the head of the 12 apostles. Each had been part of Jesus’ life before his execution; each had been part of the recent story of his passion and death.

3. April 8

   Through private suffering to public glory

   Death and Resurrection, the story of Holy Week, is everyone’s story, a universal story. It is a story at all because Jesus, truly God and truly man, died to deliver from their sinfulness all those who would come to believe in him, and win for them eternal life. Our death will probably not be like Jesus’ death; crucifixion is no longer used to impose the death penalty, which, thank God, is now abandoned in Illinois and more and more rarely imposed anywhere. Our resurrection, however, will be very like his, although delayed until he returns in glory to judge the living and the dead.

4. March 25

   Dwell in my love…

   As the church moves through Lent to Holy Week, phrases from Jesus’ farewell discourse to his Apostles in the Gospel according to St. John are proclaimed in church and recalled in our memory. The words are powerful and should resonate in our souls. “Dwell in my love,” we hear Jesus telling the apostles and us as well. Dwelling in love brings our inner experience into line with Jesus’ external command: “Love one another as I have loved you” (Jn 13:34).

5. March 11

   How would the Pope decide to vote?

   The season of voter primaries is upon us in Chicago and elsewhere. Voting is a moral act, so considering how to vote requires moral deliberation. What are the principles and the issues that help a person of faith decide how to vote? Can the Pope be of help? Since the Pope is sovereign, the question of how to vote doesn’t apply to him personally. But the Holy Father’s Lenten Message for 2012 gives us the framework for shaping our thoughts and honing the considerations we should have in coming to a morally responsible decision on how to vote.

6. February 26

   What are you going to give up this Lent?

   The Lenten rules about fasting from food and abstaining from meat have been considerably reduced in the last forty years, but reminders of them remain in the fast days on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday and in the abstinence from meat on all the Fridays of Lent. Beyond these common sacrifices that unite us spiritually to the passion of Christ, Catholics were and are encouraged to “give up” something voluntarily for the sake of others. Often this is money that could have been used for personal purposes and instead is given to help others, especially the poor.

7. February 12

   Bishop Wypych reflects on role of a bishop

   Editor’s note: Cardinal George is in Rome for the ad limina visit with the bishops of Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin (see story on Page 5). He asked Auxiliary Bishop Andrew Wypych to write a column in his place for this issue.

8. January 29

   What’s in a name?

   The third edition of the post-Vatican II Roman Missal now being used to worship God in the Mass has a wider choice of Eucharistic Prayers and Prefaces and includes the feasts of saints canonized in the last 20 years. It also restores to the liturgical calendar some feasts that had been dropped in the first and second editions of the Missal after the Second Vatican Council. Among these restored feasts is that of the Holy Name of Jesus, now celebrated on Jan. 3 each year. This restoration is important for the Archdiocese of Chicago, because the Holy Name of Jesus is the titular feast of our cathedral church and parish.

9. January 15

   Religious liberty and its discontents

   In a TV interview on Christmas Day, I said that I feared the Chicago Gay Pride Parade this year might grow into a demonstration disruptive of Catholic freedom to assemble and worship God in the local parish church. My words surprised many and wounded others.

10. January 1

    Christmas homily, 2011

    Welcome to the celebration of the Midnight Mass of Christmas! Together, we pause and pray, we gather and open our hearts to God’s love and the love of our families and friends. We open our hearts, as well, to all those whom God loves, to the world saved by the child whose birth we remember this night.