Homily:
Good
Afternoon, Albuquerque!
Looking
out at the Sandia Mountains this afternoon as we celebrate the ordination of
Carol Ann Giannini, let us consider other ones who stood on the mountainside,
where Moses and Jesus became the voice of God.
As
Moses delivered God’s law to the people at Mt. Sinai preparing them for life in
the Land, so Jesus goes to the Capernaum mountainside to explain to the people
of God how to live. He settled that day
on the gentle slope rising above the city where nature had carved a natural
amphitheater, choosing a spot that he could effectively address a large company
of people. And we are here today nestled
in the basin of the Sandia mountain range.
Let’s settle in, and allow ourselves to be inspired as we discover our
God of Surprises!
The
Beatitudes are addressed to a people who have been longing for the dawn of
God’s kin-dom —that relationship with the Divine that will last forever. This was a people who had been longing for
the intervention of God in history and in their personal lives.
Carol Giannini, ARCWP prostrates at ordination |
Blessed
are those who are poor in spirit—those who know their need of God!
Blessed
are those who are mourning—those who are grieved by prevalent injustice,
persecution, and loss!
Blessed
are those who hunger and thirst for justice—those who hunger and thirst to do
what is right!
Jesus
speaks of those who ARE such persons—those who ARE blessed because of who they
are. Notice he does not command his
listeners TO BECOME such persons. It
appears that the gifts of love come before
the responsibilities of that love. Jesus reaches across our lives and puts the
message together for us in an entirely new way!
The
blessings described here will be experienced. These words of Jesus point
to the reality of blessedness that was experienced by the people who followed
him then, and who follow him today.
Each
instance points to the activity of God. “Blessed” means to be congratulated in a
deeply religious sense with more emphasis on Divine embrace than on human
happiness. And there is a future
dimension to those blessings—the kin-dom of heaven is theirs—they will live in
the Eternal Presence of God. They will
be consoled, they will inherit the land, they will have their fill, they will
be shown mercy, and they will see God.
All of these blessings point to a future reward, the future sense of
experiencing God’s Presence in eternity.
Carol Giannini ARCWP Mary Eileen Collingwood, ARCWP, and Juanita Cordero, RCWP |
The
Beatitudes are an invitation to those who are indifferent, those who
misunderstand God’s character, those who are hostile—for it is for them that the kin-dom of God shall be
established.
God
initiates these blessings where there is no sense of need or expectancy, and
Jesus offers hope to evoke them—to bring them about. What makes a person “blessed” is not one’s
poverty of spirit—the condition out of which one calls upon God—but by one’s being rightly related to God.
The
Gospel today speaks of “salt” and “light.”
What are the nature and function of these elements? Do they function separately, or as one?
In
Jesus’ vision, when his followers demonstrated the qualities of being salt and
light to the world, they were considered
the salt and light for the world.
Followers
of Jesus are called to be the preservative in a corrupt society. One of the
qualities of salt is that it keeps things from going rotten. In the Israel of Jesus’ day, this statement
is made in light of the corrupting influences of the religious leadership. It was so then, and it rings true in our own
day. We are called to act as a retardant
against the natural tendencies of societal and church culture that are built on
faulty ground to fall into decay. If our
traditional church does not recognize that the equality of women is
constitutive to the gospel message, all its efforts to right the wrongs in our
church will be built on sand.
SURPRISE!
Carol
Giannini stands before us this day of her ordination as priest. It is Carol’s calling by the Holy Spirit that
leads her here. Her entire life has been
one of serving others. And how did she
serve? She listened, she noticed, she reflected,
she prayed, and she acted. Every
situation she has ever experienced in her lifetime has been an opportunity to
serve the people of God, some with very distressing faces, in very distressing
places. Yet because of her continued
interest and yearning to continue her education and spiritual formation in
order to serve with the greatest compassion, knowledge, and insight, she comes
to us today officially recognizing that her life’s preparation in ministry was
also a preparation for being a prophetic witness as a woman priest.
Her
good works embrace her witness to the quality and vision of life she expresses.
Jesus
focused on the disciples’ “being,” not on their striving—he wasn’t interested
in someone striving to become “light,” because he believed they already were
light. Their good works merely let their
light shine. If the light is not hidden,
if what we really are is seen clearly, the witness will occur. This is what
Carol has done her whole life. Her light
shines today because she has chosen to serve others. For, the
gifts of love—the light within her-- comes before the responsibilities of that
love—living out of that light—a life promoting equality and justice in our
church and world.
Does
salt and light function as one? As
followers of Jesus, we embrace both together, becoming a living witness to the
compassionate God whose Spirit guides us in our mission and illumines our path.
The
women priest movement is built upon such a foundation. We are the heralds in the desert calling for
justice, equality and inclusiveness in our church. And our prophetic witness provides a model that
embeds those qualities in the church today for generations to come.
Welcome,
Carol, to this amazing calling! Know
that you will be supported and encouraged by your sisters and brothers within
the Association of Roman Catholic Women Priests, the entire women priest
movement, and your supportive local community.
You honor us with your presence as a companion on the journey!
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