The Eucharistic theme of the readings of today's Mass seem especially appropriate as we mark and celebrate the 50th anniversary of our local Church, the Diocese of Norwich. Our Church finds its center, source and life in the Eucharist. It is here that our celebration of this living anniversary finds meaning, purpose, and future.
In the first reading, the Lord God shows compassion to His people, the children of Israel. They are hungry and He will feed them. But this gift, the gift of "flesh" and "bread" will prefigure, anticipate, a far greater gift that will be given by Jesus. Humanity, caught in the spiritual desert of this world, will receive the Bread of Life and never hunger again. For this reason, Saint Paul, in the second reading, calls the followers of Jesus to put on the new self. We must seek the spiritual, the truth that is Jesus. And that truth is that Jesus is the Bread of Life, the very source of true life. And those who come to Him in the Eucharist will in reality live forever.
The Church has always understood this fact. One of the earliest Christian texts, apart from the New Testament, is the Didache (The Teacher) written sometime between 70 - 100 AD, possibly in Syria. It describes the Way of Death, the way of sin, and the Way of Life, the way of love. This Way of Life is the way of Jesus, and of the Eucharist: self-gift, participation in the very life of God. In our time, the Second Vatican Council calls the Eucharist the "source and summit of the Christian life" (Lumen Gentium, 11). True life is offered to humanity in this gift, a gift that Vatican II calls the entire spiritual wealth of the Church (Prebyterorum Ordinis, 5). In his recent encyclical letter, issued this year on Holy Thursday, Pope John Paul II explains that in the institution of the Eucharist at the Last Supper a decisive moment was reached in the formation of the Church which would be born by the gift of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. Thus, the Pope states, the Eucharist "is the heart of the mystery of the Church" (Ecclesia de Eucharistia 1, 5).
Weighty and heavy thoughts this contemplation of Faith and the Church! Impossible to fully understand and difficult to examine, and yet it is experienced everyday here and now. And it is this reality that we celebrate in our Fiftieth Anniversary. The presence of Jesus, self-gift, "oneness" in the time and being, all of these exist in the Eucharist, and we are called to live these mysteries, as followers of Jesus Christ. And we have in the Church of Norwich! With human limitations and failures, with accomplishments in joy and sorrow, in commitments and sometimes despite ourselves, here in Eastern Connecticut we have realized the Mystery of the Church. The Paschal Mystery lives and the One who proclaims today "I am the Bread of LIfe" is known, followed and loved.
Jesus is asked, "What can we do to accomplish the works of God?" He answers: "This is the work of God, that you believe in the One He sent." We have believed! And we have acted on that belief. Our ancestors in the faith have believed! And they acted on that belief. And in this anniversary, we proclaim that our belief will carry us forward into "deeper waters" and allow us to meet the challenges ahead in the third millennium.
Our ancestors believed! Often of modest means, often immigrants to this great nation, they built magnificent Churches meant to honor the Presence of Jesus among them. Observe the beautiful church of Saint Bernard in Rockville, or Saint Joseph in Willimantic, or Saint Patrick's Cathedral in Norwich, or in many cases, your own church with its story. And it was not easy: Saint John in Middletown, the mother Church of our Diocese, reminds us of a time when Catholicism was not welcomed in Connecticut, when to be a Catholic truly was counter-cultural. Go to North Grosvenordale or Putnam: there you will see churches truly built by the sweat of Franco-American mill workers or think of the Polish Churches, or Saint Joseph in New London and Saint Sebastian in Middletown, the faith of Italy.
And of course that visible expression of faith is not limited to the past. The story is again repeated in the Hispanic people of our Diocese who not only have constructed a beautiful church in Windham , but also continue to witness to their love of Jesus in so many ways. And the beautiful churches of Hebron and Killingworth, the magnificent church of Saint Matthias in East Lyme: all are monuments to the living faith of our time.
In saying this, it is not just the architecture that matters, for stylers come and go. The churches of the Diocese are not meeting halls or gathering places. We admire these churches because they are "Gates of Heaven," and "Houses of God," because within them Eucharist is celebrated and Church exists and functions visibly. We marvel also at the beauty that these buildings represent: the people who form the living and breathing faith of what we call the Diocese of Norwich. Discipleship, service, self-gift, unity, all are represented in these 78 parish churches.
What is a Diocese? It is "a portion of the people of God, which is entrusted to a Bishop to be nurtured by him, with the cooperation of priests. Through the Gospel and the Eucharist it constitutes a particular Church. In this Church, the one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church of Christ truly exists and functions" (Canon 369). For fifty years Norwich has been that point of unity, surrounding a Shepherd. Bishops Flanagan, Hines, Reilly, Hart and Bishop Cote, all have responded generously to the call of the Gospel, to the call of the Eucharist, and we have been blessed in them. These were and are men of Faith, men who give and gave examples of service and discipleship, even in their human limitations. But the response to their service was great and it is seen today, in countless acts of self-gift, by countless individuals, who simply follow the Eucharistic Lord: "love one another as I have loved you!"
Think of all the hours of discipleship, of service to Christ Jesus. Quiet individuals who in an unassuming manner, and with the greatest of reverence, bring the Eucharist to the sick and pray with them. Or those who work on the battlefield of Religious Education, or give of themselves, for far lower wages, in Catholic Schools. Think of the countless ministries that exist to serve others. Think of those who give of themselves as Permanent Deacons in union with the mission of the Church. Think of those who clean the Churches, count the collections, and organize fund-raisers so that outreach services of all types may be realities. And think of the priests, critical to existence of the Church, so maligned today, who give without personal regard, sometimes laboring in difficult circumstances known only to them. The celebration of Mass, preaching, teaching, offering the Sacraments, especially Reconciliation, this is beautiful work of the priesthood conducted for fifty years throughout Eastern Connecticut. And what of the religious sisters and brothers who push and give of themselves in so many ways to further the love of Our Savior. How they have contributed to the growth of the Kingdom of God!
That is the Diocese of Norwich, and that is our Faith. This is not some dead celebration of a dry historic milestone. This a celebration of Faith, a Faith centered in the Eucharist, a living reality.
We are gathered to celebrate the Eucharist today. We celebrate that faith, that self-gift, that love of Jesus. United, we celebrate our Diocesan family. Jesus is with us, really and truly, under the appearance of bread and wine: true spiritual food and drink, the Bread of Angels, the Bread of Life, the Body of Christ, given to us by the ministry of the Church. And the mystery celebrated here is the mystery of the Church, a living, breathing mystery, the mystery of the Diocese of Norwich has realized for fifty years. Our Eucharistic celebration today, in union with our Diocesan celebration, calls us to be alive in the Lord and to recognize our oneness of faith. Bishop Cote has stated that we will meet the challenges that will come with the help of Jesus the Lord. Our Eucharistic celebration today allows us to celebrate our past as a Church, our present and assures us of hope for the future. In gratitude to God for the graces received, let's begin the next fifty years!