December 17 , 2001

"A REASON FOR THE HOPE THAT LIES WITHIN US"
[REV 12.6.01]

A Pastoral Reflection on Questions Asked By People of the Archdiocese of Newark

1. For all Christians, the celebration of the great Jubilee Year was a time of grace and an invitation to personal reflection. The opening of the Holy Doors in Rome was a call for us to open wider "the doors of our hearts" to Christ. The activities in Rome, as well as here and throughout the world, drew me back to an important theme of my own pastoral ministry as bishop: deepening our relationship with Christ. At the start of a new dawn for the Gospel, I needed to ask myself how my service as the bishop of a diocese was drawing me closer to Christ Jesus and, through Him, to the Father and Holy Spirit.

2. These thoughts grew more urgent with my appointment as Archbishop of Newark. What had begun as a personal examination of my life became a larger reflection on the heart of my episcopal motto: the mystery of the Church. On the word of the Holy Father, I left what had always been my Peoria home and traveled -like St. Peter - in a new direction. With the call to serve the Church in Newark, I have begun to know the priests, religious and laity of the Archdiocese and to recognize the differences between the local communities, but also what remains the same, "yesterday, today and forever" (Heb. 13:8). Always and everywhere, Catholics remain a community of one people "brought into unity from the unity of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit" (Lumen Gentium 4).

3. This central mystery of our faith has guided me throughout my own journey of faith and continues to inspire me today. The truth of God as a community of Divine Persons, passed on with such care by the Apostles and their successors, has always shaped who I understand myself to be - a man ordained for priestly service. The call to serve the Church in Newark encourages me to share with you - my new family of faith- "the reason for the hope that lies in me" (1 Pt. 3:15), even as we continue to help one another cope with the suffering of recent terrorist attacks that have affected so many in our Archdiocese. I mourn for those lost and offer sympathy to the bereaved. I am proud of, and grateful for, the assistance and support offered by the priests and people of the Archdiocese of Newark and by many of our friends across the country.

4. My confidence in God's providence flows from my vision of the Church. We are a communion of persons who are united through baptism and called by God to be a family of love. This vision must be affirmed. Our age has embraced ideas that attack the culture of life which the Church exists to foster. In such times, we need a deeper understanding of how our local experience of the faith is both an extension and expression of the Church universal. As a mystery, the Church can never be reduced to popular opinion or local priorities. As the Second Vatican Council reminds us, Christ established the Church to transform human culture, not the other way around. We must never take hold of the Church and seek to conform her to passing agendas, no matter how heartfelt. Instead, we must allow the Church to take hold of us.

5. I wish to offer the fruit of my reflection in the form of questions and answers. These questions are similar to those I have been asked on pastoral visits through the years. My answers, I hope will encourage a shared reflection on the mystery of our Church, which is both universal and particular. The goal of our life in the Church is that all of us, as we live out our Catholic faith, will be drawn deeper into unity with each other and with God.

What Is Your Vision of The Church?
6. It is not enough to say that the Church is the community of people in friendship with God. We need to explain how this community is formed and what it means to be a friend of God.

7. Catholics believe that God is a Trinity of Persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy
Spirit. Our understanding of the nature of God must be clear. If we think unclearly about God, then we will think unclearly about the Church.

8. The Trinity describes the fundamental vitality of God. Jesus reveals a Father who is constantly pouring Himself out as gift to His Son (cf. Mt. 11:27), and in John's Gospel Jesus teaches us that this outpouring is reciprocated (cf. Jn 14:9ff.). This intimate sharing within God is personified in the Holy Spirit, who is the love of the Father and the Son, the first gift of those who believe (cf. Jn. 14:15-31). In God, we discover a communio, a communion of divine persons full of life and love.

9. God is a community of distinct persons so closely united in love as to be one. This is difficult to grasp, yet St. Paul reminds us that in our faith, "God has given us the wisdom to understand fully the mystery" (Eph. 1:9-10). God wants us to know Him, and God wants us to know the plan He has for us, a plan carried out through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, His Son. God longs to bring all things in heaven and on earth together into the communion of persons that He is, because "God is love" (1 Jn. 4:16).

10. This is the source of our hope. The living God -the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob- loves each of us and all of us. Love does not simply describe what God does. More importantly, love describes who God is.

11. So how should we think about the Church? Scripture and tradition have used many different images to express this mystery. The Church has been called, the Mystical Body of Christ (cf. 1 Cor. 12: 12-31; Col. 3:15), the People of God (cf. 1 Pt. 2:10; LG 2), the Spouse of Christ (cf. Eph. 5:21-33), the New Jerusalem (cf. Rev. 21ff.), the Pilgrim People (LG 5), and the Universal sacrament of Salvation (LG 1). All of these images have tremendous value. But one further image -emphasized by the Council-links our understanding of the Church to what we believe about God in a special way. This is the idea of the Church as communio.

12. God wants us to be united with Him and one another in an unbreakable bond. His Son is born into our history to establish this eternal communion, this unimaginable unity that only God could make possible. In the Incarnation, all that was foreshadowed in the covenant with Abraham and foretold by the prophets, is fulfilled. Jesus is the irrevocable word of the God who loves the world so (cf. Jn. 3:16).

13. From the moment of creation to the coming of Christ in glory, the initiative for communion belongs to God. Thus the communio that is the Church cannot be formed by our willing it into existence, but only by God's saving work, which has been accomplished by Christ. The Church is first and foremost God's work: "Love, then, consists in this: not that we have loved God but that He has loved us and sent His Son as an offering for sins" (1 Jn. 4:10). The Church is not like any other social organization, governed by men and women according to their purposes. The Church always exists as God's unique gift to humanity, an instrument of God's plan that allows us to take part in the life of the Trinity.

14. The Church, then, is rightly called a community of people in friendship with God. To help us live out this communion -this family life- God has given us numerous gifts. Chief among these are Divine Revelation and the seven sacraments. Through these we can encounter God in an authentic way. Through the word proclaimed and taught, we can hear God speaking to us even now, and through the sacraments we can experience His presence. The Church uses these gifts to bring about a lasting friendship with God and with our neighbor.

15. We can, therefore, call the Church the community and the place where an encounter with God uniquely takes place. Through the action of the Holy Spirit, the Church carries on the mission of Jesus-to reveal to the world the love of the Father. As the Second Vatican Council taught, "The Church, endowed with the gifts of her founder and faithfully observing his precepts of charity, humility and self-denial, receives the mission of proclaiming and establishing among all peoples the kingdom of Christ and of God, and she is, on earth, the seed and the beginning of that kingdom" (LG 5). This "seed," planted by Christ, is always growing, and is even now longing for the day when it will be brought to full maturity at the end of time.

16. Since the communio God planned to establish in Christ began during the public ministry of Jesus, Church structure is inextricably linked to His life. This means that certain elements of the community's organization cannot be changed. They are necessary for the fulfillment of God's plan. This is true of the apostolic ministry in the Church. During Jesus' lifetime, the apostles were the official witnesses to all that Jesus said and did. After His death and resurrection, Jesus appeared to them at different times and in different places. Using many signs -including the wounds in His flesh- Jesus convinced the apostles of the truth of the resurrection. They were appointed to lead the Church, the community established in His blood, by governing, teaching, and sanctifying the people. What He had received from His Father, Jesus handed on to the apostles (cf. Jn 22:21).

17. In their own turn, the apostles chose and ordained successors who would carry on their role in the Church. These successors of the apostles are the bishops of the Church. Like the apostles, these men have been appointed by God and have been given the responsibility to shepherd the Church. They are assisted by many, especially by priests and deacons. They must ensure that God's word is proclaimed, whole and entire, and that the sacraments are celebrated validly and fruitfully in every age, among every people, and in every land. Both the sacraments celebrated, and the word proclaimed, are expressions of the universal Church. They are not the inventions of men. Bishops must protect and hand on what they have received.

The relationship between the local church and the universal church
18. The Church as communion is experienced by her members as they gather together in particular places. Each bishop is entrusted with the care and protection of a portion of God's people called a diocese. Each diocese can also be referred to as a particular church, and all particular churches are part of the one Church of Christ. In each, the Council teaches, "the one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church of Christ is truly present and active" (Christus Dominus 11). We would be mistaken, however, to assume that the universal Church is somehow a federation, or simply the sum, of particular Churches. The universal Church already existed before communities of believers were formed in particular places. Pope John Paul II has described the relationship between the particular church and the universal Church as one of "mutual interiority," a shared intimacy like that which exists among the persons of the Trinity. Mutual interiority might also describe the relationship of husband and wife or expectant mother and child. It can even describe the way that Jesus abides in us and we in Him when we receive Him in Holy Communion.

19. For the particular church to be "church" in the fullest sense of that term, it along with the bishop, must be in full communion with the Holy Father. In other words, the community of believers must be of one mind and heart (cf. Acts 4:32). The Holy Father should be seen as part of every particular church, a vital member of the family. The Council made this clear, as does canon law. The Holy Father is the "visible source and foundation of [Church] unity" with "immediate" jurisdiction over all the faithful (LG 23; can. 333). Moreover, the Holy Father's ministry is interior to each local church. Peter is not a cousin working out of town. He remains constantly present to the local community of believers through the love and respect we show to all the members of the family, through each individual's willingness to be a sign and source of unity for others, and through our willingness to serve and make sacrifices on behalf of all who share in the life of the family. This is beautifully expressed in our life of prayer. At every Mass, we pray for the Holy Father and the local bishop. Both are essential to the life of the particular church, which is in itself a particular expression of the universal Church. We could say, in a certain way, that the universal Church dwells in Newark and Newark dwells in the universal Church.

20. This indwelling might further be described through the sacrament of baptism. Anyone baptized at one of the parishes in the Archdiocese becomes a member of the Church. While this membership entails becoming part of the parish, the Archdiocese, and the universal Church, membership in the universal Church nonetheless has priority, for it precedes and creates one's membership in the local church. Baptism, like all the sacraments, does not arise from any individual local group. Rather baptism is part of the universal Church. Thus if one moved from a particular parish or even from the Archdiocese, one's membership in the Church would not come to an end. There is no need to be re-baptized in order to enter another local community. Through our prior membership in the universal Church we can become members of a local community like the Archdiocese of Newark.

The relationship of parishes and other institutions with the local church
21. It is not through membership in a parish that we belong to the local Church, but by being members of the Archdiocese. Parishes and other institutions (hospitals, schools, Newman centers, etc.) in any particular church function as intermediaries between individual believers and families. They exist to serve men and women as well as the common good of the local church. Thus, they do not have the same status as particular churches. The diocese is the local expression of the universal Church. Parishes and other institutions can therefore be founded, merged, or retired as required by the needs of the diocesan family. We must always take care to avoid the kind of parochialism that would isolate us from the larger diocesan community and the Church universal.

22. This does not mean that we relate to the institutions of the Church in a purely objective way. Ask any fan of Seton Hall University! Or consult your own experience, as have I. A small parish dedicated to St. Teresa of Avila in the rural Illinois town of Earlville is very dear to my heart and I know that major changes there would hurt me personally. We must always keep in mind and welcome a great variety of gifts into the life of the diocese. Religious communities and other forms of consecrated life, spiritual movements and other gifts of the Holy Spirit spring up to help the Lord lead and renew us.
Charity is the hallmark of the Church

23. As a communion of persons united in God's love, we should offer our charity and respect to all those who serve the local church. An active interest in the well-being of all who make up our local church is the foundation for building communities of love. As we read in John's first letter, "He who does not love the brother he can see, cannot love the God whom he has not seen" (1 Jn. 4:20). In the parish as well as in the larger Church, the initiative to become men and women of love is once again rooted in God's own initiative toward us. We love because He first loved us (cf. 1 Jn. 4:19). Genuine Christian charity flows from the love that God has poured forth into our hearts.

What does being a member of the Church mean?
24. Our experience of communio begins with baptism. Through "water and the Holy Spirit" we enter God's family by our adoption into Christ in whom we become a new creation (cf. Jn. 3:5). Baptism is rightly called a "sacrament of initiation," for in baptism our life in God and in the believing community begins. What takes place through the action of God is something much more than joining a group or becoming part of an organization. God allows us to become united with the life of His Son -a life that is as personal and as dynamic as it was throughout His public ministry. Baptism confirms for us that the Incarnation has not ended.

25. Membership in the Church, therefore, is never merely a matter of belonging to a religious organization. It means above all else belonging to and sharing the life of Christ. Through the Church, the Lord's mission is extended in time and space. We can say then that because the Church is in the world, Jesus is in the world.

26. Baptism opens the gate to all other sacraments and begins our new life, a life lived
in communio. Thus, membership in the Church also means sharing in her sacramental life. The sacraments are God's gift to us, sacred signs instituted by Jesus that do what they express. They are never merely symbols; rather they actually bring about that which they symbolize. For example, baptism is not just a sign of being cleansed. It is also the means by which God actually cleanses our sins. Through baptism, original sin is washed away by the power of God.

27. God uses all seven of the sacraments to draw near to us at the most important moments of our lives. The unity God plans for us, nourished by the sacraments, is also strengthened by prayer, by service to others, and by embracing the joys and struggles that go with our state of life-in short, by living the will of the Father.

28. Membership in the Church, then, is the lived expression of charity, justice and righteousness. It is the lived experience of God's familial life. Membership in the Church calls for an openness to be guided by God's love, a love expressed in word and sacrament. It means deciding to allow the Holy Spirit to sanctify one's life in order that Christ become more fully present to the world through us, "the salt of the earth and the light of the world" (Mt. 5:13ff.).

Why should I be a member of the Church? What difference does being a member of the Church make?
29. Throughout history, men and women have known that life without love is no life at all. We need to love and be loved, and what the human heart longs for, God has made available. The Church is the way of love, for the Church is the "Body of Christ," and Jesus is the Father's covenant of love with the human family. God desires that all persons should become members of the Church so that they might experience His love as He wants us to experience it. Jesus is not simply one way of encountering God's love. He is the only way to fully experience what our Father desires for us. Jesus is what God longs to share with us, for Jesus is the outpouring of the Father's love in a way so profoundly personal that we actually come to know the Father. In fact, the means to know God more fully and to experience His love more completely are found in the Church.

30. Love makes a difference. Knowing that we are loved by another opens us to new ways of seeing the world and ourselves. Those who through the Church open themselves to God's love, become transformed by the experience of God loving them. God's love is not a burden or a chore, it does not come in the form of a condemnation or a judgment. Rather, God's love is an opportunity to become someone new. For this reason God's love is truly liberating. It frees us to become the persons God intended us to be.

Can't I live a relationship with God apart from the Church?
31. All creation enjoys some form of relationship with God, for God sustains all things in existence. But this impersonal way of relating to Him is not what God wants for us. Instead, God wants us to know Him from within His own life, not from the outside or at a distance. Jesus came to bridge the gap that separated the human family from God, and to provide for us - through His flesh and blood - a way to be in the Father's life. While anyone living an upright life according to the demands of conscience is in a relationship with the God of creation, such a relationship remains partial. That is why Jesus sent the apostles into the whole world to preach the good news of the Father's love. Jesus wanted everyone to have a relationship with the Father. Jesus tells His disciples, "I came that they may have life and have it to the full" (Jn. 10:10). The Church exists to further this mission and to make this new relationship with God possible.

32. God wants to be someone who matters most in our lives, because we matter to God. The two great pillars of lasting relationship, communication and personal presence, are therefore at the very heart of the structure of the Church. God speaks to us through His word a language that is just, honest and true. God also makes Himself present to us through the sacraments in order that our life within His may flourish.

Is this vision of the Church liberal or conservative?
33. I have never known love to be either "liberal" or "conservative." Christ patiently showed us that God does not think as we do. Instead, God calls us to wider and more universal vision. We can better understand, perhaps, the inappropriateness of these "liberal and conservative" distinctions in the context of the family. If our parents were asked, "Is your view of your child liberal or conservative?" we hope that they would answer in perplexity, "What do you mean? I love my children."

34. We should always seek to see each other in truth and in love, to see the Church not as we would have Her be, but as She is in Christ. Labels hinder our vision. Instead, we should begin and end every discussion of difficult issues by remembering that, as Catholics, we all commit ourselves to being a "one, holy, catholic, and apostolic" Church.

35. My purpose as a bishop is not to filter out the teachings of the Church, but to pass them along, faithfully, in their fullness, and to do all I can to help all of us grow to embrace them, even those we sometimes find difficult. Our great challenge is to cooperate with God's grace in ways that lead us to a clearer vision of the Church and of our individual roles in the lived communion we share.

36. The Church is not a collection of competing blocs but, rather, a freely given gift of life that we should lovingly accept. St. Paul tells the community at Corinth that he is passing on what he has first received. The faith we profess comes before us. As the Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches, "the Church's faith precedes the faith of the believer who is invited to adhere to it" (CCC 1136). In other words, to be Catholic is to share in a common creed, something we receive, something we conserve, not something we create.

What if I disagree with the Church?
37. There are many things about which reasonable Catholics -in good faith- can and do disagree. People have different tastes when it comes to art, music, and architecture. Within reasonable limits these disagreements are not wrong. Rather, they can be fruitful expressions of legitimate diversity within a local community as well as within our Archdiocese.

38. There can also exist within local communities disagreements regarding liturgical norms and the implementation of canon law. These disagreements sometimes touch on matters of faith. But, even when they do not, justice and discipline call for adherence to them for the common good. The liturgical rubrics of the universal Church provide for a wide range of options. It would be unjust for any community or person to impose a practice upon the people of God that violates liturgical norms. The liturgy is meant to bring us together and should never be a cause of division. Authentic communion is harmed when liturgical norms are ignored and our common act of worship is used to make a statement or to express discontent.

39. Likewise, communion is harmed when canon law is neglected or fails to be properly implemented. The canons of the Church are not arbitrary rules established simply to regulate how we express what we believe. They are part of a process of distillation by which the most important Church teachings and pastoral practices throughout the centuries have been brought together into one body. When one believes a law to be unjust, one has the duty and the right to petition for change. However, for good health and harmony in the Church, a disagreement with the law calls for obedience to the norm even while one petitions for redress.

40. If the disagreement with the Church concerns a matter of faith or morals, it is helpful first to know whether the disagreement is about a received teaching of the Church or about a teaching in which there is room for legitimate debate. We all have an obligation to give at least religious assent of mind and will to the teachings of the Church as they come to us through the Bishops. That means we must refrain from acting on our disagreement with the Church's teaching while we are in the process of seeking a better understanding of it. This is only a problem when one acts in such a way as to undermine the unity that is the ultimate sign of our communion with God and one another. We all have a duty to nourish our faith by understanding more fully what the Church teaches and why. Questions that seek to foster a better knowledge of the faith are the beginning of theology and are fundamental to living a mature and adult faith.

But what if one is struggling to believe and to live a particular teaching of the Church?
41. There are many steps one can take when facing this kind of struggle. The first step is always to pray and to study. Faith is a mystery that continually challenges us to greater heights, leading us to transcend the ordinary limits of our lives. Faith challenges us; that we have difficulties and struggles should not surprise or alarm us. We must remain calm, trusting in the Holy Spirit to watch over and to guide our inquiry.

42. Faith also changes us. When God's Word is addressed to us, when we study and pray over it, the very fact of our encountering the word is a supernatural event. If we allow God to work in us, He will transform and purify us. It may take time, but He will raise us to new life in Him. We can ask for an increase in the gift of faith, and God promises to grant us what we ask.

43. One way of overcoming doubt is by choosing to trust the mission of the Church. To be Catholic means accepting that God is with His Church, guiding it and protecting it. His love for His people includes ensuring that in matters of faith and morals the teaching of the Church is at the very least not false. Thus, even if we do not understand the teaching, we can follow the Church because we believe in God's fidelity. Often, by attempting to live out a difficult Church teaching, we gain a greater insight into the truth of that teaching.

44. The person experiencing doubt must also be rigorously honest about the motives behind the difficulties. Sometimes our struggles with Church teaching reflect more our desire to live our lives as we would have them, and not as God wills them to be. Sometimes it is not so much that we cannot live in accordance with the Church, but that for many different reasons, we lose the motivation to try. Many men and women have discovered that sincerely engaging the struggles they encounter in faith actually brings them closer to God and deepens their relationship with Him. We should always keep in mind that what can seem impossible on our own is, in fact, possible with God, for: "In Him all things are possible" (Mark10:27). All of us need to remain confident by trusting that God will provide without fail the grace needed to grow in faith, provided we are open and willing to accept His help.

Why do the demands of the Church seem to make life so burdensome?
45. The demands of the gospel can sometimes seem burdensome, because love is always demanding. Love awakens so many feelings within us that we often wonder if we can respond. Mother Teresa frequently said, "the measure of love is to love without measure." Giving totally of oneself is not easy. And yet we intuitively know that it is the only way to live. No lover sends a valentine with qualified sentiments or devotion. Love's response must be whole and entire, spirit, soul, and body.

46. Jesus demonstrated love as total gift of self when He died on the cross. Even before that day, Jesus taught us that only in giving of ourselves do we receive. "Whoever would save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it" (Mt. 16:25). By His passion and death Jesus called us to a more perfect gift of self and invited us to love as He loved us. But He promised to give us all the help we need, including sending His Spirit, in order that we might fulfill His command. The Church does not seek to make life burdensome. Christ teaches that if we come to Him, we shall find rest, and Christ promises that "my yoke is easy and my burden light"(Mt. 11:30). Yet against that assurance, we know full well that the way of Jesus is the way of the cross. Therein lies a great mystery. Those times when we feel our Christian duties to be a weary toil without reward or recompense, we are being invited to go deeper into relationship with Christ.

What is the purpose of the Liturgy and why is it important that I participate?
47. The liturgy, especially the Eucharist, is the place where "the work of our redemption is accomplished." The Eucharistic liturgy is the source and summit of our lives. It is the way that the sacrifice of Jesus is perpetuated through the ages. It is a sacrament of love, a sign and source of unity, an aid to charity, and a foretaste of heaven. It provides food for both the mind and the soul. Through the liturgy, God sanctifies the believer and the world. It is the self-gift of the Bridegroom to His Spouse, the Church. For all these reasons all Catholics are called to a full and active participation in the liturgy.

48. On the night before He suffered, Jesus instituted the Eucharist as a memorial of His passion. By doing so He gave us a way of uniting ourselves with His self-offering on the Cross. Thus when we participate in the Eucharist we can unite ourselves and all our efforts with the Lord. He accepts everything that we offer, purifying it and transforming it, freeing it from sin and death. In this manner, it becomes the raw material for building up the kingdom. It is through this offering of our efforts in the world in union with Jesus' self-offering on the cross that we sanctify the world.

49. In the Eucharist, the Lord unites Himself to us in love. At the Eucharistic
banquet, Jesus feeds us with His word as well as with His body, to nourish us in mind and soul. Moreover, because the liturgy makes present Jesus' sacrifice until He comes again in glory, it is the most perfect prayer -a source of grace for all those who are called to His banquet.

50. We should always participate in the Sunday liturgy for all these reasons. However, we have another important reason for attending. God's saving action takes place within the community He has formed. We are made for worship as individuals and within a community. We need each other and were made by God in such a way that we complement each other. We should think about Mass not only in terms of what can be received, but also in terms of what can be given. Even when we are not able to receive the Eucharist, the community needs us to be there. We are affected by what takes place when the Church gathers in prayer. The richness of our communal act of worship touches us on many levels, and can move us toward eliminating any obstacles that may stand in the way of our receiving the Body and Blood of the Lord.

What does it mean to participate at Mass?
51. The fullest participation at Mass includes receiving Holy Communion. But it is also true that even those not prepared or able to participate in the Eucharist in this way can genuinely participate in Mass in other ways. They can , for example, seek forgiveness for their sins, be nourished by God's word and offer thanks to the Father with Jesus Christ. While it is true that the celebration of our Eucharistic liturgies can involve the activity of many in roles of service, properly speaking this is not "participation." Everyone who comes to Mass and unites his or her prayers with the prayer of Jesus to His Father is participating. True worship is living in communion with the Trinity. When we are sharing God's life, we are participating in that which the liturgy makes possible.

52. Those who are not involved in roles that serve our communal prayer are no less a participant than are those who do. Many times they are able to participate more fully because they are free from the demands of service. For those who serve our prayer, the role they undertake can be a conduit for their own self-giving to the Father. St. Augustine said that when we sing, we pray twice. Often the gifts we have that we place at the service of the liturgy can help us better unite our prayers with Christ.

53. The Eucharistic liturgy is not really the work of the community gathered to pray. The action that takes place is not a drama, nor is it a performance. All the rites of the Church are gateways through which the King of Glory enters. The central figure of the Mass, therefore, is not the priest or deacon, the cantor or choir, the extra-ordinary minister of the Holy Eucharist or the ushers, but Jesus Christ offering Himself to the Father in the Holy Spirit.

54. Every member of a parish or diocesan institution must come to Mass prepared to give himself or herself to the Father, and be ready to make of their lives an offering just as Jesus made His. God accepts the offering of His Son and through Him, God accepts our self-offering, therefore, we are able to receive Jesus, not metaphorically, not symbolically, but really. Jesus truly wants to share His life with us. When we receive the Eucharist, we are participating in His life.

How will this vision be lived out in the Archdiocese of Newark?
55. I have never seen my office as a separation from the people. In the words of St. Augustine, "with you I am a Christian, for you I am a Bishop." I see us as an Archdiocese working together in our mutual calling that all may experience the saving grace of Jesus Christ-with a clear, unified vision of who we are in the Church.

56. To that end, the teaching role of the Church is essential. Communion depends upon assent to the Faith. Without this, there cannot be unity within the body of Christ. In order to build up the kingdom in our individual efforts, we must keep before our eyes God's plan for salvation as revealed in Christ. Just as seeing a larger picture is crucial to prioritizing daily tasks, so understanding the universal Church is essential to our commitment to our local church in Newark. Again, if we see ourselves as part of a community and ask: "How do we express who it is that God made us to be?" The answer is both simple and deep-"In Him and in each other." We belong to a larger whole and we must keep this before us as we pray and live.

57. Our relationship with God and with each other should be the fruit of our constant desire to share ourselves in truth-in the workplace, in the home, anywhere we are called to be. Teresa of Avila pointed out to her sisters that they should not be distressed if their duties keep them from the chapel. She pointed out that Jesus walks among the pots and pans as well as the pews. All of us are meant to bring our Lord with us wherever we are called to be-whether that is cooking dinner, typing letters, calling on clients, or whatever activity is appropriate to our vocation. As families we disperse each day to our assigned tasks, children to school, parents to work or homecare. Still, families are called to nourish and maintain themselves by coming together, whether for dinner, recreation, study, or celebration. So, too, as a family in Christ we are called to meet on Sundays to celebrate our communion in Him, universally and as a parish.

58. As your Archbishop, I am eager to work with you to ensure that our liturgies are
an expression of unity within the universal Church. As a celebration of joy and thanksgiving, our liturgies are not culture driven, though they express who we are culturally. Rather, they are God-driven. Liturgies exist both outside and within time and space, fully embodying the mystery of personhood and oneness that is the reality of God. In all our meetings, in all our conversations, in all our dealings, we need to proceed from this greater Truth. Liturgies should never become divisive. Instead, they should be beautiful celebrations within the holy Tradition that is the Church.

59. We can recognize a sincere response to God's call if we, as a Church, are characterized by love and joy. Too often our daily lives can become mired in details, grudges, and small concerns. Through prayer, particularly our liturgies, we remember who we are as a people. This archdiocese has enormous strengths, and we need to acknowledge and celebrate them. We rely on joyful and holy priests, joyful and holy religious, joyful and holy laity. In addition to the great history of spiritual traditions we are welcoming many new charisms and gifts of the Holy Spirit. This can only happen through the grace of God and our openness to that grace.

60. Thus I urge you to show others what you have shown me-a welcoming spirit, sincere sharing of concerns, and a loving witness. We become who we are in Christ by honestly examining our relationships with Him and with others, by opening ourselves to Him in individual and community prayer, and by realizing the truth of the mystery of love that is all around us. By continuing to live as His children, we see reality as it truly is, not as ours alone, but as ours together in Christ.
How can I serve the Church?

61. We all serve the Church by living in intimate communion with her life. Lay
persons are primarily able to find holiness in marriage, within family life and in their involvement in work and society. Some are also involved in the apostolate of the Church, but this is not necessarily a call to ecclesial lay ministry. This latter term more properly applies to persons who usually work full time for the Church, have specialized training and formation, and are deputed by appropriate Church authority.

62. The Church needs to be nourished and served by those called to consecrated life and Holy Orders. We need religious and priests. I ask young people and their families to pray for vocations, especially vocations from within their family. This simple prayer can be spoken by each of us, "Lord, help me to want to be what you want me to be."

Conclusion
63. Jesus revealed to us what the Church has handed on from the earliest days - that God is a Trinity of Persons. This truth is the foundation for understanding all that the Church is meant to be. This truth lies at the heart of everything the Church teaches. It remains the key to understanding what we are called to be and do for one another in the Church.

64. The one person who can guide us in our shared reflection on the Church is the woman who, more than anyone else, lives in relationship with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Mary plays an essential role in our understanding of the Church, for she exists at the heart of the communion the Church has been established to foster. How wisely did the Second Vatican Council speak of her within the context of Lumen Gentium, for her life is uniquely bound up with the life of the Church. If we entrust ourselves to her care, Mary will lead us all to a fuller understanding of the saving action of her Son that we experience in the Church. She will ensure that, through the witness of our lives, the Church will shine more vibrantly.

65. In this season of hope, I remain convinced with the Mother of our Savior that all
that the Lord has promised us will be fulfilled. May this Season of Advent be for all of us in the Archdiocese of Newark a time of renewal, an opportunity for reflection, and an experience of greater communion in the life of the God who has called us from darkness into His wonderful light. Throughout our celebration of this Holy Season, let us look toward that day when the Church commemorates the wonder of Christ with God's love born into our world, knowing that through our experience of this Love, we in the Archdiocese of Newark can be signs of hope and lights shining in the darkness, singing with all the angels and saints of peace on earth and good will to all.
Given at my Chancery on the First Sunday of Advent, December 2, 2001.


s/@John J. Myers
XMost Reverend John J. Myers
Archbishop of Newark

s/Sr. Thomas Mary Salerno, S.C
Sister Thomas Mary Salerno, S.C.
Chancellor

About the Archbishop