The Feast of Christ the King this weekend brings a simple yet moving scenario of Jesus and the two criminals on crosses in a conversation that is short but very meaningful. There are many ways to look at the comments from each of the three. I would like to suggest that they reveal something about three dimensions of time – the past, the present, and the future. The good thief, as he is commonly called, looks back and states that Jesus has done nothing wrong, but they have committed crimes for which they are being punished. The bad thief cries out for mercy and salvation at the present time with his dying plea, but first casts doubt as to his belief in the identity of Jesus. He prefaces his plea by saying, “Are you not the Christ?” This echoes the soldiers jeers and the words of the devil when he tempted Jesus in the desert, “If you are the King of the Jews save yourself!” Then the good thief looks to the future by requesting, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom” to which Jesus replies, “Today you will be with me in paradise.” A statement of both the present and the future , the very near future – today if you will – soon to blend into an eternal future.
Past, Present, Future – a continuum of time that we are always about as we move through life. The past is sometimes frozen in the more dramatic moments of the present, and then, usually more quickly than we are prepared for, shoving off to the future.
This Feast of Christ the King brings us a lot this year. We look back and remember 20 years ago this past week that our beloved Cardinal Joseph Bernardin passed away after battling cancer. He was only 68 years of age and yet his time here in Chicago and his legacy of love, ministry and collaborative service was so significant that it certainly felt longer. I recall one of my favorite conversations with him not long after I started in the Vocations Office. His assistant, Octavia, whom we all fondly called Tangie, called me and said that the cardinal wanted to talk with me. I felt like I was being called to the principal’s office. He said, “Terry, I want you to look at the Archdiocese like I look at the Archdiocese. It is my parish and I am the pastor. Anyone in the parish of the Archdiocese who is interested in priesthood, religious life or ministry in the church, you talk to them and help them to discern, and you let me know how I can help you.” I feel so blessed that this was one of many conversations that I had with a servant of the Church who was so genuine and kind, and his sincerity came through in meetings, homilies, liturgies, parish visits, dinners, and gatherings large and small. I am sure that so many of you were blessed by his presence, and we all were blessed with his thoughtful leadership. We are who we are as a local church because of Joseph Bernardin’s vision of church and his constant search for common ground. Let’s not forget that part of our meeting space is named after that particular passion of his. Let us never forget him and fondly remember him on this anniversary.
We also embrace the present moment as we celebrate with our new archbishop, Blase Cupich as he is being elevated to cardinal this weekend by Pope Francis in Rome. We are once again blessed with a visionary leader who not only appreciates the gifts and resources that we have here in Chicago, but is not afraid to encourage us to look into the future. He is following the lead of Pope Francis who has inspired us with his own mercy, and encouraged us to be about mercy-ing this past year with acts of mercy that express some of our most fundamental and important Catholic Christian values, such as compassion, sacredness, prayer and understanding, just to name a few. As we look back and bring a year of mercy to a close, let us always hold a desire to put mercy into action and continue to look through the eyes of mercy as we embrace other themes and initiatives in the future.
Also, as we look to the future, let us join in the important initiative that our new Cardinal Cupich is asking us to form, namely Renew My Church. He has asked all of us to preach about this effort in light of the Gospel account of the good thief who offers us a chance to speak about the challenges that face us as an Archdiocese within the context of the dying and rising of Christ, and how it defines our discipleship and mission.
As I have listened to many presentations about Renew My Church, and talked with Cardinal Cupich in person, I have come to believe that he is leading us to make this local church as vital as possible. He has taken much inspiration from the cross of San Damiano from which Christ spoke to St. Francis of Assisi and encouraged him to build up the church. He is calling us all to greater discipleship and encouraging us to recognize that true discipleship always involves the suffering, dying and rising of change, that in order to revitalize our church we must look at it differently, in new ways, always seeking growth and greater unity. True discipleship will lead us to be more unified across racial, political, ethnic and social lines. Underneath all of this is a profound hope that Renew my Church will be a graced moment for us all.
Cardinal Cupich ends his recent communication to us by quoting the words of Pope Francis from a recent homily in Philadelphia. Francis says: “One of the greatest challenges facing the Church in this generation is to foster in the faithful a sense of personal responsibility for the Church’s mission and to enable them to fulfill that responsibility as missionary disciples, as a leaven of the Gospel in our world. This will require creativity in adapting to changed situations, carrying forward a legacy of the past not primarily by maintaining our structures and institutions, which have served us well, but above all by being open to the possibilities which the Spirit opens up to us and communicating the joy of the Gospel, daily and in every season of our life.”
Let’s learn from and remember the past, embrace the present with gratitude, and look to the renewal of the future with great hope.