On a sunny Saturday afternoon, Archbishop Vigneron poses for a photo with pilgrims before celebrating Mass at the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls
On Saturday afternoon, Archbishop Vigneron greeted several dozen pilgrims who are joining him in Rome. They met at the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls, the church built atop the grave of St. Paul. Archbishop Vigneron celebrated Mass for the group, joined by 24 other priests, including three other bishops. Reflecting on the readings from 2 Corinthians and the Gospel of Mark, the following is from the archbishop’s homily:
Christ came to be our savior, and he exemplifies that in his care for the little girl (in Mark 5:35-43). This miracle is how Jesus shows himself — among other times in the Gospel – to be the Lord of life. We can, I think, hear two kinds of comments from Saint Paul on this truth. The first, in the reading that we have from the second letter to the Corinthians, is St. Paul saying this costs Jesus something to accomplish, this gift of life. He made himself poor in order to make us rich. Another way to say that is he died so that we don’t have to; he died so that we could rise from the dead. And St. Paul uses this truth to teach the Corinthians how they should behave. If we are recipients of this bounty from God, then we must, in our turn, act bountifully to others. So St. Paul – I don’t know that he had a development officer, but this is the annual appeal – he’s begging for money here. But he does it on the basis of not just that it’s a good idea to open your purse springs, but be generous because God has been generous to us. Christ has been so generous that he laid down his life. So, this is a truth about every day we live, about how generous we should be in being servants to others because God has served us.
I said there’s a second commentary on this reading, and that’s this place itself. The confession of Paul. His tomb, which is under the main altar that we passed to come into the chapel. Because that comment is an indication of the depth of generosity that God asks from us in response to his for us. Jesus makes himself poor to the point of dying in order to make us rich with life. And at some points in our lives we all have to die in one way or another, like Paul, if we are to be real recipients of this gift – true and full recipients. That’s what St. Paul knew. That’s why he was willing to face the persecution and withstand execution. And that’s what I would like to have us remember, Paul’s lesson to us today. That if we receive this gift of grace, the promise of eternal life, that we really can’t be too stingy with what we give back to Jesus for love of him. Sometimes it hurts. We know that, but this is what we do to show how much we appreciate how generous he’s been. And that’s what being the archbishop of Detroit, that’s what being a bishop, a priest – that’s what the Christian life is about. Not just living that, but sharing that good news with others. We’re all here on the feast of SS. Peter and Paul to become more apostolic, to become more deeply devoted to sharing this good news.
