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25 years: A ‘Eucharistic People’The following column is from Bishop Barbarito’s homily of Oct. 24 during celebration of the Mass to mark the opening of the Diocese of Palm Beach’s silver jubilee year. This is indeed a joyful time for the Diocese of Palm Beach. With this Mass we begin the celebration of our 25th anniversary as a diocesan family. During the coming year, every liturgical season and significant feast of the church which we celebrate will be for the 25th time until we reach the climax of our jubilee, which we will celebrate with a Mass on Oct. 24, 2009, at the Palm Beach Convention Center. As we begin our 25th year of life as the particular church of Palm Beach in southern Florida, we look back with gratitude and we look forward with great hope. We will continue to grow as we have during the past years. Twenty-five years may not seem like a very long period of time, especially when it is placed next to the history of the church which extends for almost 2,000 years. Nevertheless, as a particular church established by Pope John Paul II, the Diocese of Palm Beach is an integral part of that history. What makes us one with that history is the eternal action we now celebrate, the mystery upon which our 25th anniversary celebration will concentrate, that of the Eucharist. The celebration of the Eucharist transcends time and space as it brings before us the passion, death and resurrection of Christ. Through this celebration we are united with the very person of Jesus Christ, body, blood, soul and divinity. Through him we are one with each other, the entire church around the world and with all the saints in the fullness of God’s kingdom. Whatever our ethnic background may be, whatever our economic condition, whatever our age or whatever language we speak, in the Eucharist we truly become one people in Christ. We rejoice that for 25 years we have been a “Eucharistic People.” We will focus on the Eucharist this year in order to deepen our communion with Christ and with each other as we strive to continue to build the city of God here in our part of southern Florida for the next 25 years and for many to come after that. As we enter our 25th year, we do so on two significant occasions within the life of the church. One is the Year of St. Paul whose 2,000th anniversary of birth we celebrate this year. The Year of St. Paul, invoked by our Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, began June 29 and will conclude on the same day in 2009. The other occasion is the Synod of Bishops on the “Word of God in the Life and Mission of the Church,” which will actually conclude its sessions this weekend. Both of these events are related to our celebration, not only because they are important in the life of the church, but especially because they are related to the Eucharist. St. Paul’s life and ministry was a witness to the eucharistic reality of the church as the body of Christ. Paul’s well-known words in his First Letter to the Corinthians hasve special significance for us as we celebrate who we are as a diverse diocese which is a Eucharistic People. St. Paul says, “The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? Because the loaf of bread is one, we, though many are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf” (1 Cor 10:16-17). What unites us and gives us purpose as the church is nothing less and nothing more sublime than the Eucharist. At the inauguration of the Year of St. Paul, Pope Benedict the XVI reminded us that “the church is not an association that desires to promote a specific cause” which happens to be the Gospel of Jesus Christ who has withdrawn from the world into heaven. The church is not a cause for Jesus Christ, but it is the person of Jesus Christ who becomes most fully present among us in the sacrifice of the Eucharist. Here he continually gives himself to us as we receive his very body and blood. He does this in order to unite us with each other through him and to remove all division from among us. St. Paul continually emphasized and lived this reality in his ministry. As Pope Benedict stated, “Christ ceaselessly draws us into his body, building his body from the eucharistic center that for St. Paul is the center of Christian existence.” As we celebrate our 25th anniversary this Year of St. Paul, St. Paul’s eucharistic center is a strong foundation for us. The second event, the Synod of Bishops on the word of God is intended to be a continuation of the previous Synod of Bishops in 2005, which focused on the Eucharist. The working paper used by the bishops for the present synod, while emphasizing the priority of the sacrament of the Eucharist, emphasizes that the sacred Scriptures are also considered to be the body of Christ. As we reflect upon the Eucharist, we recognize the importance of the word of God in the eucharistic celebration. That word also makes Christ present to us and is an integral part of the body of Christ. The fruit of the 2005 Synod on the Eucharist is the magnificent post-synodal apostolic exhortation of Pope Benedict the XVI, “Sacramentum Caritatis”, the “Sacrament of Love.” Indeed, the Eucharist is the sacrament of love as it brings us into the depths of the love of God himself. In that exhortation, our Holy Father tells us, “The substantial conversion of bread and wine into his (Christ’s) body and blood introduces within creation the principle of a radical change, a sort of ‘nuclear fission,’ to use an image familiar to us today, which penetrates to the heart of all being, a change meant to set off a process which transforms reality, a process leading ultimately to the transfiguration of the entire world, to the point where God will be all in all” (cf. 1 Cor 15:28). These words are extremely significant for us as we realize the transforming power of the Eucharist in our lives, in 25 years to date as well as in the years to come. The Eucharist not only draws us into the core of the life of the church, but into the very core of God’s life and creation. As we begin this year, there will be many eucharistic events taking place in our parishes and diocese that will draw us together as one people and focus our attention on the real presence of Jesus Christ among us. These will include Forty Hours devotion in every parish, individual deanery Masses, a special Mass for our young people, as well as our culminating Mass which will highlight our ethnic diversity. During this year we will also have a special dinner dance celebration as well as special gatherings for our priests. Each parish will also focus on the anniversary in its own manner. A special outreach to the homebound is being made through which they will participate in our celebration as an integral part of our diocesan family. There is another occasion that coincides with the beginning of our 25th anniversary celebration this weekend. This weekend has been designated as the one for priest appreciation. I would like to take this opportunity to recognize and thank in a particular way the priests of our diocese who represent the person of Jesus Christ in a unique manner. Through their ministry, Christ becomes present among us, most especially in the Eucharist which they celebrate for us. Without priests there would be no Eucharist. As we focus on the Eucharist, we also wish to thank our priests who, like Christ, give themselves for us. We have wonderful priests in the Diocese of Palm Beach and we all express our deep appreciation to them, as well as the assurance of our continued support. As I conclude these words, I ask you to consider the logo for our 25th anniversary. It points to the reality that the eucharistic Christ is the center of our diocese who is truly present among us in the sacrament of sacraments. His body and blood draw us together in his love and enables us to be his body in Palm Beach. The seal of our diocese is engraved upon the chalice as a sign that from the Eucharist we take our identity and our life. On the diocesan seal is also our patroness, the Blessed Virgin Mary as the Queen of the Apostles. The two crowns with stars that stand over the palm branch represent Mary as Queen of Heaven and Star of the Sea. We look to Mary this year to continue to guide us to her son and to help us appreciate better his presence in the Eucharist. Pope John Paul II referred to Mary as the “Woman of the Eucharist” and often reminded us that from her body and blood come the body and blood of Christ. Pope Benedict XVI in his exhortation on the Eucharist exhorts that “from Mary we must learn to become men and women of the Eucharist and of the church, and thus to present ourselves in the words of St. Paul ‘holy and blameless’ before the Lord even as he wished us to be from the beginning” (cf. Col 1:22; Eph 1:4). What a miracle we have in the Eucharist. What a gift we have in this diocese. What a treasure we have in you. As we celebrate that we are a Eucharistic People, may we draw strength from Christ’s presence among us and continue to grow in love as we build up his body here in the Diocese of Palm Beach, this great city of God.
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