ARCHDIOCESE OF PHILADELPHIA

Bishop Bennison,
Dear Friends,

Praised be Jesus Christ!

Bishop Bennison has informed me that, from what anyone can tell, this is the first time in 222 years that the Archbishop of Philadelphia has addressed a convention of the Episcopal diocese!

It is a joy for me to be with you, and I thank Bishop Bennison and all of you for the warm welcome that you afford me today. Through you I would like to extend respectful and fraternal greetings to all the congregations and individual members of the Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania. In the words of Saint Peter, permit me to say: "Peace to all of you that are in Christ" (1 Pt 5:14).

Despite our ecclesial differences, God’s providence has brought us together, in Christ, in so many ways. How close physically are this Cathedral and Saint Agatha and Saint James Church. But how many other issues of our Christian faith—substantive issues—unite us! How blessed that we share one Baptism in the name of the Most Blessed Trinity—Father, Son and Holy Spirit—that we share the divinely revealed word of God in the Sacred Scriptures, and that we share faith in Jesus Christ, the Son of God and the Son of Mary.

In this regard may I share with you a personal experience that I had many years ago in Rome. It took place at a gathering honoring the work of Mother Teresa of Calcutta. The work of Mother Teresa among the poor in India and throughout the world has become legendary. In the Catholic Church she is now known as Blessed Teresa of Calcutta. Although she has been deceased for several years now, her Sisters still go out to the streets and gutters of Calcutta to bring to their home those who have been abandoned and are near death.

It is a remarkable work that can only be explained and sustained by a great measure of Christian love—love for Christ and for the poor whom He loves. The gathering in Rome to which I have alluded was on the occasion of Mother Teresa’s receiving an international recognition for her contribution toward world peace. The audience was made up of many distinguished people. Before the ceremony began, I spoke to Mother Teresa and asked her what she was going to talk about. I was eager to know, since I was going to be her translator from English into Italian. Her response to my question was remarkable. I will never forget it! She simply said: Oh! I don’t know. All I know is that I will be speaking about Jesus! And so she did! For Mother Teresa speaking about Jesus meant, yes, speaking about His identity as the Son of the living God, the Second Person of the Most Blessed Trinity, and the Son of Mary. But it also meant speaking about His commandment to love one another and to serve Him in His needy brothers and sisters. We remember the words of Jesus recorded in the Gospel according to Saint Matthew: "...for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me" (Mt 25:35-36).

Dear friends, in this short meeting with you today, I really just wanted to speak to you about Jesus—about His identity, His primacy in our lives and in the world, about what He has done for us: how He is our Savior, our one Mediator, our Reconciler and the Head of His Body, the Church.

For this reason I am so pleased that together we can hear proclaimed this beautiful reading from Saint Paul’s Letter to the Colossians. What a beautiful act of faith it is for us to repeat: "God has delivered us from the dominion of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins" (Col 1:13-14). And again, Saint Paul says: "For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell" (Col 1:19).

Our greatest common treasure, dear friends, is the person of Jesus Christ, who means everything for all of us. May we all submit ourselves to His dominion, share with others the forgiveness that He has so lavishly bestowed upon us, and strive to fulfill His commandment of love.

And finally may we all have a new appreciation of the great prayer that Jesus prayed to His Father for all of us His followers: "that they may be one, even as we are one" (Jn 17:11). May we walk together in mutual respect and love the remaining journey to full Christian unity, realizing that this goal is beyond all our human efforts (which we must still intensify) and that it is a gift of God’s Holy Spirit, given us by Jesus, the Lord.

Thank you, Bishop Bennison and dear friends, for the opportunity to speak to you about Jesus.