ARCHDIOCESE OF PHILADELPHIA

Praised be Jesus Christ!

Dear brother Bishops, Priests and Deacons,
Dear Men and Women in Consecrated Life,
Dear Knights and Ladies of Peter Claver,
Dear Brothers and Sisters in the Lord.

What a great joy for me to gather with you to offer this Holy Mass. We gather on Sunday, the Lord’s Day, to celebrate the victory of our Lord Jesus Christ over sin and death. We gather in our beautiful Cathedral Basilica, our mother church, to hear God’s Word and to receive the Holy Eucharist. We gather as bishops, priests, deacons, men and women in consecrated life, and especially as lay faithful. Indeed, it is good for all of us to be here.

In a particular way, we remember today the life and ministry of Saint Martin de Porres. Some forty-eight years after his canonization in Rome, he still inspires us to live the call to conversion and holiness. Like all the saints, he reminds us that conversion and holiness are inseparable. By our Baptism, we strive to turn away from sin and walk in the light of Christ.

Saint Martin de Porres, being a black man, also reminds us of the blessings of the African American Catholic community.

In 1987, the Servant of God Pope John Paul II spoke to Black Catholics in New Orleans and shared these words: “Dear brothers and sisters: your black cultural heritage enriches the Church and makes her witness of universality more complete. In a real way the Church needs you, just as you need the Church, for you are part of the Church and the Church is part of you.” The Holy Father went on to say: “It is important to realize that there is no black Church, no white Church, no American Church; but there is and must be, in the one Church of Jesus Christ, a home for blacks, whites, Americans, every culture and race.” We are united in that one Church of Jesus Christ today.

In our first reading for Mass today, we listened to the Second Book of Maccabees. It is a story of seven brothers who were arrested and tortured for their beliefs and morals. Yet, these witnesses were strong and resolute in their faith. One of the brothers, speaking for the others, said: "What do you expect to achieve by questioning us? We are ready to die rather than transgress the laws of our ancestors."
At the point of death he said: "You accursed fiend, you are depriving us of this present life, but the King of the world will raise us up to live again forever. It is for his laws that we are dying" (2 Mc 7:1-2).

These men were able to remain faithful, because they knew well what Saint Paul wrote in his Letter to the Thessalonians: “The Lord is faithful; he will strengthen you and guard you against the evil one.”

Saint Martin de Porres knew that as well. He too experienced pain and mistreatment in his life. The very color of his skin made him an outcast to some. Yet, Saint Martin de Porres understood that he was made in the image and likeness of God and that God loved him. He loved and served the Lord, who was faithful to His people. Indeed, Saint Martin’s relationship with God was so alive that it overflowed and led him to love and serve His neighbor. He did this to perfection. As a Dominican lay brother, he was particularly loving to the poorest of the poor in his time. He reached out and shared through the spiritual and corporal works of mercy. He cared for the sick, fed the hungry and spent long hours before the Most Blessed Sacrament, where he received his strength.

In our Gospel today, Jesus responds to the question of the Sadducees about the resurrection of the dead. He tells them clearly: “That the dead will rise even Moses made known in the passage about the bush, when he called out 'Lord,’ the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob; and he is not God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive."

It is indeed, this “God of the living” that we must come to know more deeply in our spiritual lives. It is His only Son, Jesus Christ whom we must share with a world that desperately needs to know His love and mercy. It is the Holy Spirit that draws us to conversion and holiness so that one day we might share the joy of Saint Martin de Porres in the company of the Most Blessed Trinity in heaven.

There is an old African American Spiritual that summarizes this all so well. The words are: “Walk together children and don’t you get weary, walk together children because there’s a great camp meeting in the Promised Land.” May we never grow tired of doing good and may we walk together with Jesus leading us. Amen.