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It is a pleasure to return to St. Joseph Parish to celebrate with you the 100th anniversary of its founding. Today we pay tribute to those who went before us in faith – to the Redemptorist Fathers at St. Mary’s in Annapolis whom we claim as our “mother-parish” –and to the Archdiocesan priests, deacons, religious, and lay leaders who guided St. Joseph Parish through the years, and to your current pastor, Fr. Augustine Inwang, of the Missionary Society of St. Paul.

For some 75 years, St. Matthew Parish, Northwood, has stood as a place where Christ’s grace and mercy remain alive and active, where many who experience the truth and mercy of Christ, also experience God’s call to conversion, to discipleship, and to service.

The centerpiece of Vespers is Mary’s Canticle of Praise, the Magnificat. The Magnificat  speaks is first and foremost Mary’s inspired expression of amazement, gratitude, and fidelity, as with her cousin Elizabeth, she contemplates the birth of the Messiah and his forerunner.

As I offer this Holy Mass, I join you in lifting up colleagues who died in this past year and in commending to the Lord the mission that is yours each day in serving the needs of individuals and in serving the common good of diverse communities across the State of Maryland.

From your beginnings in Hereford high school, throughout all the ups and downs of your history thus far, your commitment to your parish, dear parishioners, has been constant and preserving. I came today to say “thank you” and to pray with you, asking the intercession of Our Lady of Grace that you and your parish may have a bright future, indeed, ‘a future full of hope’.

The five-fold cross that we wear as members of the Order signals our historic and ongoing commitment to the Church in the Holy Land and to the overall welfare of a region that, for much of its history, has been torn by conflict and war. It is obvious that the mission of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre is more important, more critical than ever, both its spiritual mission and its mission to provide concrete assistance.

Building a better world—protecting innocent human life, caring for our common home, overcoming divisions, defeating evil with good—this can come about, and only then partially, when we as a community of faith, journeying together, embrace the reversal of values that Jesus lays out for us in the Beatitudes, not only by his words but by his life.

So it was that this man experienced, not just physical healing, but that inward healing that comes about when our hearts are touched by the reality of God’s powerful love: a love that both creates anew and redeems, body and soul. 

For in this Mass, we invoke the Holy Spirit not only to help us attain our goals and to overcome our fears, but indeed to keep us focused on the one thing necessary for authentic priestly formation.