The following in Bishop Caggiano’s homily for the Twenty-Sixth Sunday In Ordinary Time:
My dear friends,
For about a year and a half between College Seminary and major Seminary, I worked in the world as a salesman for McGraw-Hill Publishing Company. And my territory was New York and the greater region. And part of my job was to just visit my customers to make sure they were happy.
I had one customer in particular, the most important one I had, who as soon as she saw me did not like me. And nothing I could do could change that. So much so that we saw each other face to face the first time I went, and not after that. For as soon as I would show up and they announced that I was there, she would walk down the hall, always in front of me, and I would be talking to her but she wouldn’t be looking at me. And then she’d go into her office and close her door on my face. And I knew the visit was over, and I go home.
In those months when I worked for McGraw Hill I also was considering, reflecting, praying on whether I had made the right decision, whether the Lord was really calling me to be a priest. And because at times I can be stubborn, it took almost 20 months to realize that everything I wanted, which I had, was not what I needed. What I needed is to follow God’s will.
So I decided to go back to the Seminary. And so my district manager said ‘Frank, you have to go visit this person and tell her yourself.’ I thought, ‘okay’.
So I arrived, and she’s walking down the hall, and I’m right behind her. And she was so far ahead of me that I literally had to scream out. And I said to her, ‘by the way, I’m leaving’. And she stopped, and she turned around, so I saw her face to face for the only second time. And she said to me – I’m going to change the phrasing because we’re in church – she said she said to me, ‘who would hire you?’ And I said ‘Jesus’.
And my friends, the reaction was amazing. You could see her face, I saw her face change. Her shoulders, they were always like this, began to relax. And for the first time, not yelling but whispering, she said to me, ‘What did you just say?’
I said ‘Jesus. I’m going back to the Seminary to be a priest.’
And then she was at her door, she flung the door open and she said to her secretary, ‘cancel my appointments’. And she said ‘you’, pointing to me, ‘you come with me’.
And I went into her office for the first time, which was the last day I was there, and for almost two hours she talked. And I just sat there. And she talked about her life, which was a life filled with a lot of suffering, a lot of pain, a lot of wounds. And I don’t think I said five words. And at the end she was kind of cordial. She wished me well. And I left the school. And I was on Seventh Avenue in Manhattan and I said to myself, ‘what was that? what happened?’ And then the words of the second reading today came to mind.
Saint Paul and Philippians sings at the name of Jesus, ‘every knee shall bend in the heavens on Earth, and under the Earth. And every tongue professed to the Glory of God the Father Jesus Christ is Lord, the name of Jesus.’
You see my dear friends, all of us come here to this church with our own names given to us in baptism. But many times we forget that we have one name we all share together, also given to us in baptism. In that name is Christian. For we are all named after Jesus the Christ.
And we know in baptism we were given the gift of the Holy Spirit, the forgiveness of original sin, the enlightenment of our minds, and the gifts of faith, hope, and love.
But what we sometimes forget is that we will also given the Name of Jesus. And with the Name of Jesus comes power, and grace, and authority for us to use in service of our brothers and sisters.
Now you may say, ‘Bishop, this gift of the name of Jesus, how can it be shared?’ Like, ‘what does it do for me?’
Well I glimpsed it that day, where it freed the tongue of this woman to share something probably she had not shared with anyone else. And she began to feel the healing power of God.
But my friends, with the name of Jesus you and I can see what the world is blind to. And by seeing brothers and sisters who are sick and homeless and handicapped and alone, we can be the ones to reach out to them. Because they are our brothers and sisters, with names and respect and dignity.
And what will happen? Christ will use us to bring healing and hope to them. With the power of Jesus, His name in The Gift of the Holy Spirit, He asks that we allow our hearts to become compassionate, merciful, kind, patient, and forgiving. Not because we are doing it alone, but because He will do it through us.
And what will happen? There will be people, couples, neighbors, co-workers, friends, our communities, and even our Parish that will find freedom from sin. Joy that only Christ can give. That they will find that they can be forgiven, and they will learn how to forgive. They will recognize that God’s love is real because we have brought it to them. And all of that comes to us through the name and power of Jesus and His presence in you and me, in His Holy Spirit.
How often do you and I reflect on this gift? How often when you and I pray, do we ask that the power of the Name of Jesus be unleashed in you and me? How often do we go out these doors and proudly profess who we are? For we are Christians. And our allegiance is with Jesus Christ, in word, witness, and the lifestyle that we choose to show.
May I ask this week for our spiritual homework, is to reflect on that question. Have I had this gift all these years and have done very little with it? For the time has come to unleash its power in you and me. For if you are wondering what difference can one name make, in the case of Jesus, the difference is everlasting life.
