BRIDGEPORT— “A Christian is a woman or a man who recognizes the sovereignty of God in his or her life and has a readiness to love without counting the cost,” said Bishop Frank J. Caggiano in his homily for the 7th Sunday of Easter.
During the Mass, live-streamed from the Catholic Center chapel, the bishop reflected on the Gospel of John (17: 1-11), “And now I will no longer be in the world, but they are in the world, while I am coming to you.”
The bishop began his homily by asking “How do you know if a person is Christian or not ?
He said that he found himself musing over that question earlier this year while waiting in the Trumbull Mall for his niece and her children who were shopping.
The Bishop, who confessed that he was not much a shopper, said he decided to people watch while his family members shopped, because they had lured him to the mall with the promise of dinner at the Cheesecake Factory.
“It was a question out of the blue that haunted me,” he said as he noted that Christians throughout the world “do not have a distinguishing mark. We don’t speak a common language, have a distinctive dress or customs. We come from every race and language on earth.
The bishop said he found an answer to his question in the thoughts of an ancient writer who pointed out something “that helps you and I understand Jesus.”
“You and I as believers are called to be in the world but not of the world. That which separates us from the world is the indwelling of the Holy Spirit who allows us to live as God desires us to, to love as God wants us to– and that is all the difference.”
However, the task is “not to love the way we want to love, or the world wants us to love, but way God intends us to love in his image—his way,” he said.
He added that Christian love is grounded in the awareness of “the presence of sin, and that there is a law greater than our own making,”
The bishop said that Christians must take over the Lord’s mission “to be his lovers in the world and to establish the Kingdom he began,” by clothing and feeding the poor, visiting the sick and imprisoned and through ordinary acts “being able to be a person of genuine sacrifice, mercy, kindness, patience and forgiveness.”
“ A Christian is in the world to be the light in darkness, the hope when there is despair, to be love when the world wants us to be something else.,” he said.
Following Mass the bishop thanked all those who had watched the live-stream and noted that this weekend marks the beginning of outdoor Masses in the diocese.
“As you know, we began phase one of reopening our Churches. Mass outdoors is the first step, but please God a second phase of re-opening when we’re able to come back into Church building will happen soon,” said the bishop, who added that he hopes to share more details on Pentecost Sunday next week.
“Let us pray that we do it reverently and keep all God people safe as we gradually reopen our community of worship,” he said.
To join in the Bishop’s Sunday Mass, live-streamed weekly, click this link or visit the YouTube Mass Playlist.
