By John Shaughnessy (Assistant Editor, The Criterion)
Cardinal
Joseph W. Tobin chose a place in his heart to share his first homily as a
cardinal—the Church of St. Alphonsus Liguori in Rome. (Click here to see photos from the Mass)
The
church is named for the founder of the Redemptorist order—the order in which
Cardinal Tobin was ordained a priest in 1978. It’s also the home church of the
general headquarters of the Redemptorists—the place that was his home when he
served as the superior general of his order from 1997 to 2009.
The Church
of St. Alphonsus Liguori is also meaningful to him because it’s the home of the
icon of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, and the Blessed Mother has always been a
major influence in his life.
In the
beautiful, small church packed with people for Sunday evening Mass on Nov. 20, Cardinal
Tobin delivered his homily first in Italian and then in English, accommodating
Catholics from the local community, members of the Redemptorist order, and his
friends and family from the United States, including a huge contingent from the
Archdiocese of Indianapolis.
For his
homily, Cardinal Tobin drew upon the experience of the outdoor morning Mass of
Nov. 20 in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican. During that Mass, Pope Francis
closed the Holy Doors of Mercy at St. Peter’s Basilica, symbolically closing
the Church’s Holy Year of Mercy around the world.
Here is the
essence of his first homily as a cardinal:
“I think
for most of us perhaps, at least the question crossed our mind, ‘What does it
mean to close the Door of Mercy?’ Is it possible that mercy is now beyond our
reach? Perhaps that’s why our Holy Father chose to close the Year of Mercy
today, on the feast of Christ the King—because the feast reminds us of the
story of the King who dies from love.
“People make fun of it. They say, ‘What sort
of God would allow his Messiah to die the way Jesus died?’ But he dies with his
arms open, nails in, to remind us that there are some things more important
than life. And one of those things, perhaps the only thing more important than
life itself, is love. The true grace of God that we see in Jesus crucified is a
clear sign that mercy was not ended.
“The
words of Jesus to that dying thief, who simply wanted to be remembered when
Jesus entered his kingdom, should give all of us hope: ‘Today you will be with
me in paradise.’ Today—because love is always in a hurry. Love always wants to
go where it should go—to the beloved. To be with me. I want you in paradise.
“And so we close a door today, but we recognize
a King. And our mother Mary, who is given to us as the mother who is always
ready to help us, presents us the reason for our hope. Those elongated figures
of hers in the icon point to Jesus, the only savior in the world, the more
simple face of God.”
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