Bishop Thomas Gumbleton Column

The Peace Pulpit by Bishop Gumbleton	Sunday, August 24, 2008
Homily Archives	Weekly Homily

Some of you, I'm sure, have been to Rome and have seen the great basilica of St. Peter on Vatican Hill in the midst of Vatican City. If you haven't been there, you've certainly seen pictures of that tremendous basilica, overpowering in its size and richness and the symbol of power that it gives forth. Perhaps you noticed if you were there that around the dome -- which is the most extraordinary feature of this church, a huge dome -- in very large letters are the words that Jesus says today in the gospel.

They're written in Latin: "Tu es Petrus, et super hanc petram aedificabo ecclesiam meam." I still know my Latin. It says, "You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church." We've come to accept that, that it's Peter, now the successor of Peter, the pope, who has ultimate authority in the church, and especially since the first Vatican Council, which ended in the year 1870, so over 100 years ago, but still dominant in our church, we have ascribed to the pope, total power and authority in the church.

The Peace Pulpit by Bishop Gumbleton	Sunday, August 17, 2008
Homily Archives	Weekly Homily

The scripture readings today are very inspiring and also extraordinarily challenging.

When we look at the gospel lesson first of all, it's amazing, isn't it, the courage and the faith and the love of this woman? A Canaanite -- not only a Gentile, not a Jew, but also from the very people who were the first enemies of the Jewish people when they were freed from slavery in Egypt and came into the promised land. This is a Canaanite. They'd been hostile to the Jews for centuries, yet she has the courage to come forward, to cry after Jesus. This is a woman in a very patriarchal society. According to the custom, she should not have been in the street by herself. She should not approach a man as she did. But her love for her daughter was so strong and she wanted so much to get what was good for her daughter, that she had the courage to push beyond the boundaries that were supposed to hold her back.

The Peace Pulpit by Bishop Gumbleton	Sunday, August 10, 2008
Homily Archives	Weekly Homily

It's my conviction that most of us who hear these lessons today, especially the first lesson, can find a lot of comfort in them. I think there are a couple of reasons for this, one of which is very obvious, and the other we have to search a little bit more deeply to discover what God is really saying to us today.

The first reason why these lessons seem so comforting, I think we find in the gospel, how quick Jesus is to reach out to help. As soon as Peter cries in fear and in need, Jesus is right there, disappointed perhaps because Peter has suddenly lacked confidence in him, but nevertheless, he's there to give Peter the help he needs. The first lesson we also find comforting because it reminds us that when we are searching for God, or perhaps when we feel somewhat abandoned by God, if we go apart, we will discover God.

The Peace Pulpit by Bishop Gumbleton	Sunday, August 3, 2008
Homily Archives	Weekly Homily

Over the last four or five Sundays, our liturgy of the word has focused on the reign of God. We were reminded how, when Jesus first began his public life, his first declaration was, "The reign of God is at hand. Change your lives."

Then we began to reflect on passages where Jesus told short stories, parables, in which he tried to say, "The reign of God is like this." We remember maybe the weeds and the wheat in the field, the yeast, the pearl of great price, or the treasure hidden in the field. All of these stories helped us to understand what the reign of God is, what it's like.

The Peace Pulpit by Bishop Gumbleton	Sunday, July 27, 2008
Homily Archives	Weekly Homily

As I mentioned in introducing the gospel, this is the third Sunday that we have been listening to parables by Jesus, and all of them, seven in total, are connected with the kingdom of heaven. Jesus wants us to understand what he means by the kingdom of heaven. Perhaps you reviewed this last week or the week before, but it's important to do it once more, to review what Jesus meant when he said "The kingdom of heaven."

The Peace Pulpit by Bishop Gumbleton	Sunday, July 20, 2008
Homily Archives	Weekly Homily

As I mentioned in introducing the Gospel, Jesus is instructing us, and has instructed us last week and now today and next week, through parables. He's trying to teach us about what is really the meaning of his mission - why he came into the world, why he gathered a community of disciples, and then at the end of his life, sent them out to continue his work. It's all about the reign of God. That's why Jesus came.

The Peace Pulpit by Bishop Gumbleton	Sunday, July 13, 2008
Homily Archives	Weekly Homily

Not many Sundays ago, as we began the ordinary time of the year, the gospel writers, Matthew and Mark especially, showed us Jesus beginning his public life. We heard Jesus proclaim, "The reign of God is at hand. Change your lives." The reign of God is ready to break forth -- that's what Jesus was proclaiming -- a message of good news.

Now as we continue our reading of the Gospel of Matthew this year, we come to a part where Jesus begins to explain for us what the reign of God is, how we enter in to it, how we must live, how we must change our lives, if we really are going to enter in to the reign of God and be able to experience that reign come to its fullness within ourselves and ultimately at some point, the reign of God breaking forth and transforming our whole world, our whole universe.

The Peace Pulpit by Bishop Gumbleton	Sunday, July 6, 2008
Homily Archives	Weekly Homily

All of us, in one way or another, carry burdens, carry heavy yokes, so it's always helpful and encouraging to hear Jesus say to us, "Come to me. Take my burden upon you, my yoke, for my yoke is good and my burden is light."

But the people to whom first Jesus spoke those words had even more reason, I think, to welcome what Jesus says to them, because for them, there was a burden that was placed upon them that Jesus rejected. It was the burden of the human laws that had been created and posed upon them by the religious leaders. In another part of Matthew's gospel, Jesus says this: "The teachers of the law and the Pharisees occupy the seat of Moses, so listen and do all they say, but do not imitate what they do, for they themselves do not practice what they teach. They prepare heavy burdens that are very difficult to carry, and lay them on the shoulders of the people."

The Peace Pulpit by Bishop Gumbleton	Sunday, June 29, 2008
Homily Archives	Weekly Homily

Editor’s Note: Bishop Gumbleton preached this homily at Ss. Peter & Paul Church in Detroit, Michigan at the celebration of the 160th anniversary of the parish. It is a Jesuit parish in downtown Detroit.

First of all, I express profound thanks to Fr. [Carl] Bonk [S.J.] and to all of you, who are the community of this parish at Ss. Peter & Paul, for the opportunity to be the main celebrant today on this very important occasion when you celebrate and remember 160 years of the presence of this parish community here in the city of Detroit. It truly is a privilege to be among you and to experience your faith and your joy as this celebration takes place.

I hope that, as we listen carefully to the scriptures today, all of us will have an even deeper understanding of how important it is that this community has been here for these 160 years, and that it will continue to be here for many, many decades to come.