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SUNDAY, April 27, 2003 Beatification of Blessed James Alberione Homily on Blessed James Alberione Today's Gospel is one that we are all very familiar with. In fact, most of us could tell the story pretty much from memory, especially about how Thomas spoke so strongly about putting his finger into the nail marks and his hand into Jesus' side and how Jesus accommodated him the next week, and ending with the famous words of Thomas: "My Lord and my God," and Jesus' response, "Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed." Indeed this is one of those Gospel narratives that we think we can speak about with great certainty. However, I would like us to focus for a few moments on a part of the story which we have not given sufficient attention to and that in the second address Jesus directs to his disciples when he says: "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you." Yes, right after the Resurrection Jesus wished to extend to his friends his peace and then indicated clearly to them that they had a task to embrace and that meant he was going to send them forth. He was going to send them forth to bring people to him by their speaking, teaching and their very lives. How fortunate for us and for the Church that with this Gospel today in Rome our Holy Father is beatifying James Alberione, a priest who heard God's challenge to be sent forth and who in turn accepted this call in his life in such a wonderful way for the glory of God and for the salvation of people; that the Church today applies Jesus' words to James Alberione, "Blessed is he who has not seen and has believed." On fire with love of God and consumed with a desire to share his relationship with God with others, he creatively responded to the command of Jesus on that first Ascension Day, "Go therefore and teach all nations," by founding five religious communities and four secular institutes to continue the work of being sent forth. Today we recognize and thank God for the faithfulness of his spiritual daughters and sons who so generously and enthusiastically have made their own his charism for the furtherance of understanding and accepting God by countless people. Prophetically, ahead of his time, James Alberione appreciated the role of the liturgy as the summit and source of our Catholic lives which the sister Disciples of the Divine Master so beautifully carry on in their liturgical apostolate. He also prophetically appreciated the expanding role and advances in the area of communication as a vehicle for bringing the message about Jesus and ultimately Jesus himself to so many people who otherwise would not hear about the Lord and his message of life. The Daughters of St. Paul so competently and lovingly engage themselves in this apostolate with enthusiasm. These are great legacies James Alberione has bequeathed to the Church, but even more significantly he has impressed upon his religious families and through them to countless people the centrality of the Eucharist in our personal lives. It is from here, here in this chapel, that we are enlightened through the presence of the glorified Jesus, whom we offer to the Heavenly father in the Sacrifice of the Mass and whom we are privileged to receive in Holy Communion. Indeed, we are enlightened, strengthened, confirmed in our commitments to God and to his work in worshiping God and in evangelization. Today is a blessed day, for when the Church recognizes one of its members for beatification as she does today—proclaiming James Alberione blessed—the Church does so not for his sake but for us and for all people, by proposing this Blessed as a model and as an intercessor—as stated in the catechism of the Catholic Church and as so aptly stated in the official prayer of the church for the Mass and Divine Office for Blessed James Alberione: O God, Who raised up in your Church What a wonderful Gospel we heard today. Blessed James Alberione, pray for us Most Reverend Richard G. Lennon, D.D.
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