Homily from Red Mass 2018

RED MASS HOMILY
St. Michael Church in West Long Branch
September 30, 2018
 
As Catholics in the United States, we live in two worlds: a secular world — the state— and a religious world — the Church or comparable communities defined by religious beliefs.  They are distinctively different, “separate” worlds that co- exist simultaneously.  In addition to rights, customs, identifying principles and traditions, each of these worlds possesses its own system of laws established to create and preserve order for the sake of the common good.  It is the search for the common good inherent in each system that enables each to regard the other with respect.  Some will say that neither world should influence or affect the other directly or indirectly.  I am not one of them. 
 
We share one planet and one nation whose motto is, “ e pluribus unum,” from many, one.  Yes there are borders, differences, ideals, priorities and laws within, but, at the end of the day — no, throughout the day --- the same human blood courses through our veins.  It always has. If there is a “human nature” in search of a “common good,” then our politics and our poetry and our piety ought to seek it out sincerely and make it known in voices and languages that can be understood and mutually respected.  We must be free to be good citizens, protected by our laws ... and, at the very same time, we must be free to believe and practice our religious faith without compromise or restraint, uninhibited by our laws.
 
Today, we gather in a Catholic Church to celebrate the Annual Red Mass of the Diocese of Trenton --- before the beginning of the term of the United States Supreme Court on the first Monday of October --- to pray for all members of the legal profession and judiciary, regardless of their religious denomination, and to ask God’s blessings, the God “in whom we trust,” on the judicial year ahead.  This tradition is centuries old and repeated on various days in many different countries throughout the world.
 
 At a Catholic Mass, including this Red Mass, we listen to God’s Word and today is no exception.  His Word, his wisdom in Old and New Testaments, is addressed to us all.
 
Our first reading, from the ancient Book of Numbers, talks about the grumbling of Israel, the authority of Moses and the judgment of God.  It begins in a cloud but that cloud vanishes with the clarity of Moses’ prayer: “Would that all the people of the Lord were prophets!  Would that the Lord might bestow his spirit on them all!”
 
God created the world and created order within it through his law, which the Psalmist proclaims is “perfect” and “gives joy to the heart.”  What happened?  Selfishness and sin got in the way!  The New Testament Letter of James reflects that “wealth has rotted, clothes are moth eaten, gold and silver have corroded ... and will devour flesh like a fire.”  A world without God, consumed with self, leads to sin and yields, not the common good, but common destruction.
 
And, finally, our Gospel from St. Mark presents division among those who seek to drive out demons while seeking to do good but who are not counted among Christ’s chosen apostles.  But Jesus cautions “whoever is not against us, is with us” — a call to pursue the common good in his name.  Our nation is sharply divided today.  Even the Church is wracked by scandals.  The task before us is huge but in God, our Creator, nothing is insurmountable.  In the Church and in the State, we will never realize the common good until we work together to drive out the demons that tear us apart.