Location: St. Mary’s University
Dear friends of COPS/Metro Alliance and members of the West/Southwest Industrial Areas Foundation, on this Second Sunday of Advent, my heart fills with hope as I see you gathered here. We give thanks to God for your fifty-year journey and the fruits He has granted you, envisioning the greater things you can achieve in the future. Guided by Christ, the Light of the World, who promises to be reborn in our hearts each year, I am confident an even brighter path lies ahead.
Our role, as clergy, is to ensure that streams of living water continue to flow from the Church, nourishing God’s Holy People with the Bread of God’s Word and at the Eucharistic Table, and healing the wounded working as a “field hospital” – as Pope Francis says. You, the lay faithful, are called to be vibrant, beautiful flowers in the world, scattering seeds of new life. Together, we share the hope that the surrounding desert will blossom into a flourishing field. Yet, a flower alone will wither; it must bear fruit and be surrounded by others. The Lord and the Church call you to sanctify society from within, acting like leaven. To this end, I propose three challenges to fill the field with flowers.
First, where are the COPS/Metro Alliance and West/Southwest Industrial Areas Foundation of tomorrow? For every adult today, there should be at least two young people to secure the future. Go out and engage the next generation! Visit high schools, colleges, and universities, inviting young people to commit themselves to shaping the world and finding deeper purpose to their formation. I firmly believe God calls many to deepen their personal relationship with Christ through civic engagement and leadership, which is charity expressed in societal structures. Investing in the future means believing in it, sowing hope, and mentoring the young to embrace their vocation as civic leaders. The fruits – joy, courage, and effectiveness – will come swiftly, as they are hallmarks of youth.
Second, what more can you do for immigrants? Pope Francis has called us to focus on four actions for migrants: “to welcome, to protect, to promote and to integrate.” Pick one of these, and double-down on a concrete strategy that leaves no migrant behind. By committing more deeply to any of these actions, you will uncover unexpected and marvelous gifts that God brings both from other lands and from within your hearts.
Third, how are you translating synodality into social discernment? Drawing from the synodal process initiated by the Pope, continue to be bridges in society. Close gaps between government and citizens, business leaders and workers, and across political divides. Foster dialogue and discernment to help San Antonio, and other cities, discover their unique economic and social vocation, yielding abundant fruits of development and the common good.
In summary, embrace your baptismal identity and take ownership of your unique responsibilities as laypeople. With the help of Our Lady of Guadalupe, I pray that you dare to continue to responsibly commit to your own initiatives, to transform the temporal affairs of society with the spirit of the Gospel.
