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Bishop's Homily for the Twenty-Seventh Sunday of Ordinary Time

October 6, 2024

Homily of the Most Reverend Larry Silva, Bishop of Honolulu
[St. Andrew Kim Taegon Oratory, Honolulu (Celebration of the 50^th Anniversary of the Korean Catholic Community in Hawaii)]

Although I have never had a pet, I know that people who own dogs, cats, or other pets can become very emotionally attached to them and grieve when the pet is seriously ill or dies.  It seems this is the way God made things in the beginning, that even animals could be a source of much joy, comfort and companionship to man.  But God also knew that no animal could possibly satisfy the human longing for companionship with another being who was made of the same substance.  And so, Adam’s most intimate companion, Eve, was created as bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh.  We know that this was the beginning of marriage, which God himself ordained as the basis for human flourishing, with its faithful, committed and fruitful love that propagates and fills the earth with all the wonderful human beings who are made in the image and likeness of God himself.  It is the bringing together of those who are opposites in order to create and nurture even more children for the family of God.

Beginning with St. Paul and God’s revelation through him, we know that marriage between a man and a woman was also considered a sign or sacrament of the marriage of Christ and his beloved Bride, the Church.  This is certainly a life-long (in fact eternal life-long!) commitment that Christ has made out of his love, even for sinful humanity.  It is the risen Christ himself who makes love to us right here in this Eucharist, so that the two can become one Body and so that many more children can be conceived and nurtured for the Kingdom of God.

As we celebrate this special anniversary of the Korean Catholic Community, we reflect on how like has come together with like.  You who have immigrated to the United States from Korea, and others who are thankful for their Korean heritage, are united in one community of love to support each other in your mission.  As in any marriage, there are rough times and disagreements, but it is the love of Christ you share with one another in your sameness as Koreans that brings you together.

At the same time, this community is different from any Catholic community in Korea, because you live in a multi-cultural environment where Native Hawaiians, Micronesians, Caucasians, Filipinos, people of African descent, and many others form one “Ohana,” one family.  Therefore, while the mission of this particular community is to nurture its own members in the Christian faith and to call other members of the Korean diaspora to share the Catholic faith – which you have been doing very well over these past fifty years! – your mission is also to share the faith of Jesus Christ with those who are different, who are not members of the Korean community, but who are members of the flock that Jesus wants to draw close to himself.  There is a real sense in which the original plan of God is to be fulfilled in you.  Adam and Eve were made of the same flesh, but they were different, and that complementary difference enabled them to be fruitful.  In the same way, to the extent that this Korean community reaches out to others who are not Koreans, you are fulfilling this original vocation that God planted into human beings from the beginning of time.

We know that one of the unique features of the Catholic Church in Korea is that it was introduced there and nurtured for generations not by missionary priests, but by Korean laity who learned to love the living Lord Jesus and to share that love with others.  So it is today.  While your priest is an essential part of your community, bringing you together to celebrate an encounter with the risen Jesus that only he can make possible in the Eucharist, you still have the mission as laity to share the faith of Jesus with your neighbors, co-workers, schoolmates, and family members.  This fruitfulness that flows from this marriage of Jesus Christ with his beloved Bride, the Church, becomes concrete by the witness of your lives and by the witness of your words.

We thank God for the beautiful witness you have given here in the Diocese of Honolulu, and we pray that many more generations will continue this witness to Jesus among the Koreans.  And we thank God for the challenge that Jesus sets before us to go out to all the world with his Good News and thus, as his beloved Bride, conceive and nurture even more children of all races and languages to be a part of Christ’s loving family.