Most Reverend Vincent Long Van Nguyen OFM Conv DD STL, Bishop of Parramatta
Homily for the 2025 Catholic Schools Parramatta Diocese Commissioning Mass
Readings: Jeremiah 17:5-10; Luke 16:19-31
A commitment to go out of ourselves and encounter Jesus together
Dear brothers and sisters,
This afternoon, we gather to commission new principals and beginning teachers who will be tasked with accompanying and forming students in the respective learning communities across Western Sydney and the Blue Mountains. In the midst of a fast-changing world and a precarious global order, we are not bystanders nor apathetic observers but pilgrims on the journey towards a hope-filled future.
Pope Francis asks us to be signs of hope for others, as he himself has been an outstanding embodiment of Christian hope even in times of sickness and fragility. He said these words recently “By our actions, our words, the decisions we make each day, our patient efforts to sow seeds of beauty and kindness wherever we find ourselves, we want to sing of hope… and reawaken in every heart the joy and courage to embrace life to the full.”
I believe that one of the greatest signs of new life in the Church today is the arrival of the age of the laity and the increasing awareness of our co-responsibility in the building up of the Kingdom. Today, leadership of the Catholic community rests just as much if not more in your hands than it does in the hands of the declining number of ageing clergy. The fact that you are here today not as surrogate priests and religious but as full partners in the mission of sharing the Good News speaks of the new synodal way of being Church. This greater sense of discipleship can only be a source of blessing and enrichment for all. In an increasingly secular age, you who live “in the world” are called in a particular way to be leaven, transforming the culture from within in an invisible yet powerful way.
Scriptures today inspire us to be people of hope in times of chaos, disruption and fear. We are called to be like the faithful remnants or the anawim in the face of displacement, alienation and loss. Despite the challenges facing us, we must not lose sight of Gospel values of love, compassion, inclusion and justice.
Jeremiah in the first reading puts a simple but radical choice before his people: either they trust in God’s promises and follow his ways or they act according to their self-interest. It was not an easy choice for them, especially when everyone else was trying to save their own skin. With the imminent threat of invasion by the Assyrians and the ensuing chaos, the Israelites were busy running after the strong, the wealthy and the powerful. Jeremiah speaks the small voice of fidelity, integrity and justice in the midst of fear, self-interest and opportunism. He urges the people to stake everything on God’s covenant, rather than on human security through power and might.
In the Gospel, Jesus also speaks to the crowd who have followed him and witnessed his ministry of healing, mercy and compassion for the social outcasts. He puts to them an alternative vision of life, which is opposite to what the dominant system has to offer. In God’s eyes, the blessed are not the powerful, the rich and those who have everything at their disposal. Instead, they are the servants of God’s life, love and justice.
In a parable that comforts to the afflicted and afflicts the comfortable, Jesus invites us to live with empathy and compassion. Dives was totally caught up in his own affairs. He dressed himself magnificently; he feasted every day sumptuously; he enjoyed a good life without any reference to Lazarus who longed for the crumbs that fell from his table. At judgement time, the situation was reversed: Lazarus was comforted while Dives was in agony. Yet the point of the parable is not about rewarding the poor and punishing the rich. Rather, it is about the sense of duty and responsibility that comes with what we have been given. Our gifts and talents are given not primarily for ourselves but for others and the greater good of the whole.
Dear friends, new principals and teachers,
What a joy and privilege it is to have you as colleagues, companions, partners with God’s plan for a shared destiny of hope for our people in Western Sydney and the Blue Mountains. We are proud to be a big tent Catholic that pushes the boundaries. Our motto is going further into the deep, meaning a commitment to go out of ourselves to encounter Jesus together, even in unfamiliar and strange places. We are proud to continue the ethos of inclusivity and offer Catholic education for all, especially the disadvantaged. We feel a sense of pride and gratitude as we embark on this journey together.
May the teaching and example of Jesus guide us as we endeavour to build our Church, relationships and communities that mirror the Reign of God. Inspired by Jesus’ model of privileging the downtrodden, we can work towards an economy and a social structure that prioritizes the cry of the poor and the cry of the earth. May Mary, Seat of Wisdom, help us to be carers and protectors of those who have been entrusted to us. May she guide us as we seek to form them into a critical yeast for critical times ahead. May your service as empowering leaders be a source of blessing for many.
