The St. Angela Merici Parish community welcomed Bishop Edward Malesic for his first visit. Before Mass, the Gardner family, whose two younger daughters attend St. Angela School, presented him with a basket filled school swag items. Their older daughter, a Saint Joseph Academy student, was one of the high school altar servers.
During the Mass, the bishop blessed a plaque dedicated to Msgr. Robert Wolff, a beloved former pastor who died recently. The plaque is located in a shrine dedicated to children that was created by Msgr. Wolf during his time at the parish, 1972-1988.
“It is good to be with you this morning,” he told those gathered for the 9:30 a.m. Mass on Aug. 29. “I am grateful to Father (Michael) Lanning (the pastor) for the invitation to be here with you. I am grateful to the clergy and the staff, the volunteers and the parishioners who make up St. Angela’s family of faith for your warm welcome,” he added.
Concelebrating the Mass were Father Don Dunson and Father Rob Ramser, parochial vicars.
“I can tell that this place is a center of worship, service and evangelization. You promote justice, peace and compassion. You are a school for the young and deepen the faith of the more mature. You don’t keep the faith just within the walls of this parish, but as St. Paul says in his letter, you not only hear the Word, but you are also doers of the Word. You are a blessing to this community, to our diocese and to me,” he said.
The Sunday Mass is the center of the week, the bishop said. “It is the hinge on which one week ends and another begins. We give thanks to God for his blessings in the last week and we ask God to continue to bless us in the new week.”
He also asked them to remember the people of Afghanistan and for the troops trying to keep them safe. “Let’s pray for peace there, in our world, in our country, in our cities, our families and in our hearts. I think that is what Jesus is getting at in the Gospel. If we want a changed world, we need to keep our hearts clean and close to God. It begins here,” he said, pointing to his own heart.
The bishop said it’s important to honor God not just with actions, with our hearts. “Someone once said that going to church can’t make you a Christian any more than standing in a garage makes you a car,” he quipped.
In the Gospel, the Pharisees were strictly observant Jews, practicing their religion scrupulously, Bishop Malesic said, but he noted, “Their hearts were very far from God.” Religion is more than just following the rules and performing the assigned rituals, he said, adding, “Jesus pointed out that dressing in the holy robes of a Pharisee didn’t make them good Jews any more than washing their hands could clean their dirty hearts.”
Good religion must touch inside of a person, the bishop said, explaining that performing a religious ritual for its own sake without a commitment to God is empty and devoid of meaning. “If, on the other hand, our external rituals are used to express and strengthen what is already in our hearts, then our ritual is filled with meaning. What we do today should express what is in our hearts. That is what Jesus sees.”
He also said that Jesus, who sees all, wants to help us purify our hearts. Each of us has things inside that we don’t want others to see. “These are the things that Jesus lists as coming from the inside that cause bad things on the outside: evil thoughts of greed, lust, envy – you know them, we all have them. Ask the Lord to wash us with his forgiveness.”
Bishop Malesic said when we ask the Lord to forgive us, it’s like God taking a big eraser to the blackboard listing our sins and wiping them clean. “That is the clean that Jesus wants – the clean that comes from the inside – and eventually touches everything on the outside of us, too. If we want a better world, we must work on our souls first. If we want a world of peace, we must let peace rule our hearts. If we want a world that respects everyone, no matter the color of their skin, then we must have a heart that respects everyone first. If we want a world that is close to God we must make sure that there is enough room in our own hearts for God,” he said.
“So, let’s give our hearts to God and ask him to change them, like he changes bread and wine into his body and blood. Then, knowing God’s great love for us, let us put our heart into everything we do, beginning with what we are doing right now. Let’s not just sing and pray with our lip, but let it come from our heart.”
After Mass, Bishop Malesic joined the parish and school community outdoors for a back-to-school picnic featuring hot dogs, burgers, games, the East Coast Custard truck and the parish raffle drawing. Parish organizations offered information about their ministries and families could visit the school to meet their children’s teachers and see the classrooms.