30th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B 2021

Published: October 24, 2021

Bishop Anthony B. Taylor prepared the following homily for the closing Mass of the Hispanic Catholic Charismatic Renewal Conference on Sunday, Oct. 24, 2021. It was scheduled to take place at the Fort Smith Convention Center, but it was canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Bishop Taylor

Last Sunday we had a special Mass at the Cathedral to launch a process of consultation and listening called for by Pope Francis in preparation for a meeting of bishops in 2023. This meeting is called a “synod on synodality,” which is a fancy way of saying a time of “journeying together” as we consider what the Holy Spirit is asking of us today.

Here we are encouraged to make a special effort to include people on the periphery: humble people who have a perspective we need to hear, especially people who feel alienated from the Church or from society.

Recently I attended a conference regarding our baptismal call to be evangelizing disciples of Jesus, disciples who bring the Good News of Jesus Christ and the light of the Gospel to those who do not yet know the Lord — or who once knew him and have now strayed. And it all begins with a personal encounter with Jesus Christ.

We can’t give effective witness to Jesus unless we know him ourselves. Knowing about him is not the same thing as knowing him. We are not saved by what we know but rather by who we know. Jesus is our redeemer. He came to set us free from sin and death and everything else that holds us bound. Some of us may be investing a lot of energy studying his teachings and even reading a lot of Scripture, but this will not bear lasting fruit apart from a living relationship with Jesus, our constant companion.

You participants in the Catholic charismatic renewal are in a privileged position to be the evangelizing disciples that our world so much needs today. You know the Lord. You have experienced his presence in your heart and you can give eloquent witness to what a difference that has made in your life. And let me share with you a special gift that you have to offer to the Lord in the part of his vineyard that we call Arkansas.

When I was a child the Catholic Church in this part of the country was very small. Even now we have eight counties with no Catholic church and 34 counties without a resident priest — we are mission country. And in the last generation God has blessed us with a large influx of Catholic immigrants, especially from Mexico and Central America — you who are gathered here today.

But many of our immigrants have moved to places where previously there had been no Catholics. For that reason, in the last decade Hispanic Catholics have established new churches in Lincoln and Decatur and greatly expanded the church in Warren. And before that, the churches in Glenwood and Wickes and the parish center in De Queen — all heavily Spanish-speaking.

But we’ve got lots of other places that we need to reach, and you — the Catholic charismatics of Arkansas — are among those whom the Lord is calling to do just that. You can go to the periphery and bring the Good News, establishing prayer groups in every county of our state. That’s how the churches in Lincoln and Decatur got started.

In today’s Gospel Jesus restores sight to a man named Bartimaeus. We don’t know what caused his blindness, but its negative consequences were not just physical: he’s a beggar, dependent on the charity of others, a burden on society. He was in the dark both physically and spiritually — and the same is true for so many people today.

That is why Pope Francis has called for this time of journeying together in the Holy Spirit, asking God to remove our blindness and help us bring the light of the Gospel to those who are in darkness today, especially those who are on the periphery whom we so often ignore.

In today’s Gospel we see that God sent Jesus to set Bartimaeus free both physically and spiritually. Now he was neither blind nor a beggar. He was “following Jesus on the way.” And Jesus can set you free too and then use you to bring that same freedom to others. Cry out in faith like Bartimaeus did: “Jesus, Son of David, have pity on me” and Jesus will respond to you as well: to heal you, forgive you and set you free!