July 6, 2008

             In my homily last Sunday evening I cited a poem by Denise Levertov, about the First Reading of the Mass.  The poem, appropriately titled St. Peter and the Angel, imparts the following bit of insight:

And not till he saw the angel had left him,
alone and free to resume
the ecstatic, dangerous, wearisome roads of
what he still had to do,
not till then did he recognize
this was no dream.  More frightening
than arrest, than being chained to his warders:
he could hear his own footsteps suddenly.
Had the angel’s feet
made any sound?  He could not recall.
No one had missed him, no one was in pursuit.
He himself must be
the key, now, to the nest door,
the next terrors of freedom and joy.

As is true of good poems, this one in polyvalent – it can take us in many directions without being merely ambiguous.  While it certainly served its purpose for last Sunday’s homily, I think it also has something to say about this 4th of July weekend and about our future as a parish, especially in those last three lines: He himself must be/ the key, now, to the next door,/ the next terrors of freedom and joy.
            At the end of the first holiday weekend of the summer, a weekend in which we have made great celebration of our national independence and the blessings of liberty that we enjoy so richly, we cannot help but remember that the freedom we enjoy has been purchased at a price, and that this will ever be the case in a world that is fraught with self-centeredness and greed.  The enjoyment of freedom in this world is continually bound to the exercise of vigilance, for the world is constantly bringing forth people and movements that see in our liberty a threat to their self-importance and hunger for power; through long experience we know that this can happen from within or from without.
            As a parish facing some very challenging choices in the coming months and years, we too can appreciate that the desire to keep the freedom and passionate wonder of the Gospel present and vigorous in our parish comes with a price, and that this price can be both a great honor and a real burden.  We cannot simply assume that all is well with our aging church building, even as we look with joy at the continuing growth of our parish family in numbers and activity.  It is no dream: we do indeed proclaim the Gospel here in the heart of Center City.  We ourselves are the key, now, to the next door …

Peace to your heart,

Fr. Frank