Fr. Tom Cassidy’s homily for the installation of Fr. Stephen Huffstetter, 14th provincial superior of the U.S. Province
Click here to view photos from the August 1 ceremony
Readings:
Hebrews 13:1-2, 7-8
Luke 22: 24-27
Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever is not one of our SCJ mottos, but it is at the root of our message. We SCJs are called to preach the love of God and to proclaim and build the kingdom that is both here and not yet, summed up in our motto “Adveniat Regnum Tuum” (Your Kingdom Come). We do so in the spirit of availability embodied in the words: “Ecce Venio” (Behold I Come).
The Priests of the Sacred Heart have been doing so since 1878 and if we take 1923 as the start of our SCJ presence in the United States we have been preaching the love of God as symbolized in the Sacred Heart for the past 90 years. By doing so we are responding to the message we just read from Hebrews: Let mutual love continue.
And how do we ensure that love? According to Hebrews, by hospitality, obedience and imitation. In Jesus’ time hospitality was considered one of the most important virtues. It is very much a part of our SCJ charism. I marvel at the fact we offer no courses in hospitality as part of our formation program and yet it is part of the fabric of our lives. Across the street at Sacred Heart School of Theology bishops, vocation directors, prospective students and guests frequently comment on the spirit of hospitality that exists. The students seem to just pick up its importance, learning from one generation to the next. Even here at Sacred Heart at Monastery Lake, in existence for only one year, that spirit of hospitality is alive and well and commented on by visitors, guests and residents.
We have with us today SCJs from around the world, and from my own first-hand experience I can attest to the fact that hospitality is practiced throughout the 41 countries where SCJs now live and work. Why is hospitality important? It is an expression of that mutual love. It is putting love into practice.
Obedience to what and to whom? Obedience to the faith as expressed in Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. Obedience and imitation of Gospel Values. It is knowing Jesus not as an abstraction or as a dogma but as a real, living presence in our lives. It’s connecting with the person of Jesus, of finding him as a friend, companion, brother and in the spirit of the theology of the Sacred Heart, a lover.
Hopefully, we see these qualities in those we call to leadership in our local communities and as we mark today the installation, along with his council, of Stephen Huffstetter as our 14th provincial superior.
No. 56 in Our Rule of Life speaks of leadership in terms of service or of being a servant. It addresses Jesus’ response to the squabble among his disciples as to who was the greatest. Jesus responds by posing a question: “For who is greater, the one who is seated at the table, or the one who serves? Is it not the one who is seated at the table”? But then he gives a surprising response: “But I am among you as one who serves.”[1]
Here is how No. 56 expresses Jesus’ response to who is the greatest:
The superior,
without being the only one responsible,
is the primary servant of this common good.
He animates the religious and apostolic faithfulness of individuals and of the community,
as the Servant-Christ united His own
in common service of the Father’s plan[2]
The superior is like Christ, a servant leader.
Years ago our province published monthly what we called “As A Rule,” and each month two SCJs were asked to comment on one of the numbers in Our Rule of Life. We were then given some questions to reflect on along with thoughts from our founder, Leo John Dehon. I’ve saved my monthly copies of As A Rule and would like to finish by quoting part of John Czyzynski’s reflection on number No. 56 and think it a fitting way to conclude this reflection as we install Steve Huffstetter as our provincial superior, together with his council. And so John writes:
“…When we ask one of our brothers to be a superior while he wants to be and is ‘one of the guys,’ he is asked to be ‘the primary servant’ of the common good. That does not make him better or higher, but it does give him a responsibility that is uniquely his.
“While remaining one of those needing to be called to ‘religious and apostolic faithfulness,’ he is asked to be the primary servant, the one who animates that fidelity among his brothers. And therein precisely lies the tension: the superior must take leadership and yet respect the responsibility of each religious. Gene Leverdiere, a scripture scholar, once said, ‘sin is the refusal to live with tension’. Those of us who are superiors are called to animate and lead without taking away the responsibility of our brothers. Those who are not superiors (at least for the present) are called to live responsibly and yet acknowledge the leadership of our brother religious. I pray that our superiors struggle with the tension, that they, that we will not abdicate being leaders, but that neither will we take away the responsibility of our brother. And I pray that our brothers trust and work responsibly with leadership, with the superiors. If we all struggle with this tension, together we will find the best way to carry out ‘the Father’s plan.”’[3]
And so as Priests of the Sacred Heart, along with the People of God, as we continue our celebration we can and do proclaim: Christ is the same yesterday, Christ is the same today and Christ is the same forever. Amen!
