Happy 50th Anniversary to all of you who make up the Diocese of Tulsa and Eastern Oklahoma! While we are a relatively young diocese, I believe that this anniversary provides us a special opportunity to celebrate the faithful who have been supporting the mission of Christ throughout eastern Oklahoma for these past five decades. We owe a debt of gratitude to those who have been here from the start, whose generosity, support, and commitment made our diocese healthy and whole from the beginning. In a particular way, we owe a debt of gratitude to Bishop Slattery, who led the diocese for almost half of its life.
This anniversary also provides us the opportunity to reflect on our purpose as a diocese. A diocese, of course, is that part of the people of God that is organized around a bishop to make the mystery of Christ alive in the world. This is primarily accomplished through the celebration of the Mass. As the Second Vatican Council taught us, the Eucharist is the center of our Catholic faith:
“The Eucharist is the ‘source and summit of the Christian life.’ The other sacraments, and indeed all ecclesiastical ministries and works of the apostolate, are bound up with the Eucharist and are oriented toward it. For in the blessed Eucharist is contained the whole spiritual good of the Church, namely, Christ himself, our Pasch.” (CCC 1324) This teaching on the Eucharist defines the purpose and mission of our diocese. The Eucharist is unique among Christian celebrations in that it is not merely a Bible study, although it is biblical, nor is it merely a community building exercise, although it does build up the community. Rather, the Eucharist is the ongoing manifestation of the passion, death and resurrection of Christ for our salvation.
“At the Last Supper, on the night he was betrayed, our Savior instituted the Eucharistic sacrifice of his Body and Blood. This he did in order to perpetuate the sacrifice of the cross throughout the ages until he should come again, and so to entrust to his beloved Spouse, the Church, a memorial of his death and resurrection: a sacrament of love, a sign of unity, a bond of charity, a Paschal banquet ‘in which Christ is consumed, the mind is filled with grace, and a pledge of future glory is given to us.’” (CCC 1323)
Anniversaries mark moments in time for people and events. This year, we remember 50 years ago when the significant event of the establishment of our diocese happened. And we celebrate that event and pledge ourselves to the ongoing work begun that day. But the Eucharist is a particular kind of event, a timeless event that began in a moment of time. Every time we celebrate the Eucharist, we do not merely remember something from the past, we become present again to the same event. I think of it as being like a time portal in which we become present to the very same passion, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ for our salvation that happened 2,000 years ago but does not end.
Another image is to think of it as a river flowing continually. We immerse ourselves in the river in one place and get out and move along and later immerse ourselves in the river in another place. No matter where or when we come back into the river, it is the same river. So, celebrating this 50th anniversary during the Eucharistic Revival is a gift of providence. The revival reminds us that as Catholics we live our lives in two moments of time. The first is that hour when we are present to the eucharistic mystery that never ends. At the end of it we hear, “the Mass is ended, go in peace.” Then begins the second moment which comprises all the hours of our life until we are able to return to the Eucharist. Thus, we are actively celebrating the Eucharist or longing to return to that blessed, timeless gift.
And this longing teaches us and helps us to live in the in-between moments. We should live as a people led, fed and taught by the Lord to be that leaven in the world that brings others to join us at the table of the Lord.
May this eucharistic rhythm of time describe our life and the life of our diocese until the Lord brings us home.