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Jesus is Lord - Bishop Konderla's Column in the June EOC Issue
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June 6, 2023Bishop David Konderla preached this homily on Tuesday, February 7, 2023, at the celebration of the Diocesan 50th Anniversary Mass at Holy F
amily Cathedral in Tulsa. Taking Zephaniah 3:14-18a as his text, Bishop Konderla emphasizes the simple, yet challenging, call to remain steadfast in our faith that “Jesus is Lord” and living out that faith in witness to the world.
Shout for joy, O daughter Zion!; sing joyfully, O Israel! Be glad and exult with all your heart, O daughter Jerusalem! The Lord has removed the judgment against you, He turned away your enemies; The King of Israel, the Lord, is in your midst, you have no further misfortune to fear. On that day, it shall be said to Jerusalem: Fear not, O Zion, be not discouraged! The Lord, your God, is in your midst, a mighty savior; He will rejoice over you with gladness, and renew you in his love, He will sing joyfully because of you, as one sings at festivals. (Zep 3:14-18a)
Anniversaries mark the past, but we celebrate them because of the future. And the future of the Diocese of Tulsa and Eastern Oklahoma, and of the Church itself, is entirely dependent on the answer to one question: Will we continue to be a people whose life together and mission is to announce to the world that Jesus is Lord, or not?
Can it be that simple? Let’s think it through. No matter what happens in the future, Jesus will absolutely prosper and bear fruit because Jesus is God and the savior of the world. If we unite ourselves to Him in loving obedience, we will enjoy His prosperity, His fruit.
So yes, it is simple, but obviously, it is not easy.
Zephaniah stands as a witness to the challenge that confronts every believer in every age. He is a prophet to a people who follow false gods. His message to them is simple: If you make the Lord your God, the King of Israel, you will have no misfortune. But instead, they chose to pursue political alliances and cultural ideologies, and they allied themselves to the neighboring tribes, also accepting their idols in order to protect themselves against the Babylonians, whom they feared. That plan, of course, did not work and resulted in their exile.
So yes, it is simple, but it is not easy.
And that is why Jesus on ascending to the Father gave us the gift of the Holy Spirit. Paul teaches us that no one can say that Jesus is Lord, except in the Holy Spirit. Of course, anyone, even an unbeliever, can say the words “Jesus is Lord.” But what Paul means is something deeper. We see it most clearly in the lives of the martyrs and the saints, like our own martyr Stanley Rother whose shrine we will dedicate next week. Each and all of the saints and martyrs lived in times and circumstances that tempted them to leave the Church, that called the Gospel into question, that even called the Church into question — sometimes to the point of persecution hoping to wipe it out.
Their answer always and forever is, “Jesus is Lord. In my weakness and sin and with the help of the Holy Spirit, I have chosen Jesus as the Lord of my life; of my mind; of my body; of my material possessions; and of my future. And in Him is all of my hope.”
Many today think that the Church’s teachings are a scandal and a reason to leave the Church because some of these teachings don’t agree with the opinions of the world and the culture. But the most scandalous teaching of the Church in every age is that Jesus is Lord. Everything else connects to and flows out of that central truth. If we don’t see that, the answer is not to leave the Church but to study and pray because we may be right on the edge of ongoing conversion and life, and if we leave, we miss out on the greatest of all gifts: the faith of the Catholic Church, the faith of the saints and martyrs, the faith of the ages.
It is this kind of faith that has brought us to today, celebrating 50 years of life and ministry as a diocese with a bright future because we believe and, please God, will live and teach to our death that Jesus is Lord.
But what will happen in the next 50 years? Will the Church and the diocese grow or shrink? Will we enjoy religious freedom or persecution? Will our cultural and political unity strengthen or weaken? Will we have economic success or will we find ourselves in poverty? Will we control our technology or will it master us?
The answer to all of these questions, most certainly, is yes and no, as it has always been. The Church and the diocese are not apart from the world, but precisely in the world in order to win the world for Christ. As we fulfill our mission, we must weather the wind and the waves along with all men and women of goodwill.
The future of the diocese is not a question of politics or cultural ideology or demographics, rather it is entirely a question of fidelity to Jesus Christ and to the Church that He has given us.
No matter our size, no matter our material fortune, no matter our cultural prestige or influence or lack thereof, we will bear fruit if we remain in the Lord and continue the Church’s mission to guard the deposit of faith as He has passed it to us. We will bear fruit if we continue to preach to the world the love of Christ crucified, the Savior risen to conquer death and give us eternal life. And that, brothers and sisters, in myriad different ways as the Spirit moves us, is exactly what we will do. May God give us the grace to remain in Him now and for eternity. Mary, help of Christians, pray for us.
