Homily by Bishop Jacek Kicinski
Dear brothers and sisters! Today, we gathered in this temple to express our gratitude to God for the gift of the priesthood of the Servant of God Fr. John Schneider founder of the Congregation of the Sisters of Mary Immaculate. Today we heard the beautiful words “Our Savior Jesus Christ conquered death and shed light on life through the Gospel.” Death came into the world through Satan’s envy and Jesus defeats death and gives us good news. The word of Jesus is always a word of hope. The word of Jesus is a word of encouragement, of strengthening. The word of Jesus is always life-giving, renewing.
Today in the Gospel according to St. Mark we witness two humanly hopeless situations, humanly hopeless situations. The daughter of Jairus, the superior of the synagogue, a twelve year old girl dies, aging. A situation without hope. And a woman who has been suffering from hemorrhaging for twelve years. A situation without hope. What they have in common is twelve years. A young girl and a mature woman. The girl was twelve years old and the woman had been suffering for twelve years. 12 years. This is not only a symbol, but also the reality in which Israel found itself. The 12 generations of Israel. Generations that were supposed to be life-giving, unfortunately life did not give. And in such a situation, humanly without hope, without a way out,
Jesus appears – the Light of hope. He heals, cures, helps. On the other hand, the daughter of Jairus, the synagogue supervisor, as well as a woman suffering from hemorrhage for 12 years, had no right or opportunity to meet Jesus. The girl was too sick to come to Jesus, and her father, the synagogue supervisor, according to the law, could not very well go to ask Jesus for help. The woman, who was suffering from hemorrhaging, was unclean according to the law.
In such a reality, the synagogue supervisor, as well as a woman who has been suffering from hemorrhage for 12 years, what are they doing? They break human patterns. Against logic, against the law and the order that man has established, they go to Jesus. What leads them to Jesus? FAITH. They believe that Jesus is able to heal them. Not laws, but faith that is driven by love and the desire to live. The woman touches Jesus’ garments and recovers. And Jesus says to her: “Your faith has saved you.” The girl is in a worse situation – she dies, but Jesus goes to Jairus’ house. And again, he shouldn’t touch her, because she is already dead. And Jesus takes her by the hand and says “Talitha kum”, that is, “Little girl, I say to you, get up!”. And she got up! “Give her food,” says Jesus. The faith of the synagogue leader-Jair, the faith of the woman and the words of Jesus-words of healing!
Everything shows us that Jesus performs the miracles of God’s love in human life, but it needs our commitment, our presence, our human determination, trust, and above all, dear brothers and sisters, our faith. This Gospel today shows us that nothing is impossible for God! With one caveat. God will do nothing, without us. He needs our hearts, That’s why Jesus renews everything that man has destroyed. In the first reading we heard the words: “God created everything to be.” “To immortality God created man. He made him the image of his own eternity.” Everything is the work of God, the whole world and our lives are the work of God. Today, dear brothers and sisters, in this cathedral, the mother of churches in Lower Silesia, we give thanks for the gift of life, vocation and above all, as we said at the beginning,
for the priesthood of the Servant of God Fr. John Schneider, for 27 years of priestly ministry. This year we celebrated, on January 11, the bicentennial of his birth. A man gifted by God many talents, coming from an ordinary family. This shows that God can do great things through a simple, ordinary man, on one condition – if he engages his heart. We give thanks for Fr. John Schneider’s priesthood, and most of all we give thanks for what God did through his ministry. He became an instrument in the hand of God. And being an instrument in the hand of God, he tried to see those areas and signs that God was pointing out in his priestly ministry. Girls, women, the 19th century, Breslau, the city, the development of industry and influx of population , confusion – especially in the moral space.
Fr. John reads these signs of the times -you can’t leave these people alone, you have to help them, you have to become an instrument in the hand of God. He begins and persistently carries out God’s work of helping girls, women and he cares for the sick, and in the parish he carries out ordinary, everyday simple priestly ministry. Dear brothers and sisters, looking at the priesthood of the Servant of God Fr. John Schneider, we see that he is, on the one hand, an ordinary, simple priest, and on the other hand, however, INDEPENDENT. Priesthood did not come easily to him. The road to the priesthood was not strewn with flowers. He experienced many difficulties, and later in his daily priestly ministry also many sacrifices. Where did he draw his strength from? Fr. John Schneider was a man of the Word of God. He was a man of adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. He entrusted his life to Mary Immaculate. I look at Fr. John’s life and see how beautifully it corresponds with the time we are currently experiencing in the Archdiocese of Wroclaw.
Fr. Schneider was a man of the synod, a man of the common journey of faith that he lived with the faithful, with every person. “Do whatever the Son tells you.” He listened to Christ, adored Christ, was at his disposal and by listening to Jesus, adoring the Blessed Sacrament, he simply created community as a priest. He was a man of community, of communion, gathering people around him, including those who wanted to do something more in the Church and for the Church. He also gathered those who were lost – girls and women who were often abused.
He knew full well that we are all children of one God. But to form a community is not enough. He went a step further. He formed hearts, prepared, translated, explained, preached the word, but also created places of presence, and by forming hearts, prepared for missions. The situation of women then, when the servant of God Rev. John Schneider was ministering – mid-19th c. – was very similar to the one we heard about in today’s Gospel. The 12-year-old girl was dying. This was also the fate of young girls who came to the city without the care of parents, relatives. In fact, they were very often doomed to spiritual death. And there were women who suffered from hemorrhaging, hemorrhaging of their hearts. Abused, left behind and abandoned. And what did Rev. John Schneider do? He interceded for those who were in a hopeless situation, he carried Jesus Christ to them, who said “Talitha kum,” that is, “Girl, I say to you, get up!”, your life can be beautiful! He also brought women who were suffering to Jesus. Why? So that they could touch His garments. And many of them recovered. AND THIS IS THE BEAUTY OF THE PRIESTHOOD OF FR. JOHN SCHNEIDER – TO CREATE COMMUNITY, FORM HEARTS AND CARRY OUT THE MISSION – TO BRING OTHERS TO JESUS CHRIST. THAT’S WHY THE PATH OF HIS PRIESTHOOD BECAME A PATH OF SPIRITUAL RENEWAL OF MAN, and this path of spiritual renewal of man, became for the Wroclaw Church the path of its renewal.
TODAY IT IS NECESSARY TO REMIND AND POINT TO THE EXAMPLE OF HIS LOVE FOR GOD, THE CHURCH AND THE OTHER MAN, IT IS NECESSARY TO SHOW THE BEAUTY OF HIS DEDICATION AND COMMITMENT, IT IS NECESSARY TO SAY THAT FR. JOHN SCHNEIDER – SERVANT OF GOD – WAS A MODEL OF SERVICE, LIFE AND DEDICATION.
Dear brothers and sisters, let us do everything so that we can, like Him, see the other person intercede and bring others to Jesus, so that today’s man can regain his health and strength. Our Savior Jesus Christ conquered death and shed light on life through the Gospel. Let us be people of God’s Word and do everything Jesus tells us to do. Amen.
