This is the text of Bishop Murphy’s homily of Oct. 2 at the annual Red Mass of the Suffolk County Catholic Lawyers Guild:

It is an honor for me to join you today and to offer this annual Mass at the opening of the legal year. Our prayers accompany all of you who serve this county, our state and nation in the legal profession: judges, lawyers, civil servants, clerks and all those who share the commitment to a nation that respects and observes the law as a guarantee of freedom, security, justice and peace.

It may seem strange that the Mass the Church celebrates today — the feast of the Guardian Angels — is used for this gathering! However, there is an important truth in our gratitude to God for this expression of his love for us that will help us, I believe, as we reflect on your vocation and on the challenges our society gives to you and to me. The existence of angels is attested in both Old Testament and New Testament. The reading from Exodus illustrates this clearly. Heeding the message of the angel is heeding the will of God for us. For an angel takes its very name from being sent, from the root meaning of message bearer. Messengers of God’s revelation, they bring us the word God wants us to hear and heed. It may be warning. It may be support. It may be announcement. What it does is open up to us that our lives on earth are not circumscribed by the limits of this world but have an intrinsically open dimension that transcends this world. We cannot understand who we are if we limit ourselves to human life as material, finite existence devoid of self transcendence and devoid of any hope beyond the here and now.

 

TLIC photo/Gregory A. Shemitz Members of the Suffolk County Catholic Lawyers’ Guild gathered at the Sisters of St. Joseph Sacred Heart Chapel in Brentwood Oct. 2 for the guild’s annual Red Mass. Bishop William Murphy was the principal celebrant and homilist at the Mass, which seeks the Holy Spirit’s blessings and guidance on the administration of justice. The Red Mass takes its name from the red vestments worn by celebrants, representing the tongues of fire symbolizing the presence of the Holy Spirit. However, with this year’s Mass falling on the feast of the Guardian Angels — whose intercession was invoked during the liturgy — Bishop Murphy and his fellow clergy elected to wear white chasubles. Above, Bishop Murphy greets Family Court Judge Andrew Tarantino after the Mass. The Nassau County Red Mass will be Nov. 1, 6 p.m., at St. Joseph’s Church, Garden City.

Jesus in today’s Gospel tells us that we must be like little children to enter the kingdom and not measure ourselves by human standards of greatness. The word he uses in Greek, paidos, is upsetting because a child in that society had no rights, no position, no significance. The child in such a world is a “nobody.”

The “nobodies” of our society, those with no social status, are to be treated not by human measure but by the measure of the value they have in the eyes of God and the protection He gives to them regardless of what society thinks of them or does to them! The community cannot be immune to this. The community can ignore this at its own peril. God’s love for all, but especially for the marginalized and vulnerable, especially those who do not have the power of this world, is a message for us as we seek to fulfill our roles and responsibilities. And here is where the application of the law becomes a particular responsibility and challenge to you, all of you, each in his or her own particular sphere of professional obligations.

Justice is what is due from one person to another person. It must be fair to one and all. It must also be especially protective of those whose circumstances render them less able to use the means of power and influence in this world. I am sure that, as lawyers, you are very sensitive to the “little guy” even if at times your role is to defend the powerful. However, it is no news to anyone here that the law and the processes of law in our country are continually being manipulated by those with money, power and influence. It is no secret that laws are passed because special interest groups exercise their skills and tactics and laws are interpreted, as Will Rogers used to remind us, by a Supreme Court that always reads the daily newspapers.

When a society gives fair access to the means of communication, a society in which the means of communication are open to exposing us to all legitimate positions, this becomes easier for all of you. However, that is not our society today. In fact, time and again we find a kind of role reversal that goes on often with the media deciding for us and for the law who deserves support, who deserves blame. This demands that we ask ourselves time and again, “Who really are the little ones? Whose rights are overlooked? Who will speak for them?”

Let me give three quick examples. The Duke University rape case began as a clear-cut situation of the poor, defenseless woman against three white privileged boys from affluent backgrounds who seemed to have all the power on their side. But the opposite turned out to be the case when we discover how a corrupt lawyer manipulated the facts. Who are the little ones this time? Whose rights were overlooked? Who spoke up for them?

Let me give you another example. The Woman’s Wellness Act of 2002 gave women many helpful medical protections. It also mandated that religious institutions in our state offer contraceptives in their health care packages for employees in our social and educational institutions regardless of the fact that such is contrary to our moral teaching. The request for an exemption on the basis of religious conscience was denied first by the legislature, then by the N.Y. courts. Recently the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear the arguments. Who are the little ones in this case? Whose rights are being overlooked by the powerful? Who will speak up for them? And who will speak out in the months ahead when legislation is advanced to remove the statute of limitations and allow a year-long window to bring suit against the Church for actions that are up to 50 years in the past? Who are the powerful and who the powerless? Is such legislation really designed to right an injustice or is it designed to strip the Church of her right under law, to profit lawyers more than victims, and still leave unscathed public and municipal entities who remain protected against the same kind of relief while undermining the Church’s ability to preach the Gospel?

Let me close by a third example that is not contemporary but is, I believe, very helpful. Thomas More, your patron saint, was the second most powerful man in the kingdom of Henry VIII. His rights were taken away by corrupt lawyers and judges for political expediency and personal advancement. More was caught in a time when the powerful demonized the Church. Yet More continued to defend the rights of the Church and the truth of the faith. He and the Church were the little ones. He did speak up and suffered death for it. Yet it is his voice that ultimately triumphed because, while powerless before the power of the world, he was strong with the strength that comes from above.

It all comes back to the angels. They constantly watch over us and try to guide us wordlessly, silently, with their prayer, their presence, and their love that comes from God. You and I are called and guided by those same angels to ask ourselves, who are the nobodies in our society today? Who are the ones our predominant culture despises? Who will speak for them? Who for us? And, with the example of Thomas More before us, who of us will merit to be called greatest in the kingdom of heaven?