Bishop Earl Fernandes offered a Mass at Columbus St. Joseph Cathedral on Friday, Oct. 13 for peace in the Holy Land followed by a Holy Hour and rosary.
The bishop asked for the intercession of Our Lady, Queen of Peace as war persists in the Holy Land between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas. During the Holy Hour, Bishop Fernandes offered a sixth decade of the rosary for peace in the Holy Land and for all Christians who are in Gaza in the midst of the conflict.
Bishop Fernandes reminded those gathered for the Mass and those watching the livestream to turn to Jesus Christ and his mother and commit to peace.
“Not only we as individuals but our whole world needs to repent, to return to the Lord and ask for His mercy, ask for His peace,” the bishop said in his homily.
Bishop Fernandes said there are many problems in the world and that Jesus Christ is the only answer. There is one God and Father of all mankind, he said, who sent His only Son into the world to bring peace to His people, reconcile sinners to the Father and rid souls of violence and sin.
“Some people are not open to the Holy Spirit, whose first word was ‘conversion,’” Bishop Fernandes said. “They see other people in the world of different faiths, of different nationalities, not as brothers and sisters, children of the same God, who is Father and Lord of all, but as enemies, not as brothers.
“The Holy Father, Pope Francis, keeps talking about human fraternity. Instead, we tend to think more like the philosopher, Jean-Paul Sartre, who says, ‘Hell is other people.’ He’s not my brother, he’s my rival, my enemy, and brother is cast against brother.”
Bishop Fernandes reflected on the daily Gospel reading from St. Luke (11:15-26) when Jesus cast out a demon. The chief priests and elders responded by attacking Jesus and accused Him of casting out the demon by Beelzebub, a name for Satan.
Those who opposed Jesus were not interested in peace or truth, justice or mercy, the bishop said. They wanted to hold onto their power.
He said many government leaders do the same today. They want to dominate but are not concerned with peace.
“Let’s contrast the early kingdom with what Jesus proposes,” Bishop Fernandes said. “Jesus’ kingdom is one of truth and goodness and right … of peace. What does the world offer where they say that I have a right to perform violence against a child in the womb?
“‘I have a right to keep and bear arms, but then, I use those weapons not in self-defense but to take another’s life. ….’ What does the world say when it says, ‘I have guns and bombs, and I can drop them on innocent children and men and women,’ and say, ‘I am doing right in the name of religion?’ What type of world is that? And yet, that is what we have become.”
The bishop reflected on the first reading of the Mass from the Book of Joel (1:13-15; 2:1-2). Joel was a prophet in southern Israel who preached to the Israelites. God rescued the Israelites from exile in Babylon, but they began to be unfaithful to the Lord. Joel instructed the people to offer penance and return to the Lord their God.
“How we need to hear those words again today, to turn our hearts back to the Lord, who is the Prince of Peace,” Bishop Fernandes said.
He recalled that Oct. 13 was the day when Our Lady appeared in Fatima in 1917 and thousands of people witnessed the miracle of the sun dancing. Her message was for prayer and penance for the conversion of sinners and the conversion of Russia.
“We turn once more to Our Lady, who is the Queen of Peace, offering our hearts to her and to her son … committing ourselves to true repentance and committing ourselves to be architects of peace,” he said.
The bishop invited all people to examine their conscience, repent and return to the Lord. He encouraged each person to ask themselves whether they have chosen Christ as the Lord and Savior and King of their heart, or if they are more concerned with power and having control over their brother or sister.
Bishop Fernandes reminded those gathered that the judgment day is coming. All people must ask God, the just judge, to show mercy upon the world and ask for the gift of His peace.
The bishop also invited everyone to take part in a day of prayer, penance and fasting for peace in the Holy Land on Tuesday, Oct. 17, at the request of Cardinal Patriarch of Jerusalem Pierbattista Pizzaballa.