In the Oct. 5 homily for a Red Mass in the Diocese of Wilmington, Delaware, Archbishop Timothy Broglio of the Archdiocese of Military Services (AMS) encouraged those present to cultivate charity, justice, and commitment to upholding the dignity of the human person as they begin a new judicial year.
“It is so good to begin anything with a moment of prayer and a petition to Almighty God to bless our endeavors, especially upon those who are engaged in the service of others in respect for and guided by the principles of law,” Archbishop Broglio said in the homily, according to a transcript published by diocesan publican The Dialog.
Clergy across the United States annually celebrate the Red Mass on the first Sunday of October before the U.S. Supreme Court begins its term, according to an AMS press release. Judges, attorneys, and law school professors are among those who attend. The Dialog reports that attendants of the Wilmington diocese Mass were a part of the diocese’s St. Thomas More Society, which is a fellowship of attorneys.
In his homily, Archbishop Broglio spoke about the story of Father Domenico Mercante and a Nazi paratrooper.
During World War II, Nazi paratroopers were oppressing Giazza, a town in northern Italy, where Fr. Mercante was a parish priest. On one occasion, after the paratroopers sustained a counter-attack but could not identify those responsible, the paratroopers selected a number of townspeople to be killed.
Archbishop Broglio explained that in a moment of heroism and sacrifice, Fr. Mercante asked the Nazi commander: “Shoot me instead of my flock.” The commander agreed — but then one of the firing squad soldiers objected to executing an innocent man, and he went to stand by the priest. Both men were killed.
“We do not know the name of the soldier, but he obviously understood that he could not be ordered to violate his conscience,” Archbishop Broglio said. “He bore his share of the hardship of the Gospel with God-given strength.”
He recalled how several years later, the Italian Minister of Defense said during a dedication of a monument to the priest and paratrooper: “The example of a priest and a soldier dying by the same rifle fire, in order that not only the written law but the unwritten law too should be respected, provides an example of great moral value.”
Continuing, Archbishop Broglio warned against measuring one’s spiritual life and daily life merely according to what he or she accomplishes, regarding oneself as “the protagonist, the star.”
“The soldier and priest illustrate what the sacred authors we have just heard teach us: to adhere to another vision,” he said. “Faith is in a person who teaches us to depend on Almighty God and put everything in the perspective of eternal life.”
AMS reports that Archbishop Broglio also reflected on the Mass reading of Timothy 1:6-8 and 13-14, when St. Paul says to “bear your share of hardship for the gospel with the strength that comes from God.”
Archbishop Broglio said, “Thinking about the beginning of the Judicial Year and our prayer to the Holy Spirit so that you might be enlightened in your service, filled with justice, and enabled to meet the demands of your offices, St. Paul’s counsels to Timothy are appropriate. Do not forget that Paul is writing from prison — he already knows well what fidelity to the will of God costs. He keeps ever present the prize: everlasting life.”
St. Paul is also writing about the virtue of courage and of fortitude, a gift of the Holy Spirit, he later noted. The paratrooper had this virtue of courage, as well as the virtue of wisdom, Archbishop Broglio said, “because he recognized what was morally acceptable and what was not. We try to draw on both gifts as we navigate our way through life.”
The archbishop also urged those present to cultivate compassion with courage, explaining that they are both crucial and do not contradict each other. He also quoted Pope Benedict XVI on how desiring to cultivate the common good in society “is a requirement of justice and charity.”
Finally, while there is an appropriate pride in the U.S. constitutional system, “even the highest systems are not immune” to errors, he said, naming the Dred Scott decision as an example. He emphasized that strong foundations are crucial in the modern world.
“I certainly want to wish you every success in your pursuit of justice in this year,” he concluded. “May you be inspired by the charity of Father Mercante and commitment to the dignity of the human person manifested by the anonymous paratrooper.”
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