Follow saint’s example of loving God and others, priest says

Father Oscar Anguiano, the principal celebrant, elevates the Eucharist as Father Kenneth Taylor, from left, Father Steve Schwab, Father Eusebius Mbidoaka and Father William Munshower, not shown, concelebrate the feast day Mass in memory of St. Martin de Porres on Nov. 3 at St. Rita Church in Indianapolis.

By Mary Ann Wyand

Love God and love your neighbors.

If you do that always, Father Oscar Anguiano emphasized in his homily on the feast of St. Martin de Porres, you will teach others about the kingdom of God.

Father Anguiano, who ministers to Hispanic Catholics at Holy Spirit and St. Lawrence parishes in Indianapolis, was the principal celebrant for the bilingual Mass on Nov. 3 at St. Rita Church in Indianapolis.

The fourth annual liturgy, which brought Hispanic, African-American and Caucasian Catholics together for worship, was sponsored by the archdiocesan Office of Multicultural Ministry. One Hispanic family traveled from Franklin to participate in the Mass.

The Gospel reading for the liturgy, taken from the Book of Matthew, relates the story of Jesus answering the scribe’s question about what is the greatest Commandment. Jesus told him, “ ‘You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself’ ” (Mt 22:37-39).

“It is a very special moment when we come together and gather like his family because we are his family,” Father Anguiano said. “We are his children.”

God is a merciful Father who gives us much, he said, and asks us for more room in our hearts for him.

St. Martin de Porres loved God and dedicated his life to serving the Lord, Father Anguiano said, even though he was mistreated by others because he was biracial.

Martin’s father was a Spanish gentleman and his mother was a freed black slave from Panama who immigrated to Lima, Peru, where he was born in 1579. Martin wanted to become a priest, but was denied his heart’s desire because of the color of his skin. At 15, he became a lay brother at the Dominican Friary in Lima.

Martin knew that God loves every person regardless of their race or ethnic heritage, Father Anguiano said, but many people do not honor God by placing him first in their lives.

“We have an opportunity to make our own decision on what kind of relationship we want to have with God,” Father Anguiano said, “… because he is always opening his hands and trying to give us more and more.”

We must know and love ourselves in order to know and love God, he said, but that is difficult if we are paying attention to other things in life and not focusing on greater devotion to the Lord.

“St. Martin used to spend many hours during the night before our Lord Jesus Christ praying,” Father Anguiano said, “and I think he was always concerned [about] understanding … the will of God. … I think every day was an opportunity [for him] to say, ‘God, I love you.’ … All his life, this man wanted always to be close to God, trying to understand and love him more and more and more. This is very difficult.”

If you want to love God with all your heart, mind and strength, he emphasized, you must first understand yourself.

“I hope that we have the courage to pray to God always and, especially today, ask him for help,” Father Anguiano said. “We need help. We need to have the courage to love him more and more. We need to have the courage to accept people. It doesn’t matter what kind of people—black, white or blue. … We need to pray to God and ask him for the wisdom that we need in order to reach eternal life.”

Concelebrants for the multicultural Mass were Father Kenneth Taylor, pastor of Holy Angels Parish in Indianapolis and director of the archdiocesan Office of Multicultural Ministry; Father Eusebius Mbidoaka of Nigeria, administrator of St. Rita Parish; Father Steve Schwab, pastor of St. Thomas Aquinas Parish in Indianapolis and a chaplain for the Marion County Sheriff’s Department; and Father William Munshower, a retired diocesan priest who ministers as a chaplain at Cathedral High School in Indianapolis.

Also helping with the feast day Mass were the Spiritual Dancers from

St. Rita Parish, the African Drummers, the African Catholic Choir and the Global Children Dancers.

During a multicultural meal after the liturgy, St. Rita parishioner and Parish Council chair Domoni Woodson of Indianapolis said she was pleased to welcome more than 300 people to the festive celebration.

“It was amazing,” Woodson said of the celebration. “I think that Father Anguiano gave a really good sermon. It doesn’t matter what color you are. If you’re going to love God and you’re going to praise God, your color has nothing to do with it.

“That’s what touched me when I welcomed everybody—seeing all the beautiful faces,” she said. “It was wonderful to look around and see this joint praising of God with all these different people. Sometimes we still tend to remain segregated. It would be nice to have more [multicultural] events where we get together like this.” †