In one way, I suppose there would be no more happy coincidence of Gospels than that one because the necessary and obvious accompaniment ofany anniversary is, of course, gratitude. But, someone said this one,perhaps, is more about ingratitude. St. Thomas Aquinas putsthanksgiving in some relationship with justice, so that when thanks arenot rendered there is a lot of pain attached, as there is when rightsare not allowed, as well. And those famous words of Shakespeare, "Blow,blow thou winter wind. Thou art not so unkind as man's ingratitude."

When one reads, however, those who study the Scriptures, one finds forpractically all of them, that it is not precisely about gratitude. It'sabout the glory of God. And then those reviews. They pick out threethings that I do think are relevant to our celebration today, from thatGospel: the fact of a journey, the fact of the building of community,and the glorification of faith.

Jesus is on His way to Jerusalem, and it's His last trip. And He goesfrom Galilee, and passes through Samaria, which would not be a friendlyterritory. But He knows what He is about, and He is heading for theRedemption of the human family. And the word is "salvation," which means"health." So somehow the cleansing of these lepers is really themetaphor for what is to happen to us as a people and what is to happento us as individuals. But the journey is one that has great purpose andgreat meaning.

And so the journey of the last fifty years here at Pleasant Hill....Referred to by the Archdiocese of San Francisco, as I looked up thestationary and the correspondence, as "Pleasant Hills." And that goes onfor about seven years. Perhaps that's also the fact, trying to look upthe history of Pleasant Hill. The Expedition of 1772 came down, it says,the "Concord Valley," mentions "Walnut Creek," does not mention"Pleasant Hill." Four years later, Father Font came with the D'AnzaExpedition and they got to Pacheco, but they didn't get to PleasantHill. So you, all these years, now this year, have been looking over themilestones, the famous cottage and the tent that seated three hundredpeople, the veterans' loans that took care of really the housing in thisarea and brought together a very young community. Father Murray, threeyears after he was here, the first pastor, wrote to the archbishop andindicated that he needed another assistant. He said that Martinez had15,000 people and three priests; Concord had 25,000 and four priests;Pleasant Hill had 30,000 and only had two priests. But he goes on tovery significant figures. In that year of '55, only seven funerals inthis parish, thirteen marriages, (But try this one!) one hundred sixtybaptisms. He also lists that there were ten thousand, five hundred andtwenty confessions. But I don't know how anyone could arrive at thatfigure very easily.

But some wonderful things, those young families, the first year, gave$23,387 to this parish. Clergy salaries, in those days, were $1400. Notbad. In the next year, that increase was fifty percent, from 23,000 to36,000. One year later again, a fifty percent rise from 36,000 to51,000. But in ten years, it is really astounding what the people ofthis parish did. From that $23,000 in 1951, in 1961 that was $389,600.I think (that is) a great reminder to us always of how much we owe tothe generations that have gone ahead of us, that have left us suchwonderful facilities, wonderful churches and schools, and even parkinglots. But that's a very generous group. And the milestone of thebuildings, and not just the money that went into those, but your ownhistory says "We picked up hammers and nails and paint brushes." It wasnot just a money contribution. It was the actual handling of all that.

There's also a cute report in 1952, Father Murray: "The usual thingshave been donated." He has twenty-five on the list. He says, "Organ,tabernacle, stations of the cross, flags, then statues (Sacred Heart,Blessed Mother, St. Joseph, St. Theresa, St. Anthony, Thomas Aquinas,the Infant of Prague, and Christ the King)." Now the Church, which isnow the Hall, was built in 1953. Of course, twenty-five years later,Monsignor Wade took great pride in putting this church up. The schoolwas asked for, the very first year, by the parents. And so many hadmoved from the Midwest and from the East, where they were used to notjust having schools, but to having free tuition. But in five years, thatschool was built.... just enormous kind of development!

And then the fire of two years ago.... and all the years that we've hadof the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondolet, part, I suppose, of theContra Costa Empire, the one from Orinda, Lafayette, and here, all theway to Martinez.

Now, besides the journey, there is also in this Gospel, the matter ofwelcome and inclusiveness. And it has to do with two types of people.One was the lepers. That is a rather broad term, in the Scripture, forany kind of skin disease that could be contagious. And those people, notunderstanding the mystery of that, to defend themselves, made thedecision that those people had to live away from the community. And soit was kind of a desperate life, living in caves, living outside thetown, living really in kind of garbage dumps, trying to survive, andhaving to stay something like a hundred yards away from anybody. Youremember, Jesus once went to a leper and touched that leper. That wasvery forbidden. This time, he went from a distance and told them to goshow themselves to the priest. And that was a ceremony, sort ofreminiscent, in a sense, of our confirmation, touching with water,touching with oil. But the declaration that one was cured meant muchmore than that. It meant you could live in the community again and youcould go to the temple for your prayers. Therefore, Jesus brought thosepeople to life.

And, then, of course, the singular illustration of that, the Samaritans,cousins of the Jews, same religion, but the Jewish people always feltthat the Samaritans were not faithful to their purity of faith. And whenthe Jews came back after the Babylon captivity, four hundred yearsbefore Jesus, the Samaritans said they would help with the building ofthe Temple. And the Jews told them to go home. One hundred andtwenty-five years before Christ, the Jewish army went and destroyedtheir temple in Samaria, Mt. Garrison. There were very difficult timesbetween the Jews and the Samaritans.

In this parish, 1956, Father Murray wrote the report, "We have thousandsof people of many nationalities, from all parts of the country, with,often times, radically divergent parish backgrounds, ideas, problems,intentions." And then he says, "And within five short, hectic years, wehave fused them into a parish that runs with, apparently, effortlessprecision." He remarked to his people very early on that, again "We onlyhave two priests," he said. "There are six thousand people and onethousand telephones in this parish." And he said to them, "If you areused to easy response where you came from, you can't have that anymore." But he made the point, "You have to participate in the life ofthe Parish." And he thanked more than fifty, what he called, "ourorganizations and the officers of those organizations who work closelywith me."

Now the present leadership of this parish, with the understanding thatcame from the Second Vatican Council, both as to ministries,responsibility, and initiative have parried that participation much moredeeply. And the development of roles here, of the various kinds ofministries, but especially the place of the laity. And I think theoutstanding example is the opportunity provided for the extraordinarytalents of Margo Schorno over all the years. But the community was builtvery early on by the Vincent dePaul Society, which continues very largeto this day.

There was plenty of social life. The first year there was a parishdance, held at the Diablo Country Club. There was also a parish picnicat St. Mary's College. I understand now that pilgrimages are part of thesocial life of the parish.

In one year the religious instruction of this parish had one hundredfifty-nine children in it, carried on by the Sisters of the Holy Family.By 1954, there were five vocations out of this parish. 1965, MonsignorWade talked about the vocations again, and said to Bishop Begin, "Thingsare coming along." This parish, very outstanding in the Rite ofChristian Initiation of Adults and the hospitality that it offers. Butthat history goes a way back. In 1956, the report was we have a Women'sClub, Holy Name Society, Parish Welfare Committee, Christ the KingChoristers, Scouts of all kinds, BlueBirds (If anybody has that one,fill me in before we go home today.), parish artisans, creating arts andcrafts for various kinds of exhibits. But the pastor said, "Note thatthere is no overlapping of organizations. Ours is one of the fewparishes in which, regardless of sex or age, every Catholic can findcompanionship in our church. Again, that has been enlarged throughSocial Justice, the care of young people in this parish, the Divorcedand Separated, the Committee for Liturgy.

Now, that matter of journey and that matter of community does rest onwhat is key to the Gospel of today, the matter of faith. Experience doesnot save. And Jesus praises that Samaritan who came back, not just forhis thanks, but that he connected the restoration of his health and hisre-entry into the community to the work of God and the presence of God,active in Jesus. Now the journey and the life of this communitytestifies to that belief. It finds its origin in that. It finds itsmotivation in that. We are reminded really that we are sent not toachieve. But Jesus, in the Gospel of John, says, "We ought to befruitful." That's quite a different thing.

So what are we about? We are about what that leper was about today, andthe Samaritan, to testify to the presence of God, working in JesusChrist. And that's the focus of our life, through the buildings, and thefirst one built was the church here. And the second very large buildingwas another church, and that church, all through the years of thisparish, being a place where liturgy was carried on very well andpreaching was good and music was inspired. Today, that faith inspiredministries that really are beyond listing, and also you and I do nothave the experience, every Christmas and every Easter, how do you handlethe people that come to this parish?

A great tribute of that goes to a man who influenced this parish verystrongly for thirty-seven years, Monsignor James Wade. Just by way ofinterest, the letter of appointment to him is the ninth of May, 1962.That is one week after the diocese was established here. He is told tobe in the parish the 16th of May and he will be installed the 20th ofMay. We do not operate that quickly anymore! But I make the point thatthe signature on that letter is mine as Chancellor. And I am sure thatMonsignor Wade understood the intricacies of all that process much morethan I did, after one week on that job. But, he, after sixty years ofpriesthood, remarked, "Everyday of my priesthood has been a happy one."Now, I recall, once upon a time, talking to the priests and saying thatI was very concerned about the Sacrament of Reconciliation in theDiocese. And he put up his hand and said, "You would do well if you madeyourself available to the people in confession."

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present pastor, on a winter Sunday, because we were going to themountains for some exercise. And, at 3:30 on a Sunday afternoon, Iphoned here to leave a message on the answering machine, since I was theonly one who had a key to the cottage up in Tahoe, and Monsignoranswered the phone. Before I said anything, I praised him for beingavailable twenty-four hours a day. But I think that was his life. Iremember too about him that in the 1960's (This probably came out of hisexperience at St. Columba, where he was very endeared to the people.)that he had a group here regularly to talk about civil rights and theracial problems in the United States. Now that kind of education in thefaith has been enhanced by the talent of the present pastor and theleadership of this parish, that has gone into the current moral issuesof our time: life, the relation of science and religion, the matter ofbusiness... This parish too has spent a great deal in the process of"Renew" and also in giving its young people the religious experiencethat is so important for their development.

Three years after this parish was established, Archbishop Mitty wrote aletter to Father Murray and said, "The magnificent manner in which youhave so generously cooperated in the development of your parish isabsolutely commendable." Twenty-five years ago, Bishop Begin wrote toMonsignor Wade, "It was a pleasure to join you for your twenty-fifth.You together, priests and people, have accomplished miracles, and arenow endeavoring to accomplish another one in the construction of a new,adequate church to honor Christ the King and to serve His people."

Now today we remember the journey and the community and the faith. But,underlying all of that, and a consciousness that comes because of thename of this parish, is the reality of the Kingdom. And that perhapswould be a good remembrance for us today in addition.

The Second Vatican Council says, "After nurturing on Earth the values ofhuman dignity, community, and freedom, and indeed all the good fruits ofour nature and enterprise, we will find them again, but freed of stain,burnished and transfigured, when Christ hands over to the Father (and Ithink an appropriate vision for our difficult days) a kingdom eternaland universal, a kingdom of truth and life, of holiness and grace, ofjustice, love and peace. On this earth that kingdom is already presentin mystery. And so, for this vision, and in our faith, and withremembrance of fifty years of journey, in community, we offer presentthanks.