Archbishop Golka Visits Eastern Plains Parishes, Encourages Catholics to Become Saints
Celebrating Mass in Wray, Sterling and Fort Morgan over All Saints' Day weekend, Denver Archbishop James Golka reminded the faithful that holiness isn't about perfection, but about friendship with Jesus and openness to his mercy.
Denver Archbishop James Golka was on tour last weekend, visiting three parishes on the Eastern Plains, celebrating Mass and spending time with parishioners.
On Saturday evening and Sunday morning, he visited St. Andrew Parish in Wray, St. Anthony Parish in Sterling and St. Helena Parish in Fort Morgan.
Since his appointment as the sixth Archbishop of Denver, he has expressed particular excitement about getting to know parishioners across the archdiocese, especially in rural communities.
“I really look forward to visiting the parishes — they’re all unique,” he said on the Dan Caplis Show two weeks after his appointment. “I grew up in Nebraska, so I can’t wait to get to the rural parts of the archdiocese.”
Archbishop Golka reverences the altar at the beginning of Mass.
Archbishop Golka began his visits at St. Andrew Parish in Wray, celebrating an anticipatory Mass for All Saints' Day. (Photos by Danae Knust/Denver Catholic)
That his visits coincided with All Saints’ Day only made the encounters all the more meaningful, as the archbishop encouraged those gathered to fulfill a particularly high call: to become saints.
“Today we celebrate All Saints’ Day, and All Saints’ Day is not just about the saints,” he said, noting that the saints are already in Heaven, beholding God face-to-face. “There’s something in it for us, something that helps us along the way.”
Celebrating the saints should stir our own desire to become like them and, ultimately, more like Jesus Christ, the archbishop explained.
“To be a saint means, first of all, I desire to be a friend of Christ. We can all do that,” Archbishop Golka said. “I desire to be a friend of Jesus Christ. I want to know him and have him know me. That’s the first step. So calling the saints to mind inspires and arouses in us this longing to be in their company, but more so the longing to be with our Lord.”
In his homily, Archbishop Golka invited the faithful to a greater holiness.
From Wray, Archbishop Golka made his way to St. Anthony Parish in Sterling to celebrate Sunday Mass on All Saints Day. (Photos by Ashleigh Klausner/Denver Catholic)
That vocation to sanctity might seem like a high bar, nearly unachievable, but holiness isn’t about being flawless, the archbishop noted. It’s about faithfully turning to Jesus.
“You don’t need to be a perfect person with way more gifts than everybody else,” the archbishop explained, citing an All Saints Day homily from Pope Benedict XVI. “Another way to say it, and Pope Benedict said this elsewhere, to be holy doesn’t mean I never make a mistake, because we all make mistakes. To be holy means I should look to Jesus, who wants to pick me up after I’ve fallen down.”
That openness to Jesus’ mercy helps us see that we can’t become saints on our own, Archbishop Golka emphasized.
“I cannot pick myself up. I cannot save myself. I need a Savior and a Redeemer. That’s why Jesus came,” he continued. “He loves to find us when we have fallen and pick us up. He’s not ashamed or angry or embarrassed. He loves to help us be who God made us to be.”
Archbishop Golka greets an elderly parishioner following Mass.
In his last stop on this trip to the Eastern Plains, Archbishop Golka celebrated a Spanish Mass for All Saints Day at St. Helena Parish in Fort Morgan. (Photos by Ashleigh Klausner/Denver Catholic)
At the core of this call to holiness is surrender: allowing God to work in and through us for his people.
To illustrate the point, he recalled a powerful explanation of sanctity that came from an unlikely source: a young girl preparing for First Communion.
When the archbishop asked her class what a saint was, she quickly responded: “They’re the ones that let the light come through.”
Archbishop Golka remembered her going on to explain that saints allow the light and love of God to shine through them, making them more beautiful and animated.
“They take God’s life, and just by living a simple life of charity, humility and doing the will of Jesus, they become something incredibly beautiful and attractive,” he said. “You and I are called to do the same. Every one of us.”
If every Catholic responded to that call, the archbishop reflected, how different would the world be?
“What if, tomorrow morning, every Catholic woke up, heard Jesus tell them what his will was for them to do that day, and then we all went out and willed the good of the other?” he asked. “We would change the world in a day. So let’s try to do that.”
