‘Not my will but his’: Cupich

Chicago’s Holy Name Cathedral was packed to capacity on consecutive days to welcome Archbishop Blase Cupich as the city’s ninth archbishop.

On Monday night, Archbishop Cupich presided at a Liturgy of the Word for the clergy of Chicago, Catholic and ecumenical, as well as civic leaders. On Tuesday, the Mass of Installation brought seven cardinals, 106 bishops and 1,700 lay people, priests and Religious to Holy Name.

At the Liturgy of the Word, Archbishop Cupich recalled the press conference at which his appointment was announced. He was asked, “What’s your agenda? What are your priorities?” He said he has realised that “if I have learned anything over these past four decades as a pastor, I know it is a disaster for me to have my own agenda ... it is always too small; it’s prone to be self-serving, and ultimately unworthy of the people I am called to serve. No, the agenda has to be God’s, which is beyond our imagining and our abilities. And unlike our priorities, God’s agenda has staying power, it endures.”

At the Mass of Installation, Archbishop Cupich preached on the Gospel text of Jesus walking on the water. He joked: “I realise this new responsibility is going to be demanding, but seriously folks, I don’t do ‘walking on water.’ I can barely swim.” As Jesus beckoned Peter to risk walking on the water, so too, “Pope Francis is giving voice to this invitation in our day ... challenging us to recognise that Christ is always inviting us to more, to greater things,” he said.