By Ruby Thomas, Record Staff Writer
Judges in black robes and legal professionals in suits and ties paused at midday Sept. 5 to seek guidance from the Holy Spirit in their daily work.
The legal professionals took part in the Archdiocese of Louisville’s annual Red Mass at the Cathedral of the Assumption in downtown Louisville. About 200 people prayed during the special Mass for guidance from the Holy Spirit.
Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz, who celebrated the Mass, thanked those who’d gathered for their service, telling them their profession is a “noble” one and that they’d gathered to pray for the “generous gift of wisdom.”
Archbishop Kurtz shared with the legal professionals that the French philosopher Simone Weil often said that the “rarest and purest form of generosity was attention.”
Giving that attention, said the archbishop, may be the best way to give dignity to a client, to someone who’d broken the law or to someone who’d been unjustly accused.
“There’s a dignity that a person has and dignity demands generous attention,” said Archbishop Kurtz to his listeners. “The wisdom we pray for today, is a wisdom that asks that you’ll continue to seek the truth and serve the truth.”
The archbishop called attention to the first reading from the Book of Isaiah where the prophet talks about a bud, “new life,” blooming from a stump that “looked like it was dead.”
Those who are gardeners know that “we can water, we can plant the seed and we can fertilize, but God gives the growth,” said Archbishop Kurtz. “And so it is with the fact that we call wisdom not so much of a trait or a virtue as much as we call it a gift, a gift that we beseech the Lord for.”
Even those who are prepared through their life’s work, such as the professionals gathered, still need to ask that God will give them a “full share of wisdom,” said Archbishop Kurtz, reminding his listeners that King Solomon asked for “wisdom and an understanding heart.”
In the Gospel reading, noted Archbishop Kurtz, Jesus said that those who love him will keep his commandments and he will send the “spirit of truth to assist them.”
The archbishop shared with the congregation that next week he’ll be traveling to Washington, D.C., to meet with the committee responsible for planning the plenary meeting of bishops. One of the things they’ll discuss is “what’s been in the news — as it should be” — the need for the church, as a family to face and deal “with the truth of violations, abuse and issues of inaction.” He and his brother bishops will need to “come with a heart asking for wisdom,” said the archbishop. “We need a community to pray for us and support us. No one is wise on their own.”
In closing, the archbishop said his prayer for this “great and noble profession” is that it “will continue to seek the dignity of each person, the gift of justice and fairness within the community and raise up a civilization that doesn’t simply survive, but flourishes.”
The first recorded Red Mass was celebrated in Paris in the year 1245 under the reign of King Louis IX, said the archbishop. The most well-known of these Masses is celebrated at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle in Washington, D.C., before the United States Supreme Court begins its term in early October.
