Cardinal Cupich delivered the following homily at Holy Name Cathedral during the Feb. 26 Mass of episcopal ordination, where five auxiliary bishops were consecrated for the Archdiocese of Chicago. See story. My brothers, Tim, Larry, Chema, Robert and John, in the name of this church, the Archdiocese of Chicago, I thank you for saying yes to the call to serve as bishops. Be confident of our prayers that the good Lord will bless your generosity with a fruitful ministry in the years ahead. As you begin your episcopal service to the church, the word of God offers a compelling vision for the new ministry you are assuming by connecting you to the moment when Jesus launched his public ministry. It is a vision Jesus expresses by his very first word recorded in Luke’s Gospel. That word is “today.” It is a word repeatedly found in Luke to convey the importance of attending to God’s salvation unfolding in the present moment. “Today a savior has been born to you,” the angels announce to the shepherds. “Today, I must stay at your house,” Jesus tells Zacchaeus. “Today, you will be with me in paradise,” he assures the thief on the cross beside him and in the Gospel just proclaimed: “Today, this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing.” “Today” conveys the full meaning of the Incarnation and the Resurrection, that Jesus not only lived and rose from the dead 2,000 years ago, but today is always exercising his priestly ministry as the Second Vatican Council reminds us. That core belief of Christ’s abiding presence, I am convinced, grounds the ministry of the Holy Father. Some years ago, I was asked by someone, “What makes Pope Francis tick?” I merely replied, “You see, the pope has a palpable experience of the presence of Christ acting in the world today, and he is directing his full attention on where the risen one is leading us in this moment.” That closeness to the risen Lord, who is present and active today, must also be your North Star. It will sustain your hope in the face of challenges and setbacks. It will also help you to invite the faithful in this jubilee year to be “Pilgrims of Hope,” which is so needed in a time when some are tempted to lose hope and many others try to escape dealing with the demands of the present moment, either by engaging in a nostalgic fantasy of reliving a golden age of past days or by dreaming with a cheery optimism of better days to come. Surely there is a difference between hope and optimism. Optimism is about tomorrow, dreaming untethered from reality that things will be better tomorrow. But hope is about today, for that is where Christ is present and at work. This is the hope of children, and why Jesus urged his disciples to become like little children (Mt 18:3). Everything in their young lives is new, giving them a sense of wonder. May a sense of wonder and awe about what Christ is doing sustain you in your ministry. As the North Star for the vision of your ministry, “today” will also keep you joyful and not fearful, as you trust that Christ is always doing something new, as Pope Francis has repeatedly reminded us. It will be the joy that will free you to attentively listen to the voices of the baptized, acknowledging with respect and reverence that the Spirit of Christ they received speaks through them, so that all will take up the way ahead by being co-responsible as a synodal church. In walking together with this synodal church, value your role in fostering the unity of God’s people, a great task and responsibility of all episcopal ministry and especially so in a time of sad and frequent division and polarization. Your “today” then should always be rooted in the today of Jesus as he stood up to read from the prophet Isaiah in his home-town synagogue. He proclaimed fulfillment not of our plans but of all that God has ever intended for the people. God’s plan has never been about making the rich, richer, further empowering the powerful, or giving those with influence more sway. And so, your ministry must be resolute in forming all those who claim the name Christian to take up Christ’s mission of bringing good news to the poor, and proclaiming liberty to captives and a year of favor to the oppressed — ever urging the faithful to be vigilant lest the Gospel be compromised or replaced by the pursuit of earthly gain. This one simple word, “today,” has such great power, when it is the today of Jesus, who is always exercising his priestly ministry, always doing something new, and always bringing about the plan of salvation God has designed from the beginning. In the Eucharist we are about to celebrate, we all join ourselves to the self-sacrificing love of Jesus our priest. As we do so, we pray today, that those blessed by your service, and who gather with you to celebrate both word and sacrament, will recognize your ministry as the Lord’s own, leaving them encouraged that they are witnessing the fulfillment of God’s promises in their hearing.