Cardinal Cupich delivered the following homily June 14 at Rate Field in Chicago, during the closing Mass of the archdiocese’s celebration of Pope Leo XIV: My warmest welcome to all of you here at Rate Field and to all those joining us by livestream. It is good to be together. I want to begin by thanking Pope Leo for taking the time to record a message. It is so appropriate to gather on Father’s Day to honor the one we call with affection Holy Father. And I want to pick up on something he observed in the video. He asked all of us to be attentive to the longings in our hearts for meaning. In a word, he was talking about discovering how to live authentically, to be authentic persons. As the pope observed, given that we are made in the image and likeness of God, this feast of the Trinity gives us a moment to reflect on what it means for us to be a person in the likeness of God, to be true to ourselves and others. Three things come to mind. First, notice that each of the three persons is aware of being loved. As John baptizes in the Jordan River, God introduces Jesus to the world as his beloved Son in whom he is well pleased. Likewise, Jesus speaks of the Father as the one he loves, with whom he is one in the Spirit. The message is clear, knowing we are loved is foundational for living as an authentic person. This must be the core of our identity, the point of reference for how we value ourselves, especially whenever voices within us create doubts and erode our self-esteem in moments of failure and shame. Returning often to this foundational conviction, that the measure of our worth is that we are loved by God without condition, can free us from the tyranny of being judged by others or from being held to the world’s standards of success. Just as it was for Jesus on that first day of doing the will of his Father, as we strive to live with authenticity, we would do well to begin each of our days with an openness to hear those same words, “You are my beloved.” That is the measure of our worth. A second thing we notice is that the three persons always act together; each is not a person in isolation but always in connection with one another. So, too, we cannot be authentic persons living in isolation, whether as individuals or as an elite group. To the degree we value our connection to all of humanity we open ourselves to living as authentic persons in the image of the Divine Persons. Sadly, we too often hear voices attempting to define a portion of humanity as other or unconnected. This does great harm to the human family but even more, as history has often told us, also to those who speak and act this way. Humanity is diminished whenever the unborn or the undocumented, the unemployed or the unhealthy, are excluded, uninvited or unwelcome, or whenever we tell ourselves they are of no concern to us. We should keep this in mind as we face the challenges of immigration in our country. Without question, countries have a duty to secure their borders, protect the public from crime and violence and enact reasonable rules for immigration. At the same time, it is wrong to scapegoat those who are here without documents, for indeed they are here due to a broken immigration system which both parties have failed to fix. The task before us in this moment as Christians, is to call each other to live with authenticity, as authentic persons, rejecting language or activity that demonizes and degrades the dignity of others, that pretends that some persons are unworthy to be connected to us. That is foreign to our calling to be persons in the image and likeness of God. It is also dishonest, for indeed, so many of the undocumented have for decades been connected to us. They are here not by invasion but invitation — to harvest the fruits of the earth that feed our families, to clean our tables, homes and hotel rooms, to landscape our lawns, and yes even to care for our children and elderly. I have no doubt that if we are honest about our connections to one another, we can respond to this moment and thus reclaim our calling to live as authentic persons in the image of the Divine Persons. Finally, we notice the ongoing and generous self-giving among the Persons of God. We are told that the Father gives everything over to the Son who returns it to the Father to be given to us in the Spirit. The store of loving sacrifice is bottomless. Indeed, love never ends. The capacity to love is infinite, yes, even for us. Love does not have to be rationed or held back just for some, thinking we may risk exhausting our ability to love those closest to us. Over the years, I have seen first-hand how people have come to learn this. One summer I was invited to join a family at their lake home for a few days. Earlier in the year, I did the marriage of their son, Pete. The new groom and I were overlooking the lake one evening and he told me that next year he planned to have his own sail boat moored at the dock alongside his father’s. The next year I returned to the lake, and again both of us are standing at the lake shore. I pointed out that I did not see his boat next to his dad’s. “Yes,” he said as he looked down at his newborn son in his arms, “but what a great trade-off.” So often I have been delighted to see new parents discover in the store of their hearts the infinite capacity to love without counting the cost. It is the kind of discovery that helps them grow as authentic persons in the image and likeness of God. I hope you have made the same discovery in your lives. This weekend is also Father’s Day. It is an occasion to remember those who have been father to us, and taught us how to live authentically. In my case, many of the things I talked about today were taught to me by Dad. He was a letter carrier who at age 48 was struck with Parkinson’s, which left him unemployed. After securing the proper medication, diet and exercise, he began volunteer work with our parish St. Vincent de Paul Society, visiting hospitals and shut-ins. He noticed that some living at home alone lacked proper nutrition, so he went to the county board and urged participation in a new federal program called “Meals on Wheels.” Sadly, the board did not want anything to do with the bureaucracy involved. So, Dad decided he would run for the seat on the county board. He was elected and served three terms and to this day, the county has a vibrant “Meals on Wheels” program. I tell you this story because Dad taught me what it means to be an authentic person before I ever studied theology and learned about the Trinity. He did not let his illness tell him his life was worthless, he understood the importance of being connected to others and he tapped into a bottomless resource of sacrificial love. At Communion time today, I would invite you to take a moment and thank God for the people in your lives who have taught you how to be authentic as real persons, convincing you that you are loved by God, teaching you to treasure how interconnected we all are and inspiring you to live without counting the cost. Happy Father’s Day to all.