Bishop Solis at Red Mass: All are called to peacemaking

Friday, Oct. 13, 2023

SALT LAKE CITY — The annual Red Mass at the Cathedral of the Madeleine, celebrated this year on Oct. 6, honored Utah state legislators, judges, lawyers, police officers and all members of the legal profession regardless of their religious affiliation. 

The first recorded Red Mass was celebrated in the Cathedral of Paris in 1245. The readings are from the votive Mass of the Holy Spirit, so the clergy wear red vestments, which give the Mass its name.

Bishop Oscar A. Solis presided at the Oct. 6 Mass. Concelebrating were the Very Rev. Martin Diaz, the cathedral rector; the Very Rev. Langes Silva, diocesan judicial vicar; and Fr. Jaya Kumar Penugonda, the cathedral’s parochial vicar and hospital chaplain. Among those attending was Elder Dallin H. Oaks, first counselor in the First Presidency and president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Elder Oaks, now retired, was a lawyer and served as a justice of the Utah Supreme Court.

During his homily, Bishop Solis noted that the Red Mass originally was intended for judges of the ecclesial courts, but the scope now has widened. It was a joy, he said, to invoke the power of the Holy Spirit upon “the distinguished judges, attorneys, law enforcement officers, first responders, members of the National Guard, law and court clerks, and all those who serve us in the various sectors of the legal profession and peace and order.”

Pope Innocent IV, who instigated the original Red Mass, understood the responsibility inherent in the legal professions, and he “understood the importance of invoking the Holy Spirit as a source of wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude and strength,” the bishop said.

Jesus did something similar to the diverse group of men he chose as leaders of his church, “who were not raised by their mommies to think of themselves as the Twelve Apostles. … They thought they were normal guys,” the bishop said. “But Jesus saw something in them that they didn’t even see in themselves. So, he poured his Spirit out on their astonished heads, and told them to go out and change the world.”

God used these ordinary men to do the extraordinary, with the help of the Holy Spirit, Bishop Solis said.

He then went on to tell the story of a concert by Ignacy Jan Paderewski, the great Polish pianist. Prior to the start of the concert, a 5-year-old boy sneaked on stage, and when the curtain raised, there he was, “sitting on the piano bench, innocently pecking out ‘Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star,” the bishop said.

When the pianist walked onto the stage, he asked the boy to keep playing, the bishop said.

“Paderewski reached out his left hand and began to fill in the bass. A few seconds later, he reached around the other side of the boy, encircling him, and added a running obligato. Together, the great maestro and the tiny 5-year-old mesmerized the audience. … I believe there is a tremendous lesson here,” Bishop Solis said. “We look at our increasingly polarized world and see so many problems that need to be addressed. We also look at our talents and see how inadequate they are in the face of these problems. And that’s why we need to recall the image of the little boy and Paderewski. … In a similar way, the Holy Spirit can take whatever we have – no matter how small – build upon it and transform it into something powerful and beautiful.”

While the Catholic Church doesn’t expect secular lawmakers to make laws based on religious doctrine, “the Church believes that there is a common moral sense written on the hearts of all people, and that our secular laws are, and must be, founded upon that,” the bishop said.

When Pope Francis visited the White House and Congress in 2015, he reminded everyone – “Christians, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, members of any of the other great religion traditions that make up our society, and those who have no faith at all – of the goodness, the justice, the peace-making to which America is called, to which each of us is called,” the bishop said. 

The challenging work done by those attending the Red Mass reflects this call, he added.

“Please know, we keep you in our prayers; that the inspiration of the Holy Spirit may mold you into God’s instrument of love, justice and peace in our society and in the world. May God bless you,” Bishop Solis concluded.