Eucharist gives strength to scale divisions, 'makes us one in Christ,' says Bishop Massa

BALTIMORE (OSV News) -- As division tears at society, the nation and even the Catholic Church, the Eucharist provides healing and unity, said Auxiliary Bishop James Massa of Brooklyn.

"It draws us back to the source. It makes us one in Christ," said Bishop Massa, speaking in a homily he delivered at a Nov. 12 daily Mass amid the U.S. Conference of CatholicBishops fall 2025 plenary assembly, which took place Nov. 10-13 in Baltimore.

In addition to bishops participating in the plenary, the liturgy -- which was not part of the assembly's public sessions -- drew a small number of lay professionals supporting the USCCB, as well as staff from OSV News, to whom Bishop Massa gave permission to publicly share his homily.

The Mass marked the feast of St. Josaphat Kuntsevych, the Ukrainian-born bishop and martyr who labored for Catholic-Orthodox unity, and ultimately paid for that cause with his violent death in 1623 at the hands of an angry mob.

"Josaphat believed, and he staked his life on the belief, that between those who love Christ, those who love Christ sincerely, there is no wall so high that charity cannot scale, cannot break open," said Bishop Massa.

Reflecting on the day's Gospel passage, in which only one of 10 lepers Christ cleansed returned to offer thanks (Luke 17:11-19), Bishop Massa urged his listeners to "help one another" to "be a people of thanksgiving," which restores wholeness.

He said the day's Gospel and the witness of St. Josaphat -- along with the many pressing issues on the USCCB's plenary agenda, including immigration, religious liberty and Catholic health care directives -- gave rise to the broader question, "What kind of people are we becoming?"

Bishop Massa added that "as Catholics living in America," that question "perhaps underlies so many of our discussions this week around immigration."

Referencing the Gospel passage from Luke, he asked, "Are we among the nine who accept the gift, but walk away from challenges to overcome division? Are we content with curing the urgent problem, but indifferent to that deeper communion that leads to the total gift of self?"

Or, said Bishop Massa, "are we willing to be the one who turns back, the one who gives thanks, and in doing so draws near to Christ and to each other?"

The Eucharist "turns us around" and effects "metanoia," said Bishop Massa, citing the Greek word in the Gospels -- translated into English as "repent" or "repentance" -- that signifies a deep change of mind and heart.

"When we stop obsessing over quarrels, over what divides us, and turn our gaze again and again to Jesus -- especially as we encounter his living presence in the Eucharist -- then truly we begin to scale those walls that divide, and we stop defending our turf, whether it be geographical or ideological," said Bishop Massa. "And we begin falling at his feet, because we no longer look for victory -- we're looking for him."

With the very word "Eucharist" from the Greek for "thanksgiving," Bishop Massa invited his fellow bishops to "lead with gratitude," and called for "pastors and lay leaders who build bridges and not battlements in our local churches and in our very fractured country.

"Let's be the ones who come back again and again to give thanks" to the Lord, said Bishop Massa. "Why? St. Josaphat Kuntsevych knows well -- because giving thanks makes us one."