Archbishop Grob: Know Jesus by Giving of Yourself

Archbishop Jeffrey S. Grob celebrated a Mass of Thanksgiving on Wednesday, Jan. 15, at Mary Mother of the Church Pastoral Center. (Photo by David Bernacchi)

In the Scripture reading at Archbishop Jeffrey S. Grob’s Mass of Thanksgiving on Wednesday, Jan. 15 — the Wedding at Cana — Jesus says to Mary, “My hour has not yet come.”

That was not the case for Archbishop Grob.

The morning after being installed as the 12th Archbishop of Milwaukee, Archbishop Grob told a group of family, friends, central offices staff, 20 priests, six bishops and three deacons, “Still looking chipper this morning. I wish I could say the same for me.”

Challenging the central offices staff to decrease themselves and increase Jesus, Archbishop Grob used the legend of the “Doll of Salt” and also focused on Mary’s role as the Mother of the Church.

It was fitting, considering the role Mary played in Jesus’ first public miracle, that Archbishop Grob’s mother, Bonnie, was sitting in the front row near the center aisle at the Mass, which was held at Mater Christi Chapel at Mary Mother of the Church Pastoral Center in St. Francis.

Bonnie Grob has been described as a huge influence on her son, both by the new archbishop and people who know them.

In the Doll of Salt legend, the doll repeatedly puts part of herself into the sea to learn what it is. Archbishop Grob said that is what we should do, as well — give part of ourselves to learn more about Jesus.

After dipping her foot in the water, the doll’s toes disappeared. The doll asked the sea, “What did you do to me?”

The sea responded, “You gave up something of yourself to know me.”

Archbishop Grob said it would have been easy for the doll to hobble off and never return, but her desire to know overrode her ability to protect herself. She was obsessed with the question, “Who are you?”

The sea wanted her to know him, encounter him. Eventually, the sea came to devour the doll and, bit by bit, the doll came to know the sea.

The doll’s persistent question — “Who are you?” — calls to mind our longing for Jesus.

Archbishop Grob asked those listening to the message, “Are you willing to respond, to open yourself, to take a risk on God? Allow yourself to be consumed by the one who was hung on the tree.”

Shifting to the Gospel reading for the Mass, Archbishop Grob noted Jesus, Mary and the disciples were still there when the hosts ran out of wine.

“We have a God who wants to engage,” Archbishop Grob said. “Each of us, in our own way, has our own walk to complete. We’re in various places on that journey. As long as we’re on that journey, as long as we’re willing to continue to take a risk on God, allowing God to consume us. Allow God to draw us to be his.”

Calling the central offices staff the “backbone” of what the archdiocese does, Archbishop Grob said, “We are called to be that for the people whom we serve. That’s why we exist. It’s about the people of God and how we bring them to faith. Let’s be honest — often they bring us to faith.”

“We ride in like the Lone Ranger, and we’re going to ride in and solve the problem (with) our white suit and white horse, and we’re going to fix it for you. Standing in a hospital room, or in a funeral home chapel, or in a classroom, the one we minister to becomes the one who ministers.”

He urged that those working for the Church should be humble enough to receive that teaching and the grace from the Lord.

“The best thing any of us can do — all of us, the archbishop included — is to get out of the way. We, too, can become stumbling blocks. We’re still the disciples, you and I. Our work is to be like the Doll of Salt and to model what it means to trust in God and to allow God to transform us, to become new creations.”

Archbishop Grob’s time has arrived.

Archbishop Grob to Celebrate Nine Masses of Welcome

Archbishop Jeffrey S. Grob will preside at nine weeknight Masses of Welcome at parishes throughout the 10 counties of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee in the coming months.

The Masses are an opportunity to meet our new archbishop, who was installed Jan. 14. Our Archbishop Emeritus, the Most Rev. Jerome E. Listecki, submitted his retirement to Pope Francis last March as requested by canon law when he turned 75.

Archbishop Grob will celebrate a 6 p.m. Mass, with a reception to follow, at these parishes on the following dates: