BOSTON -- Archbishop Richard Henning celebrated his first Catholic Appeal Mass of Appreciation at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross on Nov. 18.

The annual Mass is celebrated for the Caritas Society, which is for those who make an annual gift of $1,000 or more to the Appeal. The donors were eager to meet the new archbishop, and the line to greet him after Mass stretched from one end of the cathedral to the other. Donors waited for up to 30 minutes to shake Archbishop Henning's hand and wish him well. One woman gave the archbishop a Ziploc bag containing Divine Mercy prayer cards. Another showed him her purse, which had the Virgin Mary on it. A third asked him whether she should refer to him as "Your Eminence" or "Your Excellency."

"I'm a 'Your Excellency,' or a 'hey, you,'" he joked.

As he did at his Mass of Installation, Archbishop Henning stepped down in front of the altar and delivered his homily extemporaneously to the assembly.

"When we are afraid, we are often foolish, defensive, and selfish," he said. "Fear tends to turn us in on ourselves and away from other people. Contrast that with trust."

He gave the example of the days after the Sept. 11 attacks, a time of great significance to his ministry. At the time, he was a priest in the Diocese of Rockville Centre on Long Island, New York. Many in the diocese lost loved ones in the attack.

"It was certainly a time when there was cause to be afraid," Archbishop Henning said. "But in cities and communities across America, people helped each other. They trusted each other. They trusted their neighbors. It was, even though a very difficult and painful moment, a remarkable moment of generosity, of neighborliness, and of compassion."

He contrasted it to the COVID-19 pandemic, a time of isolation when "our neighbors became our fear."

"Trust even in the midst of things that make us afraid is key to the life of discipleship, but also to the life of any community," he said.

He noted that the time has come in the liturgical year when the readings focus on the apocalypse. While this word is often associated with disaster, the archbishop said that its use in Scripture is not meant to be scary, but a reminder that "all is fragile."

"One of the truths that is revealed in these readings is that what sometimes seem like the most important or eternal things are, in fact, the things that are passed away."

He said that these readings appear every year because they steer the faithful away from the "human temptations" to forget God and focus too much on material comforts.

"We can forget that it is ultimately passing away, and we can forget those eternal truths that are so much more important and central, not just to our faith but to our very lives," he said. "Those truths of compassion, solidarity, love of neighbor, generosity to those in need."

He reinforced the idea of trusting God.

"It's not a cold and empty universe," he said. "The greatest power of the universe is divine love. And when we know that, we can hope, we can trust. And when we trust, we can give, we can be generous, we can be compassionate, we can form communities where people care about one another, where people are neighbors with one another, and we can overcome that poisonous effect of fear and live that love of God."

That, he said, is why the church exists, and why the Cathedral of the Holy Cross was built in the first place.

At the end of Mass, noting the coming Thanksgiving holiday and that the word Eucharist literally means "thanksgiving," Archbishop Henning decided to give some thanks of his own. He thanked those who coordinate and volunteer for the Catholic Appeal in parishes every year, the staff of Boston Catholic Development Services, and Vicar General and Moderator of the Curia Bishop Mark O'Connell.

"He's one of those key people that helps to make sure that each dollar donated by the people of God for the mission of this archdiocese is spent well, carefully, and for the sake of that mission," Archbishop Henning said of Bishop O'Connell. "So, I'm very grateful to him for his own personal generosity and for that very careful oversight and hard work."

He thanked everyone in the archdiocese for their generosity and trust in God.

"Being new to any diocese, or particularly an archdiocese of this size, I have to admit, there were days when it was a bit fearful, and so I have to be reminded always to trust," he said.

Looking out into the assembly, he said, he finds his reason to trust.

"There are so many good people who love the Lord and believe in the mission of the church and support that with their time, talent, treasure," he said. "I'm so grateful to you."

He compared himself to the arches that support the towering roof of the cathedral. Separated, the halves of the arches are weak, but together, they can carry immense weight.

"Without you, I am a very weak half," he said, "but with you, we are together strong, proclaiming the goodness of God and living that commandment of love."