I have been asked to provide the homily from this morning's 11:15 mass where as a parish we celebrated the year for priests. The lovely mass was concelebrated by eight priests from No 14 Edge Hill Jesuit Community. The music was inspiring and it warmed my heart share in this with you. I normally do not write out my homily, but only give an outline for myself. That is so that I do not bore myself and therefore you. So, what is presented here is an approximation and the gist of what I spoke a few hours ago. Know that I appreciate all the prayers and support you give me and all the priests in the parish.

We as a parish are celebrating this special mass in the Church’s Year for Priests. I am remembering my own ordination back in 1993. I was ordained as St Francis Xavier Church on the campus of St. Louis University, where I had been an undergraduate back in the late 70’s.

Upon being ordained, I experienced a strange dynamic. It was one I could have conceived rationally before I was ordained, but it became a real experience only after being ordained. I was confronted with people who had great expectations for me and what I could do for them. I was deemed holy, a special person in that I could uniquely assist people in the struggles and joys of their lives. But I also knew who I was: a weak, frail individual, full of self-righteous and sinfulness, both in desires and actions. I felt that I was being placed on a pedestal so to speak, while I knew in many ways I was less holy than those coming to me for assistance. I wanted to quickly disabuse them of their opinion of me. But I did not. I realized that I was ordained into a unique person who was asked by God and His people to do holy things, to participate in holy acts. To understand these natural tensions let us look at the Church’s common, universal priesthood.

Universal priesthood: Baptism and Confirmation

When we were baptised we were baptised into a believing community constantly invigorated by the Holy Spirit. At the Chrism Anointing, the new Christian is anointed Priest, Prophet and King: all the roles of our Saviour, Jesus Christ. Our confirmation deepens and enriches that gift of universal priesthood. We are to be Christ in all that we dream, think, plan and do. We are means by which Christ is really made present to all that the Lord wishes to meet each and every day.
In that sense priests share most primarily in the universal priesthood of believers. Each of us in our weakness, selfishness strives to respond to God’s redemptive love through acts of charity and mercy. We share the same journey, struggles and joys. We each bear the cross, bring Christ to all, and suffer for all.

Uniqueness of the ordained priesthood

Yet in God’s revelation he hopes to be present to each of us as an individual, face to face, being personal at the most profound level. The ordained priesthood emerges out of that desire of God to be constantly present to each of us. Christ is uniquely and particularly present in each priest but always within that very human vessel, full of all that is unholy.

It is in the sacramental gift from God that the special role of the priesthood is most clearly and definitely stated. Christ wants to be present within each of our souls, offering us the gifts of faith, hope and charity. He offers us the transforming love which then propels each of us to be Christ for others. But within that offer there is the priest to participate within the sacraments and sacramental signs to facilitate that intimate offer of God’s love. All eight priests this morning processed in from the back. Some may say that was to fill the time of the wonderful entrance music. But the more significant sign is that these eight priests come from within the gathered community. We are not separate from you but emerge for the need to serve each other in God’s sacramental offer of redeeming love.

We can perceive the distribution of power within the church and the place of priesthood and the hierarchy within as being very authoritative. Much of the power in entrusted to the ordained few. If we were only a human institution I would be in the forefront attaching such a human structure. However, we are not merely a human institution, but the most human institution. Ordained priesthood is in unique service, transforming that power dynamic. It is Christ, a personal intimate Christ that is intertwined into each of our actions and engagements with others. Power is immersed in the dynamic of the faithful seeking to be feed by Christ and then acting together to live out that generous gift. It is not cold power that drives that, but God’s love intimately intertwined into all of our actions, that include the exercise of power. We are immersed in God’s love though our universal priesthood.
This is were today’s second reading, Paul’s treatise on Love, is so insightful. All the great gifts of the Spirit, symbolized by Priest, Prophet and King, fall to the wayside unless that are intertwined with God’s love. The exercise of those powers is Christian when they are done in humble selfless service immersed in God’s redeeming love.

Recalling that tension I experienced upon my ordination, I am called to perform holy acts to provide the means that we can participate in God’s redemptive act. This is not because of my extraordinary holiness, but the call to emerge from the community to humbly share my life in this special service. In our weakness and frailty we priests – let me speak for myself but I assume my fellow priests here will concur – in my weakness and frailty I present myself to you to share our faith journey’s. I try not to let the false humility of my unworthiness to obstruct and prevent me from doing good works you seek from me and God has graciously asked me to do.

Support the priests

How do you support the priests in their attempt to provide holy service?

1. First and most powerfully, pray for us. What you and God ask of us is not able to be fulfilled unless each priest is able to be open to God’s transforming grace. At least this priest seeks your prayers, so as to enable me to do that at well as possible. Please pray for Afonso, who read today’s Gospel, fulfilling his duty as a deacon. He will be ordained a priest on 10 July in Porto, Portugal. The parish is also privileged to have thirteen scholastics from throughout the world who are studying to become priests. Pray for them that the Lord will continue to fill their hearts to service us humbling and their minds to perceive the grandeur of God’s Revelation. In early March they will be preaching our Novena of Grace. They will be sharing their understanding of their priesthood in their native culture and within the works of the Jesuits there. It is our mutual prayers that sustain each of us in our journeys in faith.

2. The second way to support priests – and I am afraid to mention it here for the consequences it may have on me – the second way to help priests is to DEMAND that they provide the service to the Church they were ordained to do. I have made myself available in service but I am also restrained and inhibited within my own weak human vessel. It is your asking of me that draws out the Christ. In seeking what I can provide, you create the opportunity for that humble service.

3. The third way to support priests is for you to be GOOD CHRISTIANS. One of the most profound gifts of being a priest is being invited into the intimacy of your hearts and souls. You come to us at times of great joy (births, marriages, first communions, and confirmations) and at times of great stress and sorrow (deaths of loved ones, divorce, family difficulties, and stress in the workplace). We are privileged to journey with you in ways that no one else can, not even a spouse, parent, child or sibling. It is in those moments that a priest sees true holiness. It is not easy to genuinely perceive our own acts of holiness. But I can tell you that it continually humbles me and inspires me of the countless moments of holiness I am fortunate to see among the people I am honoured to be with. How can you support a priest? BE THE BEST THAT YOU CAN BE.

I thank you on behalf of the priests in the parish and the extended Jesuit community for your strong support.

LET US ALL BE THE BEST GOD WANTS