As many of you know, I was able to study as a seminarian in Rome in the year 2004. I was still five years away from ordination, but during those months I was certainly confirmed in my vocation and my desire to serve the Church in many ways. This was especially true on the morning of Holy Thursday. As we gathered for the Chrism Mass at St. Peter’s basilica, I had a great seat, right on the aisle, and I would be able to see Pope John Paul II as he processed to the altar. I had seen the holy Pope from a great distance a few years before at World Youth Day in Toronto, and several times during that semester as we gathered in Piazza San Pietro for the Holy Father’s Wednesday Audiences and the Sunday Angelus, but this was as close as I’d ever be. And I swear as this frail Pope processed toward the altar, he looked right into my eyes and it was as if Jesus Himself were looking at me in love. And I got an overwhelming sense that my path toward the priesthood was the right one.
Many people still speak of powerful encounters with Pope John Paul and the miracles that surrounded him. But I’ll never forget his loving gaze. The high points of the spiritual life, are certainly those moments where you encounter the Lord’s love for you, aren’t they—when you experience God looking at you, all of you, with love.
Christian discipleship is at its core is essentially a response to God’s great act of love, sending His Son to die for us. I’d venture to say that the more you understand and take to heart the depth of God’s love shown for us in the crucifixion, the more you will desire to imitate Him and to give your own life in service to Him.
And I’d venture to say that the vocations of so many priests are born out of that gaze of love. The priest is at the service of Divine Love—leading members of the church in fulfilling that great command to love the Lord with all your mind, all your soul, all your heart.
Archbishop Fulton Sheen once said, “If I were asked if I had my life to live over again, would I live the priesthood as I have? The answer is: ‘No, I would try to love Christ more.” I think every priest goes to sleep at night with the thought that he could have loved Christ and his people more that day.
Vatican II explained that the priesthood is at the service of love. The Vatican II document on the ordained priesthood explained, “priests have been placed in the midst of the laity to lead them to the unity of charity, " loving one another with mutual affection; anticipating one another in showing honor.” It is their task, therefore, to reconcile differences of mentality in such a way that no one need feel himself a stranger in the community of the faithful. [Priests] are defenders of the common good, with which they are charged in the name of the bishop. At the same time, [priests] are strenuous assertors of the truth, lest the faithful be carried about by every wind of doctrine. [Priests] are united by a special solicitude with those who have fallen away from the use of the sacraments, or perhaps even from the faith. Indeed, as good shepherds, they should not cease from going out to them.An interesting job description, no? the duty to assert truth in the face of the winds of error from the world, to reach out to those not making use of the sacraments of Confession and Eucharist, to seek out the fallen away, to reconcile differences in a community, to defend the common good. And yet all of these tasks are summed up in the priest's duty to love.
Please know, that if I have failed to love any of you, I’m sorry. If I have made any Catholic feel himself a stranger, I’m sorry. If I’ve failed to assert truth and promote the sacraments, I’m sorry. But at least it’s the failure we all share, the failure to love, the failure to be like the tax collector in today’s Gospel, who lives on his knees, in humility before God. Thank you for your prayers for the sanctification of priests, and for me in this first year as pastor.
So, a short homily today, as we welcome seminarian Joe McCarron, who will speak to us after Communion. Joe, thank you for your willingness to serve the lord in holiness and love. Know of our prayers for you and the seminarians.
It takes a lot for a young man to trust the Lord enough to give years of his life to discern a call to the priesthood. Thank you Joe for your witness and your example. May the good work the Lord has begun in you, be brought to completion.
On Priesthood Sunday, we pray for the sanctification of priests, that they may be faithful servants of divine love, and we pray for the grace to unite our lives in union with Christ the High Priest who came not to be served but to serve and to give his life in ransom for many for the glory of God and salvation of souls.
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