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The
Feast of the Holy Family.
Priestly
Ordination of Rev.ds Patrick Relihan and Anthony Sheehan.
St. Colman’s Cathedral, Cobh. December 29, 2002.
Today,
my dear friends, the Church celebrates the Feast of the Holy Family, that of
Joseph and Mary with their Child, Jesus. Today the Church highlights the
absolutely normal family nucleus within which the Son of God was to grow to
maturity. He was to experience the maternal love of His Mother, the paternal
care and protection of His Foster-Father and He would engage with His peers as
any normal child would, playing their games, learning at school and attending
the local Synagogue in His home town of Nazareth on the Sabbath Day. Quite a
normal lifestyle for a young boy whose birth was any but normal. Indeed it was
extraordinary, heralded by a throng of Angels singing: ‘ Glory to God in the
highest heaven’ (Lk. 2:14). Joseph and Mary knew that the Child born to them
was special, had a special mission because they had been told that ‘ He is the
one who is to save his people from their sins’ (Mt. 1:21). Yet, they had to
ponder over this mystery in their hearts all the while that He grew to maturity
in a perfectly normal way in the care and warmth of a family home in Nazareth.
It is that reality we celebrate today, my dear friends, the reality of mystery
and mission awaiting ‘the hour’ (cf. Jn. 2:4), when all would be revealed,
the reality of the family life in which the Child of Bethlehem was nurtured and
grew ‘ in wisdom, in stature and in favour with God and man’ (Lk. 2:52).
The
day would come when that Child of Mary and Joseph, that young man of Nazareth,
by the name of Jesus, would stand up in His normal place of worship, in the
Synagogue of Nazareth and proclaim to His elders and His peers:
“ The Spirit of the Lord has been given to me,
for He has
anointed me.
He has sent me
to bring good news to the poor” (Lk. 4:18).
With
that proclamation the public ministry of Jesus began, with that proclamation He
left home and family to follow the Call of the Father
“
to proclaim liberty to captives and to the blind new sight, to set the
downtrodden free, to proclaim the Lord’s year of favour”(Lk. 4:18).
The
Mission of Christ is the Mission of salvation and it has been handed on to His
Church. It is a Mission which will find its completion at the end of time. Just
as Christ was called by the Father to accomplish His Mission of saving ‘ His
people from their sins’ (Mt. 1:21), so He, in turn, would call others to
collaborate in that Mission. They would have to live with Him, learn from Him
and adopt His lifestyle. They would be invited to identify themselves intimately
with Him so that the message they would proclaim would be His Message and the
saving grace they would administer would be His Grace leading to eternal life.
He, the eternal Priest, would invite them to share in that Priesthood so that,
for all time, His Sacrifice would be perpetuated and His Truth would be
proclaimed.
“
At the last Supper, after three eventful years in His company, Jesus would
remind His disciples again of the fundamental reason for their remaining with
Him: ‘ You did not choose Me, but I chose you’ (Jn. 15:16), underlining the
point that priesthood was not something they had a right to aspire to on their
own initiative but was rather a free gift of the Lord. While all the baptised
share in the common priesthood of the faithful and all are called to holiness,
the priestly vocation is a specific call” (Priestly Identity.
T.McGovern.ch.3). The Holy Father, Pope John Paul II, in his letter to the
priests of the world on Holy Thursday 1996 wrote: “Every vocation to the
priesthood has an individual history of its own, related to quite specific
moments in the life of each one of us. When He called his Apostles, He said to
each one of them: ‘ Follow Me!’. For 2000 years He has continued to address
the same invitation to many men, especially young men. Sometimes He calls them
in a surprising way, even though His call is never completely unexpected.
Christ’s call to follow Him usually comes after a long preparation. Already
present in the mind of the young person, even if later overshadowed by
indecision or by the attraction of other possible paths, when the call makes
itself felt once more it does not come as a surprise. No wonder then that the
calling prevails over all others and the young person is able to set out on the
path shown him by Christ: he takes leave of his family and begins his specific
preparation for the priesthood” ( HTL. 1996,no.3).
Patrick
Relihan and Anthony Sheehan heard that call many years ago. They each, in their
own way, considered and prayed about their response to the call. They had grown
to maturity in a good normal Christian family that enabled them, in their own
time, to respond and ‘to set out on the path shown them by Christ’. They had
experienced the love of their families, the friendship of their peers and the
encouragement of their tutors and teachers. They set out on their journey to
priesthood, monitored by those responsible for their formation, and today they
take leave of their families and prepare to give their definitive response to
the call of the Lord. Today is a moment in their lives which will change them
for all time and eternity. Today Patrick and Anthony, by the laying on of hands,
will be configured into Christ so that, from this day forward, they will be
enabled to act in His Name. What happens to them today is not something that
they receive from me or from the ecclesial community. It is not something that
can be revoked at anytime. What happens today is that they become so uniquely
one with Christ in His Priesthood that always, and in an unchangeable way, they
will find the source of their identity in Christ the Priest. It is not the world
which determines their status, as though it depended on changing needs or ideas
about social roles. They will be marked today with the seal of the Priesthood of
Christ in order to share in His function as the one Mediator and Redeemer ( cf.
HTL. 1986.no 10). This identity with Christ, the Priest, creates a living bond
with the Good Shepherd which will make of Patrick and Anthony true witnesses of
the pastoral heart of the Saviour. Thus they will be seen as men of God and
their presence will always reflect the sanctity of God. In order to maintain
within themselves this very ‘Icon’, this image of Christ, they must be men
who pray daily, men who draw from their daily Eucharistic celebration
life-giving grace for themselves and for their people, men who are so freely
given to God that, in the service of His people, they will be seen to be totally
free and available. In the pastoral ministry, the total availability required to
make it fruitful is ensured when the priest lives out in total acceptance and
fidelity his celibate state, a state in which he “ can more easily remain
close to Christ with an undivided heart and can dedicate himself more freely to
the service of God and his neighbour” (C.C.L. 271).
Patrick
and Anthony, you are today being entrusted with the Divine Mysteries of God and
commissioned to dispense them with the pastoral heart of Christ. The people to
whom you will minister need to see in you the Person of Christ. They need to
have confidence and trust in you as Ministers of Word and Sacrament. They need
to see you as being totally faithful to the calling the Lord has given you and
totally given in your service of all. Anything that would break that trust that
will be placed in you by the people because you are Priests of Christ, will do
great damage to them and to their children and immense damage to the credibility
of the Church you are called upon to love and serve. I place my trust in you
today and in the Grace of the Sacrament of Holy Orders you are about to receive.
Jesus Christ entrusts you with every good gift for His people. Be faithful to
that trust.
Patrick
and Anthony, you are being called to priestly holiness. Be holy and your
ministry will be fruitful. What the people of God need are holy priests, what
the people of God need are faithful priests. Draw daily on the Grace of the
Priesthood you receive today and you will reflect always the sanctity and
fidelity of the God who has called you.
I
welcome all those who have come to be with you today, to support you with their
prayers: your parents and family members for whom this is truly a day the Lord
has made. I welcome the priests of the Diocese of Cloyne and all other priests
who have come from far and near. May they also be renewed in their priestly
commitment today as they witness you being drawn into the priestly Heart of
Christ. I welcome the Deacons and Seminarians who have travelled to be with you
today and who are taking part in this Ordination ceremony.
I
thank all who have been involved in your education, your teachers both at
Primary and Secondary levels and your seminary formators, your respective Parish
Priests and your Parish communities. May they all rejoice with you today. I
thank your fellow-students who have supported you with their prayers and
encouragement. May they also experience the joy that is in your hearts today as
you become priests for ever.
In
these last few months, as you prepared for this great day in your lives, you
have discovered that you have a family relationship – your great-grandfathers
were brothers. May this family bond be for each of you a great support, as you
become brothers in the Priesthood. It is indeed most appropriate that, as we
celebrate the Feast of the Holy Family of Nazareth, we also celebrate in a
unique way the bonding of two families in the Priesthood of Jesus Christ. May
Mary, the Mother of the Eternal Priest, ever keep you faithful to the commitment
you make today and may she protect your families with Her maternal care now and
always.
Patrick
and Anthony, come now and be ordained priests of the New and Eternal Covenant.
It is a challenging time to be a priest. It is indeed a good time to be a
priest. Come and follow Him!
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