HOMILY

Ordination to the Priesthood of Rev. Thomas Naughton

St. Mary’s Church, Limerick.

Sunday, October 7 2001.

“ Do this as a memorial of me. Here I am among you as one who serves”.

My dear Friends in Christ,

The Gospel reading just proclaimed begins with the words: “ When the hour came….” (Lk.22: 14). These words remind us of another occasion when Jesus said to His Mother at the Marriage Feast of Cana: “ My hour has not come yet” (Jn.2: 4). There was to be a special hour in the life of the Son of God. For that hour he had been preparing, indeed for that hour He had come into the world. It was an hour, not measured in time, but stipulated in the Father’s plan for the salvation of the world. The hour began with His sitting at table: “ Jesus took His place at table, and the Apostles with Him”. (Lk.22: 14). He had prepared them for this hour and had longed to be with them because He was going to face the most momentous moment of His life. He had much to give to His Apostles before that hour was over: “ I have longed to eat this Passover with you before I suffer” (Lk. 22:15). During that Passover meal He would have to ensure that His mission on earth would be handed on, that the sacrifice of His own life would continue to be offered until the end of time and that His disciples, that is those called to be His followers, would be nourished at His table. “ This is My Body….this Cup is the New Covenant in My Blood…. Do this as a memorial of Me”. (Lk.22: 19-20). Here, my dear Friends, we are present at the ‘hour’ of the Son of God during which He instituted the Blessed Eucharist, handed on His own Priesthood to His Apostles and promised the Kingdom to those who would stand faithfully by Him. (Cf.Lk.22: 28-29).

Today, the hour has come for a young man of this Parish, a young man who has stood faithfully by the Lord as he prepared, over many years, to receive, by the power of the Holy Spirit, the gift of the Priesthood of Jesus Christ. Time stands still today as the Lord draws one of your own into “His Hour” and says to Him: “Do this as a memorial of Me”. (Lk.22: 19).

We stand in awe at the mystery unfolding in our midst. The life of this young man, Thomas Naughton, is to be changed forever as he assumes the responsibilities of the Ministerial Priesthood and commits himself to stand faithfully by the Lord for the rest of his life. After the laying on of hands by the Bishop and the consecratory prayer, he will share in the universal dimension of the mission that Christ entrusted to His Apostles. The spiritual gift he receives in ordination today prepares him, not for a limited and restricted mission, but for the fullest, in fact the universal mission of salvation to the end of the earth, prepared in spirit to preach the Gospel everywhere. (Cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church N.1565).

Jesus chose ‘His Hour’ within which to hand on the Ministerial Priesthood to His Apostles, that ‘Hour’ in which He gave Himself as Eucharist to His faithful followers and promised the Kingdom. The priest then must be truly Eucharistic in his life and ministry, one who is always conscious of the mystery into which he is drawn and which he celebrates. The Catechism of the Catholic Church explains: It is in the Eucharistic Assembly of the faithful that the priest exercises in a supreme degree his sacred office; there, acting in the Person of Christ and proclaiming His mystery, he unites the votive offerings of the faithful to the Sacrifice of Christ their Head, and in the Sacrifice of the Mass he makes present again and applies, until the coming of the Lord, the unique Sacrifice of the New Testament, that namely of Christ offering Himself, once for all, a spotless victim to the Father. From this unique Sacrifice his whole priestly ministry will draw its strength. (Cf. C.C.C.N.1566).

Thomas, today you will exercise your priestly ministry, in the Person of Jesus Christ, as you celebrate Mass for the first time. At this Altar you will pronounce those words of Jesus, “ This is My Body….This is the Cup of My Blood” and thereby make present again the unique Sacrifice of the New Testament. From this day forward it will be your duty and privilege to offer Holy Mass for the Glory of God and the salvation of souls. Keep ever in mind the words of the Ordination Rite: “ Know what you are doing and imitate the mystery you celebrate”.

As Jesus celebrated the Passover Meal with His Apostles and made of them Priests of the New and Everlasting Covenant, He also had to contend with the brokenness and frailty within them. They had been with Him for three years, they had learned much about His Father and the Kingdom and yet, when His ‘Hour’ was come, they would dispute among themselves as to which should be reckoned the greatest. (Cf. Lk.22: 24).

His answer was to show Himself as a servant: “Here am I among you as one who serves”(Lk. 22:27). Thomas, your priestly service of Word and Sacrament will be all the more effective if you keep in mind that you are called to serve. This will go against the grain, against the mentality of the present world but, by the Grace of God, you will, through humble service of God’s People, be to all ‘another Christ’. In a world at present torn and broken, fearful and insecure, be a living witness to a God who listens and understands, a God who loves and heals, a God who saves.

Thomas, never underestimate the care and love by which Christ has chosen you. Put your total trust in Him today and always and, by His Grace, keep alive within you the fervour of this day. Make of your daily Eucharistic encounter with the Lord the highpoint of every day so that you may grow in Eucharistic devotion and be for the people to whom you will minister a man of prayer, a man of God. Just twenty-two years ago the Holy Father told the priests of Ireland in Maynooth: “ A priest is called by Christ; a Priest is with Christ; Priest is sent by Christ. A Priest is sent in the power of the same Holy Spirit which drove Christ untiringly along the roads of life, the roads of history. Whatever the difficulties, the disappointments, the set-backs, we priests find in Christ and in the power of the Holy Spirit the strength to ‘struggle wearily on, helped on by His power driving us irresistibly’ (Col.1: 29). And he continued: “ What the people expect from you, more than anything else, is faithfulness to the priesthood. This is what speaks to them of the faithfulness of God. This is what strengthens them to be faithful to Christ through all the difficulties of their lives, of their marriages. In a world so marked by instability as our world today, we need more signs and witnesses to God’s fidelity to us and to the fidelity we owe to Him” (Address of Pope John Paul II to Priests at Maynooth, Oct. 1^st 1979).

Thomas, your hour has come. You are being sent today into the world as a Priest of Jesus Christ. I rejoice with you and I welcome you into the Presbyterate of the Diocese of Cloyne. You will find a warm welcome among your fellow-priests and, I assure, a listening ear and an open heart in me, your Bishop. I wish to thank all who have had a hand in your priestly formation. Your teachers in Primary and Secondary Schools, as well as the formation teams and staffs in the seminaries you have attended. I thank your Parish for nurturing you in faith and your Parish Priest, Canon Connellan, who has accompanied you throughout the eighteen years of your formation to Priesthood with his encouragement and prayers. He has been a true Father to you. Here in St. Mary’s you received the Sacraments of Christian Initiation and began your journey of faith which has led you to answering the call of Christ today..

I thank the Priests of Limerick and Cloyne Dioceses who have come to assist at this Ordination ceremony today and to welcome you, Thomas, as a brother into the Priesthood. In particular, I thank the Priests of St. Colman’s College, Fermoy, your colleagues, who are with you today and Father Denis Kelleher, the President, for having presented you for ordination and for service in the Diocese of Cloyne.

Above all, I thank your family: your dear mother and family members who have supported you in these years of preparation. They are with you here today and I know that they will continue to support you with their prayers.

Thomas, in the name of Christ, come forward now to be ordained His Priest forever. As you begin your priestly life today allow Mary, the Mother of the Eternal Priest, be your model in fidelity and commitment. Today, on Her Feast under the title of Our Lady of the Rosary, may you be a priest devoted to that precious prayer and promote its recitation in every home you will pastorally visit. May Mary obtain for you from her Son a truly priestly heart so that you may serve God’s People in joy and be manifestly happy in your priesthood, as you sing in your heart, with Her, the praises of the Lord: “ For He that is mighty has done great things for me and holy is His Name”(Lk. 1: 48-49).