By Fr Brian Nichols
It is daunting to be asked to preach the homily at a newly ordained priest’s Mass of Thanksgiving, as I am doing this morning. But then again, it’s often a daunting thing to preach a homily, Sunday after Sunday, week after week, as well as day after day.
Daunting because the word of God will always call us to assess our lives in the light of the saving message of Jesus Christ, and we priests know how important it is to keep striving to live up to the message we preach! Yet preaching the Gospel is one of our main tasks. In a book published some years ago about preaching homilies, the author noted how most people would think that a priest prays in order to preach. No doubt that is both important and essential. However, the same author reverses that proposition and makes the claim that in fact he would understand that a priest preaches in order to pray. In other words, the more we preach the Gospel, the more we are thrown back on ourselves to both live the message we preach and be transformed by the holy mysteries we celebrate at the altar.
Ashan, today, by virtue of your calling by the Church and the priesthood of Jesus Christ in which you now participate in a particular way, you will celebrate the Eucharist for the first time with the people of God, your family and friends gathered here with you. In the ministry of the word, that you have already exercised as a deacon over the past six or so months and in the celebration of the Eucharistic sacrifice, you will gather God’s people together as you assist them in discovering their own vocation as God’s priestly people, called to offer on behalf of the world, praise and thanksgiving to God for all God’s wonderful gifts, but especially for God’s Son, Jesus Christ, who came not to be served but to serve.
Humble willing service will mean that you put the people of God first among all things, while at the same time nurturing your vocation as a priest by your prayerful reflection on God’s word, by your prayer for and on behalf of the world, by friendships with supportive parishioners and your brother priests and deacons. In light of the renewal of the Church ushered in and inspired by the Second Vatican Council, you are setting out on a very different priestly path to those ordained fifty or more years ago. You are beginning your ministry in a Church that is calling for increased collaboration with all the baptised, a Synodal Church that listens to the voices of those attempting to live the Christian life, as the Council reminds us, amidst the joys, hopes, griefs and anxieties of those who long for meaning and purpose in their lives.
In your ministry among the people you will call down God’s blessing upon those you are assigned to serve just as Moses commanded Aaron and his sons to do. You will remind them that as sons and daughters of God, they are also heirs to God’s kingdom, freed by the liberating power of the Gospel to be witnesses of Christ in the world. The great challenge of priestly ministry today is the ability to walk alongside God’s people not only as a leader but most certainly as a companion. An emerging theology and image of priesthood over the past fifty or more years is summed up in this way by another contemporary author:
“…from pedestal to participation; from classical preacher to contemporary mystagogue; from the lone ranger style to collaborative ministry; from a monastic spirituality to a secular spirituality; from saving souls to liberating people.”
In the short but rich Gospel passage we have just heard proclaimed, Mary sets out to visit her cousin Elizabeth, not because she doubted the angel’s message to be true for she had already accepted in faith God’s plan for her and the part that she would play in the story of salvation. Mary and Elizabeth met to share the joys of God’s blessing to them. Elizabeth as the older of the two together with John the Baptist, her son, represents the old dispensation. Mary, the younger of the two, will give birth to Jesus Christ, who will usher in a new age, bringing hope and salvation to those open to receiving it.
You, too, Ashan, have welcomed God’s plan for you. Nurtured in faith by your parents who are here with us today, you have left your home country Sri Lanka, and generously committed yourself to serving the people of God here in Tasmania, Australia. Acquire the skills of a listening, caring pastor. Bring joy to the people whose lives you touch as Mary did in her visit to Elizabeth. Make Mary’s song of praise and thanksgiving your song. Sing it daily with and on behalf of the people you are called to minister to. May the words of Elizabeth to Mary her cousin, “Blessed is she who believed that the promises of the Lord would be fulfilled” continue to inspire you as you live your life as a priest among the people of Tasmania. Develop a special love and concern for those on the peripheries of both the Church and society, for there are many. Preach the Gospel with both fervour and conviction but always with gentleness and real pastoral concern. Live the joy of the Gospel and infect others with that joy and help them see how Christ’s message can bring light where there is darkness and hope where there is despair.
As one scripture commentator put it:
“What God has done for Mary anticipates what God will do for the poor, the powerless and the oppressed of the world.” For we cannot pray the Magnificat without commitment to the liberating power of the Gospel. [from The Hospitality of God by Brendan Byrne]
Show by the witness of your life how the Gospel can bring hope and freedom to those who long for a better world, one where not only Christians, but all people can begin to see the blessings that can come about when we begin to live less for ourselves and more for our brothers and sisters. Give the people to whom you minister the clear message that we take from today’s Gospel passage that one day there will be a great reversal of fortunes, when the powerful will give way to the poor and meek. Work hard at relations with other Christian communions sharing the power of God’s word while remembering that our common Christian baptism is a real foundation for one day standing at one altar celebrating one Eucharist. Be open to those of the other great world religions and while never tiring of preaching the truth of Jesus Christ, join with them in praying to the one God who sustains us all.
For all of us who today join in this Mass of Thanksgiving to celebrate the ordination of Fr Ashan Joseph Peiris, may we continue to sing together with Mary:
“My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord, and my spirit exults in God my saviour.”