St. Patrick’s College, Maynooth
Saturday in 4th Week of Easter – 17th May 2014
Homily
My brothers and sisters in the Lord, as we approach the Feast of
Pentecost, I am reminded that the Gospel is like an intense flame that
cannot be quenched, one that consumes the mind, heart and soul of
those who love God. This fire of the good news has set your hearts
alight with a desire to seek Him above all other things. God’s call has
moved you to come to this place of priestly formation and has offered
you the gift of being able to reflect and discern so as to prepare for a
life of dedicated service and ministry among the People of God.
On this Saturday in the 4th Week of Easter, in the week following the
Sunday dedicated to vocations, we have gathered, like the assembly
of the disciples described in the reading from the Acts of the Apostles,
to hear the Word of God. For our part, we, like the Gentiles, are
grateful that the Word of God has been proclaimed to us and we
renew our spirit of gratitude for the work of the Apostles which
continues in the Church to this day. This spirit of gratitude is
essential to our lives, for if we cannot be grateful for each day and its
gifts, then how can we take on a life in which our daily offering, the
Eucharist, is the source of all thanksgiving?
We are aware as we pray, study and reflect that, in preparing for a life
of ministry, there are generations out there, in parishes and
communities, waiting to hear God’s Word, longing to receive the
sacraments, yearning to be encouraged and built up in their lives of
faith. Any of you who have been engaged in pastoral work, and I am
thinking in particular of the deacons, will testify that the people of this
country are hungry for the Gospel. Perhaps because of material
attractions, creeping secularism and other factors, a crust or a layer
has grown over the spiritual lives of our contemporaries. Some have
become hardened, even estranged from the Church. For others the
Gospel message has been eclipsed, resulting in the Church being seen
as merely another institution that once guided society.
However, time and time again, we find that, once you break through
and pierce that shell, you will discover that there is deep hunger
which only the Gospel can satisfy. Isn’t that what Saint Augustine
found in his own personal search for meaning? Perhaps you have felt
this in your own lives as a factor in your response to the calling to
priesthood. Now that you are aware of this, you can become more
effective ministers of the Word when you go forth to plant new seeds
of the Gospel in the souls of the men and women of this country.
The Gospel today calls us to have an intimate relationship with God
and to share the communion of the Father and the Son. The
Sacrament of Holy Orders asks that we be far more than
professionals, experts in parish administration, but rather that our
lives be distinguished by the deepest of all mysteries, namely that we
have come to know and love God. This communion spills over into
our lives and inspires us to have a radical joy which then becomes a
sign to the world of God’s bountiful love.
I said that there is a hunger in our world today. What are people
waiting to hear? Surely they are longing to hear those most
comforting of words which come from the lips of a priest, spoken by
a man who stands in the place of Christ, words like, “I baptise you in
the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit”, “I
absolve you from your sins”, “What God has joined together, man
must not separate”, “The Body of Christ”, “May the Lord who frees
you from your sins, save you and raise you up”, to name but a few.
However we should not think that it is merely the words of a priest
that they are longing to hear but also the comfort to know that there is
one who cares for their souls, a man who is set aside to nourish and
strengthen their faith, one who by his dedication becomes a pointer or
a sign to the heavenly kingdom. Our living witness is just as
important as the words we say, and for this reason it is worth
pondering the words of the Rite of Ordination which link the words
and actions of every priest. Those words are, “Believe what you read.
Teach what you believe. Practice what you teach.”
The life of a priest is a calling to express the truth of the good news in
a language that goes beyond words. Every time you genuflect before
celebrating Mass, you are reminded that this gesture is a sign of
abandonment to the love of God, a sign of unworthiness to be called
his friend, and a sign of total dependence on him. The Laying on of
Hands and prayer of Consecration, that apostolic gesture, links you
intimately to the ministry of the bishop, and through him to the
ministry of the first witnesses to Christ, his apostles. The stole you
will wear is a deep reminder that, just as in your baptism, you will
each ‘put on Christ’ and that the message you proclaim is not
yourselves, but Christ crucified and risen.
How can you prepare to satisfy the hunger of so many generations?
While you are studying, you must equip yourselves as best you can
with a deep knowledge of the faith and allow this to take root in your
hearts through prayer. The Gospel reminds us how powerful prayer is
and how it makes everything we do even more effective for the sake
of the Kingdom.
May Mary, the faithful disciple, accompany you at this time as you
discern your vocation. May she lead you to her Son so that you may
find in him your deepest fulfilment and the source of your joy. May
God who has begun the good work in you bring it to fulfilment.
Gerhard Ludwig Cardinal Müller