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From Archbishop Donoghue
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Jubilee Mass |
[See Georgia Bulletin account] Dear Friends in Christ, I think that the words we heave heard this morning from Acts, the words of St. Paul as he prepares to leave his friends and journey on towards Jerusalem, where he says "Keep watch over yourselves and over the whole flock," are among the most touching in the entire Bible, and I cannot think of a passage more suited to encompass the reasons why we are here today.. For this passage, more than anything else, speaks of a very special focus of love - a very special drawing down into real terms of that mysterious, eternal creative power that comes from the Father - and when we focus the power of love, when we study to see just how love looks, and how it fits into our human nature, and into the lives that live - then we see it most clearly in the care that we show for one another. This aspect of the Father's love, and how it is reflected in our own human actions - this is not something new to the Age of Christ. At the beginning of time, the Father fashioned in His creative mind the soul of the Virgin Mary, the glory of her line, who would bear the redeemer Jesus Christ. How great even so early on is the caring love of God the Father, as He looks ahead in time, as He steps into the processes of creation, and creates this great miracle so long beforehand - the miracle of the Virgin womb, and the power against evil that will issue from that spotless womb. And to preserve the line from which His own Son and our Lord would spring, time and time again, God the Father rescued the family of David the King - not always to their complete satisfaction, and not often to the glorious heights of David's own time, and the time of his son Solomon - but again and again, the Father cared enough to place his moving finger directly upon the pages of human history, to turn the tide of events in favor of prophecy, in favor of the Messiah, in favor of the Son of Heaven whom He was to send. And our Lord, throughout His life, spoke often and with untiring feeling about the love we must have for one another, and how it must mirror as closely as possible the love between the Father and the Son. When He gave the power of the priest to His Apostles, it was not so that they and their successors could manifest power - it was not so that they could grow rich or wise or content with themselves - but the power He gave them was the power of His own life, His own destiny - the power to care, to love, to cherish, to protect, and to give their entire lives to the Faithful, and to bring all who hope into the paths of eternal life. Dear friends, we celebrate the anniversaries of men who have been chosen, and who have decided to follow the path God has opened before them, a path where there is little rest, and where, day after day, people wait for them - people who have needs, sorrows, joyful expectations and unfulfilled hopes - and always, a hunger for spiritual healing and wholeness, a hunger for the mercy and for the grace of God. For these people, for the Faithful, there is no substitute for what we celebrate here today, the power of the priest to care and to love, with complete sincerity and with total trustworthiness. This skill of caring - it does not come ready-made with ordination - and it is not achieved over years of service without cost - for to live the life of the priest, and to live it successfully, one must pursue without rest, a faithful practice of the spiritual necessities - the Sacraments, the Prayer of the Church, and the Church's good works - and we all get tired, and from time to time, we all must take a moment, a day, a week or a year to recover. But what would life be like, if it were without hills and valleys - if it were without failure and recovery - if it were without the joy of finding again, the miraculous power by which God picks us up, and urges us on our way. God shows Himself best not in transcendent, immobile glory, but rather, as He reaches down, into real time, and draws us through Christ, into the happiness and peace for which we long Today we praise God for what He has made manifest in these servants of His, and we thank these servants for their fidelity - these men who many years ago, set out on the path of the priesthood, not knowing themselves where it might all lead, but trusting, as they would be trusted, to the guidance of the Holy Spirit - and opening their hearts, like Mary the Mother of all priests, to the Divine Will of God the Father. And though the praise on this day may belong to God, our affection belongs to our jubilarians, and goes out of our hearts to each one of them, for the unremitting care they have shown for the Church, and for the constancy with which they have lived the life of Christ's ordained priests. It is the life urged upon the Church by the Holy Spirit, then and now, and which we all hope to live as well as our jubilarians - a life summed up in St. Paul's moving words: You know well. . . that in every way. . . we must help the weak, and keep in mind the words of the Lord Jesus who himself said, "It is more blessed to give than to receive. + |