Fr Peter M. J. Stravinskas on the First Solemn Mass of a Newly Ordained Catholic Priest

I plead with you: Never fall prey to the utilitarian, the ephemeral, the trendy, the cheap or the ugly for the worship of Almighty God.

The work of a priest in - these perilous times- is what St. John Paul II would call - the new evangelization -  that is, preaching the Gospel in formerly Christian territories and cultures.  It is no accident that John Paul loved to confer the Sacrament of Holy Order on Trinity Sunday, precisely because the Gospel of the day has Jesus send His disciples forth on the mission of teaching and sanctifying in the name of the Triune God.  Truth be told, a - new - evangelization is much more difficult than a -first- evangelization because it involves speaking to a people who either think they know the truths of the Christian Faith or who have concluded that such truths do not exist or are at best irrelevant. 

WOOLITSCH, England (Catholic Online) - (This Homily was preached by the Reverend Peter M. J. Stravinskas, Ph.D., S.T.D., at the First Solemn Mass of the Reverend James Cadman at the Church of St. Peter in Woolitsch (England), on 1 June 2015, the liturgical memorial of St. Justin Martyr).

Laudetur Iesus Christus.  Praised be Jesus Christ.
   
It is a great joy and honor to preach on this grace-filled occasion.  Aware of George Bernard Shaw's assertion that America and England are two countries separated by a common language, the ever-considerate James has arranged for a simultaneous translation to be offered during this homily.
   
It might seem that the Beatles had yesterday and today in mind when they sang of "the long and winding road that leads to your door."  Frankly, I thought I had a "long and winding road" ad altare Dei, but fifteen years?  I tip my biretta to you, my friend!  It is clear the Devil certainly did everything possible to keep yesterday from happening.
   
But since the new priest is not the center of attraction at a First Mass (I hope that's not news to you, Father James!), it might be useful to use the experience of our new priest to reflect on the paths of Providence, along with the concomitant virtue of perseverance.
   
Our James was born on January 18, the first day of the Chair of Unity Octave and formerly the feast of the Chair of St. Peter, growing up in a devout Christian home.  He attended a secondary school under the patronage of St. John Fisher and was captivated by his first experience of Eucharistic adoration, while still a Protestant.  No surprise, then, that some years later, he would begin his journey toward the Sacred Priesthood with the Blessed Sacrament Fathers. 

The truth claims of Catholicism had such an effect on him that at the age of sixteen, he came into full communion with the Catholic Church within the Christian Unity Octave at St. Mary's Church - the site of yesterday's ordination liturgy.  This Solemn Mass of Thanksgiving takes place in the Church of St. Peter, with a Peter preaching. 

There are also many interesting intersections between the life of our principal celebrant and Blessed John Henry Cardinal Newman: Both had teenage intuitions of saving truth; both studied for the priesthood in Rome; both were ordained priests on the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity.  The convergences probably end there as I don't think any of us expects this priest to serve as an Oxford don.
   
Seriously, though, can you see how the Hand of Providence has been guiding this man all along, even when the path appeared dark, tortuous and unending?  Under the mantle of Our Lady and sub umbra Petri (in the shadow of Peter), sustained by the Food for the journey, which is the Most Holy Eucharist, the undaunted James saw with the eyes of faith that God's call was real, despite the clerical pettiness and envy that so often blocked his forward movement. 

And God, Who is Fidelity Personified, rewarded his perseverance by bringing together the undaunted candidate and an understanding, compassionate and - yes - insightful prelate in the person of Bishop Precioso Cantillas.  Thank you, Your Excellency, for being God's instrument of grace.
   
What are some object lessons for all of us in this story?
   
All of us face obstacles to living a fully human and Christian life - whether in our professions, in marriage, in the consecrated life, in the priesthood, but perseverance is a sign of conviction and equally a sign of love. Pope John Paul II reminded seminarians in Philadelphia in 1979:

"Remember that in the final analysis perseverance in fidelity is a proof, not of human strength and courage, but of the efficacy of Christ's grace."
(Address at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary, Philadelphia, 3 October 1979). 
   
Secondly, we must never succumb to despair, no matter how dark the prospects, no matter how strong the assaults from the powers of evil, no matter how weak our own personal dispositions and inclinations, realizing with St. Paul that "the gifts and the call of God are irrevocable" (Rom 11:29).
   
Thirdly, our confidence in the face of setbacks should always be buoyed up by that most consoling doctrine of the communion of saints, highlighted so beautifully and poetically in the Epistle to the Hebrews: "We are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses" (12:1). 

The Blessed Mother, St. Peter, the English martyrs, and Cardinal Newman provided the invisible but sustaining support for our new priest.  The saints stand ready to do the same for every one of us.
   
And now a few words for this new priest of ours. 

I have performed this task for about fifteen newly-ordaineds over the years, but this priest suggested that I warn you that if you hear themes and phrases that sound familiar, you should know that it's not because I am plagiarizing material from him but that he has been quoting me over the years - without citation at times, I suspect.  At any rate, now listen up, dear Father.  As an old coffee commercial used to put it: "Stop, pilgrim, your search is ended."  

Today begins the work for which you were consecrated yesterday.
   
Preaching at the opening of St. Bernard's Seminary in Olton in 1873, six years before becoming a cardinal, Blessed John Henry Newman spoke of that present moment as "these perilous times."  He explained to the seminarians why he used such dire language:

"I know that all times are perilous, and that in every time serious and anxious minds, alive to the honour of God and the needs of man, are apt to consider no times so perilous as their own. At all times the enemy of souls assaults with fury the Church which is their true Mother, and at least threatens and frightens when he fails in doing mischief. And all times have their special trials which others have not."

"And so far I will admit that there were certain specific dangers to Christians at certain other times, which do not exist in this time. Doubtless, but still admitting this, still I think that the trials which lie before us are such as would appal and make dizzy even such courageous hearts as St. Athanasius, St. Gregory I, or St. Gregory VII. And they would confess that dark as the prospect of their own day was to them severally, ours has a darkness different in kind from any that has been before it."

And what made for such a perilous situation? 

Newman explained:

"The special peril of the time before us is the spread of that plague of infidelity, that the Apostles and our Lord Himself have predicted as the worst calamity of the last times of the Church. And at least a shadow, a typical image of the last times is coming over the world. I do not mean to presume to say that this is the last time, but that it has had the evil prerogative of being like that more terrible season, when it is said that the elect themselves will be in danger of falling away."

"This applies to all Christians in the world, but it concerns me at this moment, speaking to you, my dear Brethren, who are being educated for our own priesthood, to see how it is likely to be fulfilled in this country."

And finally, in the spirit of "forewarned is forearmed," the ever-prescient Newman issued a clarion call to vigilance to those future priests:

"My Brethren, you are coming into a world, if present appearances do not deceive, such as priests never came into before, that is, so far forth as you do go into it, so far as you go beyond your flocks, and so far as those flocks may be in great danger as under the influence of the prevailing epidemic."

No doubt, many ecclesiastics at that event must have thought: "What's the old gent's problem?  Why put such a damper on this grand celebration?"  Well, consider what the American convert-author Walker Percy said to seminarians in Louisiana 110 years later:

"Never in history has modern man been in greater need of you. never has there been such loneliness in the midst of crowds, never such hunger in the face of satiation. Never has there been a more fertile ground for the seed and the harvest the Lord spoke of."

"All that is needed is a bearer of the Good News who speaks it with such authenticity that it can penetrate the most exhausted hearing, revive the most jaded language. With you lies the future and the hope. You and the Church you serve may be only a remnant, but it will be a saving remnant."   
   
What are Newman and Percy alike suggesting? 

That the work of a priest in "these perilous times" is what St. John Paul II would call "the new evangelization," that is, preaching the Gospel in formerly Christian territories and cultures.  It is no accident that John Paul loved to confer the Sacrament of Holy Order on Trinity Sunday, precisely because the Gospel of the day has Jesus send His disciples forth on the mission of teaching and sanctifying in the name of the Triune God. 
   
Truth be told, a "new" evangelization" is much more difficult than a "first" evangelization because it involves speaking to a people who either think they know the truths of the Christian Faith or who have concluded that such truths do not exist or are at best irrelevant. 

Therefore, as Pope Benedict XVI repeatedly pointed out, there is need for a new apologetics:

"In a society that rightly values personal liberty, the Church needs to promote at every level of her teaching - in catechesis, preaching, seminary and university instruction - an apologetics aimed at affirming the truth of Christian Revelation, the harmony of faith and reason, and a sound understanding of freedom, seen in positive terms as a liberation both from the limitations of sin and for an authentic and fulfilling life".
(Conversation with the bishops of the United States in Washington, D.C., 16 April 2008).

Celebrating your First Mass on the liturgical memorial of St. Justin should provide you with a powerful patron for such a ministry.  That Father of the Church was singled out by the convert Jesuit and eventual Cardinal Avery Dulles in his seminal work, A History of Apologetics. 

Like Justin, you will need to point to the logoi spermatikoi - the seeds of the Word - which exist in our very secular world, leading people to realize the exhilarating truth highlighted by Pope Benedict in his inaugural homily. 

Harking back to John Paul II's inaugural homily, Benedict asked: "If we let Christ enter fully into our lives, if we open ourselves totally to him, are we not afraid that He might take something away from us? Are we not perhaps afraid to give up something significant, something unique, something that makes life so beautiful? Do we not then risk ending up diminished and deprived of our freedom?" 

Benedict then repeated the words of his sainted predecessor:

"If we let Christ into our lives, we lose nothing, nothing, absolutely nothing of what makes life free, beautiful and great. No! Only in this friendship are the doors of life opened wide. Only in this friendship is the great potential of human existence truly revealed. Only in this friendship do we experience beauty and liberation."

"And so, today, with great strength and great conviction, on the basis of long personal experience of life, I say to you, dear young people: Do not be afraid of Christ! He takes nothing away, and he gives you everything. When we give ourselves to him, we receive a hundredfold in return. Yes, open, open wide the doors to Christ - and you will find true life."(April xxx, 20xx)
   
Yes, it will be the particular responsibility of your generation of priests to help genuine seekers discover the shallowness of contemporary offers and the profundity of Christ's offers.  That will need to be done through a keen apprehension of human nature and through a clear and engaging presentation of Catholic faith and morals. 

That winning smile of yours will be a good first step (if the priesthood hadn't materialized, you would have been a most effective used car salesman!), and joy must surely characterize our witness as the title of Pope Benedict's collection of priesthood homilies emphasized: Ministers of Your Joy. 
   
That first step, however, will need to be followed up by a thorough catechesis which likewise appeals to one's intellect - an essential element in any act of faith.  Therefore, please do not presume that when you return to Rome next week to take your final examinations, that your theological education is over. 

I once worked for a priest who proudly proclaimed at the rectory dinner table, "I haven't read a book of theology since the day I was ordained!"  One of the brethren promptly replied, "Actually, Larry, you never read a theology book before you were ordained!"  Let your motto be: Sit finis libri sed non quaerendi (May this be the end of the book but not the end of seeking).
   
Along with your naturally joyful disposition, you have been gifted with a spirit of holy zeal.  Indeed, Our Lord's words fall just as easily from your lips as from His: "Zeal for thy house will consume me" (Jn 2:17).  As one workaholic to another, let me share with you the message I received in a greeting card for my fortieth birthday: "Better to burn out early than to rust out late." 

All too often, I am ashamed to say, all too many priests exhibit a less-than-enthusiastic approach to priestly life and ministry, content with doing the minimum and settling for mediocrity.  Christ and His Church deserve and need nothing but our "all," provided with verve.  And when Christ's sacred ministers operate in that manner, it is contagious for the lay faithful, who are then encouraged to be salt and light in the workplace, in the worlds of culture, politics, education and the arts.
   
The good Lord has given us priests yet another tool of evangelization - clerical garb. 

You have traveled the world and always done so identifiably and proudly as a cleric of Holy Church.  In the past couple of years, we have heard a lot about "going out to the peripheries."  You have done that and brought Christ with you by your very visible public witness in the peripheries of airports, train stations, concerts, grocery stores, restaurants and parks. 

Keep on being that silent witness to the Transcendent and, taking up the challenge of the First Epistle of Peter, "Always be prepared to make a defense to any one who calls you to account for the hope that is in you" (3:15).
   
Ah, one more gift Christ has given us priests with which to evangelize: our consecrated celibacy. 

With increasing frequency, I find myself sitting next to someone on a plane, only to be asked, "Are you a Catholic priest?"  And, in quick succession, "What do you think of celibacy?"  You see, in a sex-saturated society like ours, celibacy is a veritable "talking point." 

So many moderns can't imagine life without sex.  Of course, one of the difficulties is encapsulated in the aphorism: "The Victorians tried to fall in love without falling into sex; modern men hope to fall into sex without falling into love!" 

Encountering a normal, healthy priest does wonders for opening up a conversation on what truly matters in life.  Our chaste lifestyle should also be a support for Catholics who are challenged with divorce and remarriage, with same-sex attraction, with temptations to fornication and adultery as they are led to apprehend that the Church is asking them to do no more than we priests do.  As St. Paul asserted, "I can do all things in him who strengthens me" (Ph 4:13).
   
Finally, the preeminent work of evangelization is the offering of the Eucharistic Sacrifice. 

If a priest did nothing more than celebrate a reverent Holy Mass but once, his whole life would have been worthwhile.  Because of the centrality of the Mass, it must be celebrated with dignity and beauty.   Just a few weeks ago, the Prime Minister of the very secular France made an astonishing comment.  Manuel Valls said: "The faithful of the Catholic religion must be able to worship, go to Mass in perfect serenity.  Moreover, it is the most beautiful and strongest of the answers we need to terrorism." 

The beauty of Catholic worship, he says, is the ultimate antidote to terrorism.  No Pope could have said it better.
   
Hans Urs von Balthasar, the pre-eminent theologian of beauty observed:

"Beauty is the last thing which the thinking intellect dares to approach . . . Our situation today shows that beauty demands for itself at least as much courage and decision as do truth and goodness, and she will not allow herself to be separated and banned from her two sisters without taking them along with herself in an act of mysterious vengeance.  We can be sure that whoever sneers at her name as if she were the ornament of a bourgeois past - whether he admits it or not -  can no longer pray and soon will no longer be able to love."
(Hans Urs Balthasar, The Glory of the Lord (San Francisco:  Ignatius Press, 1984 ), Volume I, 18).
   
In our time, it is beauty that has been banished from so many sanctuaries by people who have forgotten or rejected the insight of Dostoevsky: "It is beauty that will save the world."  Your liturgies of yesterday and today demonstrate that you know the value and force of beauty.  And so, I plead with you: Never fall prey to the utilitarian, the ephemeral, the trendy, the cheap or the ugly for the worship of Almighty God. 

While the Second Vatican Council surely called for what is simple, then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was certainly correct in reminding us, "but that is not the same as being cheap."
(Feast of Faith: Approaches to a Theology of the Liturgy (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1986), 122). 

Similarly, the still-Anglican Newman asked, ". . . what will the devotion of the country people be, if we strip religion of its external symbols, and bid them seek out and gaze upon the Invisible?" (P. S. II 74 (1 January 1831). 

Or again in the same sermon: "Rites which the Church has appointed, and with reason - for the Church's authority is from Christ, - being long used, cannot be disused without harm to souls."     

As you go about this work of the new evangelization in what Cardinal Newman called "these perilous times," dear Father, know in advance that this project will not always go smoothly.  Indeed, not infrequently, a first evangelization is easier because minds are more open and hearts less hardened. 

So, while we rejoice in the witness of St. Justin the apologist, let us not forget that he is generally spoken of as "Justin Martyr"! 

We get fore-shadowings of this phenomenon throughout salvation history.  In today's First Reading, Tobit faces death simply for performing a corporal work of mercy like burying the dead; in the Gospel, we encounter those who kill the son merely because he is faithful to the father.  So, it won't be a cake-walk, but it will be the only walk possible if you are to experience meaning and fulfillment in your priestly ministry. 

That said, also know that there is joy in the struggle.  And, just as importantly, one must never forget the sage observation of Blessed Mother Teresa: "God does not call us to be successful, only faithful."
   
Were yesterday not a Sunday, we would have celebrated the Feast of the Visitation of Our Lady.  Always see yourself as part of Mary's "dowry," which you are in an even more excellent way as a result of being sacramentally configured to her Son, our great High Priest. 

Go back every day in your mind's eye to that paradigmatic event of the Visitation and emulate the example of our Blessed Mother: Once she conceived the Lord in her spotless womb, she went "with haste" (St. Luke tells us [1:39]) to engage in the work of evangelization and charity.  Caritas Christi urget nos (The love of Christ impels us). 

Have recourse to her maternal intercession, confident that she who brought you to this altar today will guide your steps to the altar in her Son's heavenly Kingdom - and join her daily in her canticle of praise, exclaiming: "He who is mighty has done great things for me."
   
In a few short minutes, Father James, in this Mass of Thanksgiving, you will say for the first time, "Gratias agamus Domino Deo nostro" (Let us give thanks to the Lord our God), and the People of God will respond, "Dignum et iustum est" (It is right and just).  "Vere dignum et iustum est" (It is truly right and just).
   
Amen.
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Rev. Peter M. J. Stravinskas, Ph.D., S.T.D. is the Executive Director of the Catholic Education Foundation. The mission of  The Catholic Education Foundation is to serve as a forum through which teachers, administrators and all others interested in Catholic education can share ideas and practices, as well as to highlight successful programs and initiatives to bring about a recovery of Catholic education in our times.The Catholic Education Foundation, Inc. is a 501(c)3 national non-profit organization formed to ensure a brighter future for Catholic education in the United States.              

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