Priestly Ordinations
Feast of Sacred Heart of Jesus
Nen Dang, Robert Doohan, Joseph Gedeon, Joseph Guinea, Kim Ha and Andrew James
Ezekiel 34: 11-16, Rom. 5: 5-11, Lk. 15: 3-7.
St. Mary's Cathedral, Sydney
+ Cardinal George Pell, Archbishop of Sydney
11 Jun 2010
Today we celebrate the feast of the Sacred Heart, a much loved devotion stemming from the apparitions to St. Margaret Mary Alocoque around 1675, which emphasised the love of God given to each of us through his Son Jesus Christ, our Redeemer.
A parallel and contemporary devotion is Mercy Sunday, the devotion to Christ as the source of love and mercy popularized by the Polish St. Faustina.
Today concludes the Year of the Priest, a papal initiative which was well received at the grass roots level by the Catholic people, enabling them to express their gratitude for the leadership, prayer and service of their priests. Only a week or so ago I opened an exhibition of the best paintings of their priests from students in Catholic schools around Sydney. A wonderful initiative.
We thank God that we are able to finish this year of the priest on a good note with the ordination of six deacons to the priesthood. They are much needed and we thank God for this blessing, for the generosity of their responses in fidelity, and for the hard work and formation provided by the Good Shepherd Seminary staff, under the leadership of Bishop Julian Porteous, who unfortunately is not with us tonight.
He is actually in Rome leading a European pilgrimage of Sydney priests for the conclusion of this priestly year.
It is appropriate that this feast celebrating the love of God has two readings on the theme of the Good Shepherd. The first is from Ezekiel, the strangest of the prophets, ascribing that image to God himself, while Jesus develops the image even further, not merely emphasizing the good shepherd's concern that all the sheep are cared for, but explaining that good shepherds would leave the ninety nine sheep safe to go looking for the one that was lost.
For us the image of the Good Shepherd has been domesticated and glamourised. But in ancient times they had a bad image as rogues and stand-over men. A truly good shepherd, the conjunction of these two contrary attributes, caught the attention of people in traditional rural societies. It was not something sweet and sentimental, but a provocative thought.
Neither do we want sweet and sentimental priests. Certainly we do not want them to be hard-hearted and self-serving, but we need them to be leaders, strong, wise and compassionate; men who will regularly put themselves out, do the hard thing to help the people they serve. Sentimentalists cannot do this regularly, because they are ruled by emotion.
All the baptised are called to be like Christ who died for sinful men and women. As we are all reconciled to God by Christ's death, we should be filled with joyful trust in God. Despite the occasional, or even regular difficulty of our work, all priests should be examples of this trust and hope.
For these reasons priests need to be more than shepherds of their own flock, even of the significant number who have been lost. We need to remember another image the Lord used about his apostles. They were to be fishermen, trying to win newcomers to Christ, to bring new people to the fullness of Catholic faith.
It was Pope John Paul above all who called us to the New Evangelization, to redouble our efforts to preach the Good News outside the traditional communities. It is for this reason that seminarians each year are involved in parish missions, which reach out into the local communities.
The wounds of our so called permissive society are real and those suffering are often open to healing and teaching. We have new opportunities in this suffering and especially with the collapse of interdenominational Christian prejudice.
The young priests will never be able to accuse us of leaving them nothing to do! Even in the land-locked Sydney archdiocese huge increases of population are predicted in the next thirty or forty years. In our South-West alone in the next 15 years we shall need to build four new Catholic primary schools and two Catholic high schools. The Wollongong diocese will have to double that. We need young men to join us. I ask these here tonight contemplating priesthood to come aboard.
These young men will need wisdom and courage as well as faith, hope and love!
So I say to them now:
My brothers, you are now to be advanced to the order of the presbyterate. You must apply your energies to the duty of teaching in the name of Christ, the chief Teacher, you must pray daily for your people as you pray for yourself. Daily Mass, daily prayer of the Church, daily meditation, devotion to Our Lady are essential, part of your priestly work or duty. Share with all mankind the word of God you have received with joy. Meditate on the law of God, believe what you read, teach what you believe, and put into practice what you teach.
Let the doctrine you teach be true nourishment for the people of God. Let the example of your lives attract the followers of Christ, so that by word and action you may build up the house which is God's Church.
In the same way you must carry out your mission of sanctifying in the power of Christ. Your ministry will perfect the spiritual sacrifice of the faithful by uniting it to Christ's sacrifice, the sacrifice which is offered sacramentally through your hands. Know what you are doing and imitate the mystery you celebrate. In the memorial of the Lord's death and resurrection, make every effort to die to sin and to walk in the new life of Christ.
When you baptize, you will bring men and women into the people of God. In the sacrament of penance, you will forgive sins in the name of Christ and the Church. With holy oil you will relieve and console the sick. You will celebrate the liturgy and offer thanks and praise to God throughout the day, praying not only for the people of God but for the whole world.
Remember that you are chosen from among God's people and appointed to act for them in relation to God. Do your part in the work of Christ the Priest with genuine joy and love, and attend to the concerns of Christ before your own.
Finally, conscious of sharing in the work of Christ, the Head and Shepherd of the Church, and united with the bishop and subject to him, seek to bring the faithful together into a unified family and to lead them effectively, through Christ and in the Holy Spirit, to God the Father. Always remember the example of the Good Shepherd who came not to be served but to serve, and to seek out and rescue those who were lost.
May God and his love always be with you and may your family, friends and people always support you through prayer and loyal friendship.
In name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
