CONGREGATIO PRO CLERICIS

 

 

Universalis Presbyterorum Conventus

"Priests, formator of saints

for the new millennium"

in the shadow of the apostle Paul

 

 

 

 

Cormack Card. Murphy O’Connor, Archbishop of Westminster

Homily

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Malta

21th october 2004

 

 

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I feel very privileged to be speaking to you today about a subject so precious to all of us, namely the priesthood of Jesus Christ. Just after the end of the second Vatican Council, I was appointed as Secretary to a Bishop in the South of England. He had been in Rome during those eventful years, and when he returned he was full of enthusiasm about the fruits of the Council.

In particular, he preached and spoke about the new and significant role of the laity, which resulted from their baptism in Jesus Christ. He also spoke about the clearer understanding of the role of the bishop, which the Vatican Council had dealt with in great theological depth. And I remember saying to the Bishop "But what about me? What about the priest? What is his role? What is his identity?" I remember reading the document on the priesthood, Presbyterorum ordinis, for the first time with and being a little disappointed.

It seems to me that in the years immediately following the Council there was a certain confusion. Our priesthood was explored from one of two perspectives. One might be called 'Priesthood from below' and the other 'Priesthood from above'. In the first of these, the Council speaks of the Priesthood of all believers. In the document Lumen Gentium one sees that "Although the ministerial priesthood and the priesthood of all believers differ essentially and not only in degree, the priesthood of the faithful and the ministerial or hierarchical priesthood are nonetheless ordered to one another". (Lumen Gentium) This aspect of priesthood is explored in terms of service for the community as growing out of the community, as having meaning only in relationship to the community.

The other major exploration in Lumen Gentium is on the Church as hierarchy. To see the focus here I need only tell you that of the twelve paragraphs in chapter 2 of the document, ten are on bishops, one on priests and one on deacons. So priesthood was looked at in terms of relationship to the bishop. There are beautiful things said in this chapter on bishops. "The Bishop invested with the fullness of the Sacraments of Orders is the steward of the grace of the supreme priesthood." The priest is described as a sharer in the priesthood of the bishop; he belongs to the 'Second order', whilst the Bishop is said to have the fullness of pontifical office.

Therefore, in Lumen Gentium the identity of the priest seems to be explored on the one hand in terms of the priesthood of everyone, and on the other in terms of sharing in the priesthood of the bishop who has been given his office by Christ. One leads to an image of priesthood from below, namely from the community.

The other to a priesthood as it were from above, handed down, as a bestowal of power. It seems to me then that following the Council the identity of the priest was left hanging somewhere in the middle.

Years ago I went on a holiday to Ireland with a priest friend. We came to a village, and in the middle of the village there was a square and two small hotels. There was a man sitting on the side of the road with a pipe in his mouth and I went up to him and said "We are strangers here. We would like some lunch. There are two hotels. Could you recommend one of them." He took the pipe out of his mouth and said "Well, it is like this - if you choose the one you wish you would have chosen the other". It wasn't much help. And sometimes priesthood is felt a little bit like that.

Pope John Paul in Pastores Dabo Vobis bears witness to this post Vatican II confusion in terms of priestly identity. "The correct and in depth awareness of the nature and mission of the ministerial priesthood is the path which must be taken in order to emerge from the crisis of priestly identity. This crisis arose in the years immediately following the Council. It is as though the 1990 Synod rediscovered the full depth of priestly identity."

Pope John Paul recognised the crisis, and overcomes it through his teaching in which he roots priestly identity again in a theology of the Trinity and the Cross, and where he reminds the Church once more of the priest's configuration to Jesus Christ, the High Priest.

In the reading today, we hear the words in the letter to the Hebrews "But now Christ has come as the High Priest of all the blessings which were to come.

How much more effectively the blood of Christ who offered Himself as the

perfect sacrifice to God, through the eternal Spirit, can purify our inner self from dead actions, so that we do our service to the living God". The Catholic Church has always taught that 2000 years ago, the Son of God, Jesus Christ became flesh. He revealed to us the mystery of God's life as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. He died on the cross for our sins and rose again and lives with us teaching and shepherding until the end of time.

Jesus claimed that He would be with us until the end of time, and through our ordination, through the ordination of priests, we are configured to Him, in His life in a very particular way. While the whole people of God, by virtue of baptism share in the priesthood of Christ, the ordained ministry of priest is a unique and particular gift to his Church. The essence of that gift we celebrate in the mystery of the Holy Eucharist. Jesus says "I am the living bread which has come down from heaven. Anyone who eats this bread will live for ever, and the bread that I shall give is my flesh for the life of the world."

Who is to give the bread of life to the people of God and to the world, but he who has been ordained to do that task. It is Jesus' Word, it is Jesus' sacrifice, it is Jesus' life that is presented and given to the people of God to nourish them. What an extraordinary privilege and identity for the priest. He preaches that Word that nourishes the people of God. He presides at the Holy Eucharist, the Sacrifice and the Sacrament of Jesus offered for us on the cross, that offering and sacrifice represented, re-focused for us in the mystery of the Mass.

My dear fellow priests, never doubt the dignity of your priesthood. Never doubt the privilege and gift that has been given to you by the laying on of hands, and by the gift of the Holy Spirit.

I am always moved on the feast of St. Gregory when I read in the Office of Readings how Gregory reflects on his ministry. St. Gregory says that anyone who is a priest, a watchman or a bishop, should live a life on the heights so that he can have a wide survey. And he goes on about his weaknesses, and his distractions, conscious of how weak he is. And he ends with this wonderful passage "Who am I - what kind of a watchman am I? I do not stand on the pinnacle of achievement. I languish rather in the depths of my weakness. And yet the creator and redeemer of mankind can give me, unworthy though I be, the grace to see life whole and the power to speak effectively of it. It is for love of him that I do not spare myself in preaching him"

I think that is a marvellous description of who we are. The way in which as priests we are able to see life whole. It is what enables us to give ourselves totally in preaching Christ's truth and endeavouring to live it.

Dear friends, these are not easy times to be a priest. But there never was an easy time to be given our solemn responsibility. To bring good news to the poor. To bind up hearts that are broken. To proclaim liberty to captives. Freedom to those in prison. To comfort all who mourn. To preach the good news. And the challenges that face us today are very great. I believe that we should never, never be discouraged and always understand our identity as configured to Jesus who is the exemplar for all of us. He saw the sufferings and trials of his life as part of his vocation as Son of the Father, Redeemer of the world.

There are two particular thoughts that I would like to leave with you. In Lent this year I went on retreat. And at the monastery where I stayed there was a plaque with the image of an owl on it, and underneath there was a saying "An owl was perched on an oak tree. The more he was silent, the more he knew, the more he knew the more he was silent". The message to me was "Do not neglect your spiritual life". Let us not neglect that time of prayer when we stay silent before the word of God and listen. It is impossible for us priests to speak about God, about Jesus, unless we are in communion with Him. Unless we listen to Him.

Unless we speak out of our hearts, our own faith, our own life, our own experience of Him. Do not forget that the whole of your life is in a real sense your spiritual life. The word of God, the liturgy, especially the Mass, the building up of your community, your parish, your service to people are all part of your discipleship. This is the particular way in which the spirituality of the priest is lived. It is a spirituality and identity involving the dedication of our whole life, with all its variety, in all its sorrows and joys. The Lord has promised us 'you will have your reward'.

The second point I want to leave with you is that of St. Paul when speaking to the Ephesians, and also in his letter to Timothy, when he says in so many words 'Look after yourself. So I want to say to you all today 'Look after yourselves'. I am not thinking so much about food or house or clothing or even rest and recreation. I want you to make your priestly home a home that speaks of life. Have meals occasionally that are convivial with fellow priests or friends. Have healthy interests, whether it is music or art or books or sport or whatever. We are called to live a human life, because the priest evangelises by the human person that he is, not just by the words and actions that he performs. It seems that that is what it is to be an alter-Christus, another Christ, and to live a ministry in persona Christi Capitas. We do so not so much by what we say and do, but in virtue of who we are.

So I would like to thank you all for all that you do in your life as shepherds, as priests of Jesus Christ. Do not be afraid of the times in which we live. The Lord is with us. We are there to commend new initiatives, encourage them, share them with others. After all, are we not witnesses to someone whose life ended in dying on the cross and who rose to new life. I want your priesthood to be full of eagerness and joy and hope in the Holy Spirit. And I think it can be if we open ourselves to God, if we pray, if we share ourselves as human beings with our people, if we care for the sick and those who are specially in need of our shepherding.

Never doubt the gift of God in your priesthood. For we are close and minister the bread of life who is Jesus Christ. "This is the bread come down from heaven. Not like the bread our ancestors ate, they are dead, but anyone who eats this bread will live for ever".