Tuesday of the Fourteenth Week of Ordinary Time: The Twenty-fifth Anniversary of The Priestly Ordination of Bishop Michael Olson

Photo by Juan Guajardo / NTC

July 9, 2019
Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton’s Catholic Church
Keller, Texas

Genesis 32:23-33
Psalm 17
2 Corinthians 11:18-30
Matthew 9:32-38

As I look around this church this evening and see so many people whom I’ve baptized, confirmed, received their wedding vows, anointed and absolved, and ordained, my heart is filled with joy and I realize that thanksgiving brings us together this evening for two reasons.

First, thanksgiving is always the reason for our coming together for the celebration and sacrifice of the Mass because the very name “Eucharist” means “thanksgiving” and it is the only fitting way that we can offer God true worship and thanks for the gift of His Son.

Secondly, the occasion that brings us together is for us to share gratitude and to express thanks for the gift of 25 years of priestly life and ministry granted to me by Christ. As always, the readings that the Church offers us in celebrating the liturgy help us to enter more deeply into these mysteries.

Our first reading from Genesis requires a little context for understanding. It begins with Jacob having sent his wives, children, and belongings ahead of himself to the place where he is going to meet up with his brother Esau. Jacob is unsure of how that meeting with Esau is going to turn out because he had tricked Esau out of the blessing of their father, Isaac.

Esau and Jacob are twins. Esau is born first so that means that the customary rights of inheritance belong to him even though Jacob is born closely behind Esau, grabbing at Esau’s heel. Their father, Isaac is blind in old age. One day, Esau is hungry, and Jacob takes advantage of Esau’s immediate hunger by bartering with him for Isaac’s blessing and inheritance in exchange for a bowl of stew. Esau agrees to the trade and loans Jacob his cloak so that he can fool their father into thinking that Jacob is Esau.

Isaac is blind and biased towards Esau who is clearly his favorite. Esau is Isaac’s favorite. Esau is entertaining and interesting. Jacob is not. In fact, Jacob is a little pushy and grabby. Yet, when Isaac mistakenly blesses Jacob, the blessing is efficacious. To use a more colloquial expression from our own religious tradition, “it counts for Sunday.” It’s a real blessing and the blessing of the birthright has been given to Jacob even though he has grabbed it, in part, through his own manipulation and quick-thinking.

In Isaac, we see a blindness born of a biased system detached from discernment of God’s will. In Esau, we see entitlement endorsed by a biased system detached from discernment of God’s will. In Jacob, we see envy and self-promotion born of the resentment of a biased system detached from discernment of God’s will.

Esau’s entitlement prompts him to squander what is in fact not his to give away in the first place — the blessing of his father that is in fact a grace of God given through Isaac for the sake of the salvation of the world from sin. Jacob’s envy drives him to squander his own identity and integrity to grab the blessing of his father by pretending to be someone he is not. These are the people through whom God has chosen to bring about His plan of salvation.

In my own life as a priest, having entered seminary some 39 years ago, I can tell you that these approaches of Isaac, of Esau, and of Jacob are sadly not uncommon temptations in the formation of priests and seminarians; very human temptations that have brought about much misery for us today. The approach of Isaac: rely on the bias of the system as automated through indirect discourse and reduce formation to blind and passive compliance to a protocol and a matter of wardrobe. The approach of Esau: to recast a vocation as being a piece of apparel that can be worn as reversible or exchanged for another gift at one’s short-sighted convenience. The approach of Jacob: pretend to be someone you’re not through vesture to appease the bias of the system in order to grab the blessing of ordination.

These approaches are temptations born of fear that are steeped in an atmosphere where God, manifested in His truth, is ignored. These also are the people through whom God’s Son has chosen to continue bringing about His plan of salvation.

Truth follows Jacob everywhere he goes until he comes to the place depicted in our first reading this evening. Jacob finds himself in the dark. The truth pounces upon him and initiates a struggle with Jacob and a grappling contest ensues. The struggling continues within the darkness until the break of daylight, when Jacob is wounded and weakened. Jacob seeks a blessing from his opponent at the end of the contest. This time Jacob identifies himself honestly by his own name in order to receive the blessing — a blessing offered at the initiative of God — not a prize of Jacob’s grabbing as was the blessing that he received from Isaac. Jacob has come to the splendor of the truth.

God gives Jacob the new name of Israel which means “having contended with God.” Jacob, now called Israel, becomes the father of God’s chosen people. This is just as a priest is blessed and ordained to be a father of the People of God and to lead them through contending with the truth in the hard-fought grace of conversion and reconciliation with God. Jacob’s call and blessing from God is much like the life and ministry of the priesthood — a grace that is not earned but rather placed within a struggle, and a “contending with God” in a contest of discernment and formation begun at God’s initiative not our own.

My 25 years of priestly life have involved many struggles and many graces offered by God within these struggles. Priesthood is not for the faint of heart. Many of you who have known me throughout these 25 years know that I seldom have enjoyed the birthright status of Esau in the paternal hearts of some superiors who at times have seemed to me to be abundantly blessed with Isaac’s vision. Yet, God has so blessed me by offering so many of His graces through their generosity and in the struggles with the truth — the truth about myself, the truth about the priesthood, the truth about the Church, and the truth that is fully and gloriously revealed to us in Christ Himself — that God loves us unconditionally and goes to any length to save us. For these graces and their struggles I thank God and those through whom He offered them to me, that I might never forget that they are a gift, and if I should do so, that He might compassionately remind me.

Photo by Ben Torres / NTC

The Greek word for truth is aletheia, its literal meaning is not forgetting. Many have helped me not to forget that the truth about priesthood does not involve the shortsighted passivity and vesture of Esau, but the gritty and receptive perseverance of Jacob who receives his vocation to be Israel through contending with the truth. I have found this to be true throughout these past 25 years of priestly life and ministry. The Lord continues to not let me forget this lesson through you, the members of the Church, who remind me of God’s unconditional love for which we each of us are grateful.

Aletheia. Not forgetting. This means we cannot hide. We cannot hide from the awful fact and summons of the Cross. It also means that we cannot hide from the glory and the promise of the Resurrection.

The Gospel speaks of Christ’s heart being moved by compassion for the people because they were like sheep without a shepherd. Sheep without a shepherd do not live long and can only survive for a very short period. Sheep without a shepherd are easily manipulated and prone to various dangers. It is easy to survive by convenient narratives and false pretenses, but only for a short time.

Christ the Good Shepherd leads us into the pastures of the truth, verdant with justice and mercy. It is the life of a priest, including my own, ordained unworthily into the image and likeness of Christ the Good Shepherd that requires the entire gift and transformation of self so that the priest’s life not become the proclamation of himself. We priests can only do this through the grace received in the struggle that prompts us to boast of nothing but our weakness. Weakness is the place where Christ gives us this grace, as Saint Paul exemplifies in our second reading today. Weakness is the place where we don’t forget, as Jacob didn’t forget.

I conclude gratefully with a story about one of those people through whom God has not let me forget the truth of the grace of weakness in priestly ministry. Some of you might remember him, Father Baltazar Szarka, “Father B,” who served for many years as the pastor of Saint Francis of Assisi parish in Grapevine.

He was born and raised in Hungary, entered a Cistercian monastery there, was ordained a priest there, survived the Second World War and then was assigned to live in France for further theological studies. While in France, the Communists took over Hungary and shut down the monastery and dispersed and imprisoned the monks. His abbot was able to send word to Father B not to try to return but to find a monastery elsewhere. Providence brought Father B to Texas and to Grapevine where he was assigned temporarily as the pastor of Saint Francis of Assisi parish in 1959 by Bishop Gorman — a temporary assignment in which he served for over 35 years until the mid-1990’s. He was a frequent confessor of mine and of many others. He would consistently give the compassionate penance of praying one Memorare as composed by Saint Bernard, “Remember, Oh Most Gracious Virgin Mary…”

Father B retired from his pastorate and went to live in the Cistercian monastery in Irving after he began to show signs of dementia and when he began not to remember things. Many parishioners would still go to the monastery to see Father B and to consult with him about their problems and to seek his pastoral care. He would listen and counsel them to pray the Memorare as composed by St. Bernard, “Remember, Oh Most Gracious Virgin Mary…”

His health soon worsened to the point where he could no longer receive appropriate care and attention in the monastery and it was required that he live in a full-time care facility with daily visits from the monks and from his former parishioners.

His abbot later shared with me that when he accompanied Father B to the facility and they entered it, they encountered in the hallway a woman who was suffering from dementia and was calling out for help. Father B turned to the abbot and asked, “what is this place?” The abbot told him that it was his new priestly assignment. With that being said, Father B went up to the woman and encouraged her not to be afraid and began to pray the Memorare as composed by St. Bernard, “Remember, Oh Most Gracious Virgin Mary…”

The Greek word for Truth is aletheia. It means not to forget. As priests, we have nothing to boast in but our weakness. It is in that weakness that we receive the grace of not forgetting that our vocation is a gift to live at the hand of God — who is not so much the truth which we grab and cling to as much as the Truth that holds us and uses us as instruments for the salvation of souls. He is the truth that does not forget us even more than He is the truth that we don’t forget.

I join with you, especially my brother priests, at the altar in thanking God for our shared vocation that is an unearned grace offered to us in our struggle not to forget. I renew my efforts with each and all of you in gratefully responding to this grace, the grace that is wrapped in the struggle with the truth so clearly needed today in the darkness of our culture that prefers the squandering of the complacent entitlement of Esau to the graced, gradual, and hard-fought conversion of Jacob. Finally, as we thank God in the sacrifice of this Mass, in the way that He desires to be thanked, let’s boast together only in our weakness that is made manifest in our contending with God on behalf of His people in a contest that God started through calling us to serve Him as His priests.

Homily for Priestly Ordination of Fr. Jonathan Demma and Fr. Maurice Moon

May 19, 2018
St. Patrick’s Cathedral
Fort Worth, Texas

Exodus 33:7-23
Psalm 89: 21-22; 25-27
Philippians 3:3b-14
Mark 3:13-19

Hoy en su ordenación al sacerdocio, ustedes son llamados de nuevo por nombre. En su ordenación al sacerdocio, Cristo les llama amigos y ustedes ven Su cara en la manera de la cara de un amigo. Son llamados para estar con El y son enviados a profetizar a Su pueblo por medio de predicar, enseñar y ejemplificar La Verdad entera de Su Evangelio.

El carácter profético de su vocación sacerdotal se nutre por el tiempo que ustedes pasan con Cristo en oración así como pasan con un amigo. El Pueblo de Dios, los cuales son hechos la Iglesia por medio de la celebración de la Eucaristía, depende sobre su tiempo pasado hablando con Cristo así como hablan con un amigo.

Para lograr Sus deseos para todo Su Pueblo, en llamarlos por nombre y llamarlos Sus amigos, les ofrece más en su ordenación sacerdotal. Cristo les ofrece una parte particular y especial en Su identidad como Hijo. Comparte con ustedes la intimidad de Su oración sacrificial de consagración hablada al Padre en la Ultima Cena a través del cual ustedes como sacerdotes-celebrantes dicen Sus palabras en El, pero con la voz de su primera persona—“Esto es mi cuerpo, esta es mi sangre.” Por hacer así, como un sacerdote ustedes reciben de Cristo la participación de la intimidad entre Jesús y Su Padre, con quien El ha conversado primero en escoger llamarles por nombre para seguirlo como Sus sacerdotes.

The Book of Deuteronomy reveals a promise that is unique and different than many of the other promises regarding the coming of the Messiah, unveiled in other parts of the Old Testament. In the Book of Deuteronomy Moses speaks, “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, that is the one to whom you shall listen.” The point of the promise is that the Messiah will be a new and ultimate prophet, superior even to Moses. He will be a prophet who will fulfill the Covenant of the Law.

The role of the prophet distinguished God’s chosen people significantly from the surrounding Gentile tribes. Other tribes attempted to force entry into the future and to manipulate it through the employment of magicians or charmers; but because Israel had been chosen by the one true God and given the gift of faith—they received prophets from the Lord in place of charmers. What is the difference?

Charmers cajole idols and conjure future events for the purpose of selfish gain in an effort to control the future with the result that the false gods dominate the lives of the charmers and of those who listen to them and thereby making them slaves. Prophets, on the other hand, discern and reveal the authentic desires of God for His People. Moses, as a prophet, revealed God’s desire of the exodus of His chosen people from slavery and from sin. Authentic prophesy requires that the prophet first listen and then speak intimately with God on God’s terms. God’s terms include in God’s time.

We see in the history of God’s chosen people that there are sad moments when Israel and their prophets become afraid and impatient with God’s timing and so they set aside prophesy for the false and inebriating seductions of charm. When this occurs, the chosen people choose their own slavery in place of God’s desires for them.

Moses is the prophet of the Covenant—the Ten Commandments—the prophet of the Law. His prophesy establishes Israel’s identity as belonging to God and to each other. There is a strong communal element to Moses’ vocation as a prophet. This wandering group of exiled slaves and refugees from Egypt become one people, that is, God’s chosen people through Moses’ prophetic vocation and leadership. Moses reveals God’s desires for them. Moses speaks the truth to them. The Truth liberates them from slavery.

Our first reading today tells us that before Moses speaks to Israel of God’s desires for the people, Moses first listens and speaks with God as with a friend. The people worship in unity each in their own place when Moses converses with the Lord in the tent of intimate friendship; they not only follow Moses’ example but they also rely on Moses’ intimate conversation with the Lord God for them to worship authentically and to become their truest selves—to receive their clear identity as the chosen people of the Lord united in the Covenant with Him. This covenant and unity come about because of Moses’ intimate conversation with the Lord as with a friend. Yet, despite this closeness, Moses’ request to see the face of God is refused by God.

It will be for Jesus, the prophet greater than Moses, to speak to the glorious face of the Father not only as a friend but as a Son. Jesus fulfills the Covenant made by God with Moses. As we read in the Gospel of John, “From His fullness we have all received, Grace in place of Grace, because while the Law was given through Moses, Grace and Truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God. The only Son, God, who is at the Father’s side, has revealed Him.” The face of God is revealed to us in Jesus Christ.

Today’s first reading from the Book of Exodus leads us to consider our Gospel reading from Mark in which we read that Christ spends the entire night in conversation with God before descending the mountain and calling His Apostles each by name. Jesus’ conversation with God surpasses even the nearness of friendship extended by God to Moses. Rather, Jesus speaks with God face to face with the intimacy and trust of God’s Son. As the Son, Jesus both reveals and is the face of the Father that Moses longed to see. In descending from the Mountain he calls each Apostle by name—He calls them and speaks with them as friends—they see His face as a friend sees another friend’s face. They are commanded to be with Him at the same time that they are sent to prophesy to the Truth of God’s desires of redemption for His people—the desires incarnate in Jesus Christ Himself.

Today, in your ordination to the priesthood, you are called again by name. In your ordination to the priesthood Jesus Christ calls you friends and you see His face as that of a friend. You are called to be with Him and you are sent to prophesy to His people by preaching, teaching, and exemplifying the entire Truth of His Gospel. In the celebration of the sacraments you will prophetically reveal God’s desires for His people. These desires include entrance into eternal life, freedom from original sin and membership in His Church through Baptism; these desires include the merciful absolution of sins and correction of vice in the Sacrament of Penance; these desires include the prophetic witness of the permanent, selfless, and life-giving love of the Sacrament of Matrimony in the consent made between a man and a woman; these desires include the healing of sin’s effects in illness and death through the Sacrament of Anointing of the Sick; and most especially these desires include the celebration of the Eucharist whereby His People see Christ’s face in your proclamation and preaching of the Gospel, in each other as members of the gathered assembly, in your attentively reverent and priestly presence as celebrant and presider, and most especially in the bread and wine consecrated through your praying of Christ’s words becoming His Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity.

The prophetic character of your priestly vocation is nourished by the time that you spend with Jesus in prayer as with a friend. The People of God, who are made the Church through the celebration of the Eucharist, depend upon your time spent speaking with Christ as with a friend. Just as the chosen people of the Old Testament depended upon and followed Moses’ example of intimate and prayerful conversation with God in order that they could worship authentically, thus, the Priestly People, His Church, depends upon your prayerful conversation with God in Christ at the Eucharist and also in your ongoing life of prayer spoken with God as with a friend. Christ desires that you treat Him as a friend and not as a passing acquaintance or as a periodically useful benefactor. The People of God depend on this. Without this patient friendship, the prophetic aspects of your priestly vocation run the risk of becoming corrupted into a type of charm resulting in manipulation for your selfish entitlement and the people’s inebriation with a false gospel of consumption based upon their ideological preferences.

To accomplish His desires for all of His People, in calling you by name and calling you His friends, He offers you even more than friendship in your priestly ordination. Christ offers you a particular and special share in His Sonship. He shares with you the intimacy of His sacrificial prayer of consecration spoken to the Father at the Last Supper whereby you as the priest celebrant speak Jesus’ words in Him but with the voice of your first person—“This is my body, this is my blood.” In so doing, as a priest you receive from Christ the participation of intimacy between Him and His Father, with Whom He has first conversed in choosing to call you by name to follow Him as His priests.

The Rite of Ordination begins with the expressed desire of the Church that you be ordained as priests. Your worthiness is attested to, as much as any human being’s worthiness can be attested to, for the enormous responsibility and privilege of the priesthood. Earlier I began by choosing you as brothers for the priestly office. In a few moments, I will address you again but this time as sons.

The promise of obedience that you will make to me and to my successors is the obedience not of a slave but of a son. It is an obedience that involves loving discipline and not simply minimal compliance. It is an obedience that is relational and communal, not private and subjectively interpreted. As the obedience of a son it requires of me as your bishop the reciprocal attention and care of a father for the sake of the unity and mission of the Church desired by Christ and prayed for specifically by Him at His Last Supper that all may be one. In other words, the People of God require that we make ourselves available to each other in this filial relationship of obedience frequently and intentionally. Otherwise we run the risk of wrongly considering obedience to be an unjust hindrance to personal autonomy and further to misunderstand the fatherly office of bishop as needed only annually as a dispensary of sacred chrism for one’s own private ministry. Neither the bishop nor the priest should be presumptuous of the integrity of this relationship as essential to the health and life of the Church as intended by Christ and desired by the Father.

I would offer to you one final point for reflection. To assist us in receiving His gift of a priestly share in His Sonship, Christ has also given us the gift of Mary, His Mother, to be our Mother too. As He died on the Cross for our salvation He entrusted to the Beloved Disciple the care of His Blessed Mother—our care for her and her care for us. Christ is specific in that she is to be our mother and we are to be her sons. While she is the Mother and Help of all Christians, she offers in a particular way her motherly care for us as Her Son’s chosen priests. She assists us in cultivating the virtue of purity of heart; she fosters in us a sense of approachable compassion for all of God’s People; she assists us in pondering with docility the Word of God in our hearts and enfleshing it through our preaching; and she guides us as she guided the stewards at Cana by encouraging us to do whatever He tells us to do. Most especially our Blessed Mother assists us in saying yes to God with trust in the midst of frightening circumstances that would be overwhelming and insurmountable without God’s Grace. She saves us from arrogance and offers us confidence to fulfill the prophetic responsibilities of our priestly vocation. Pray to her.