HOMILY FOR PRIESTLY ORDINATION MEMORIAL OF THE QUEENSHIP OF MARY – AUGUST 22/8/12 WARRI

“…you are to conceive and bear a son and must name him Jesus.  He will be great and will be called son of the Most High…”,  words taken from the Gospel Reading. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.”

Your Excellency, Very Rt. Rev. Mons., Very Rev Fathers, Rev Father, my dear Ordinands, Rev Deacons, Seminarians, Rev Sisters, All Religious, Catechists; Distinguished Guests , Parents and Family members of the Ordinands, and all Lay Faithful of our diocese of Warri, I greet you all with great respect and cordial welcome.  I say “haec dies, quam fecit Dominus”, i.e. “This is the day which the Lord has made”.  First of all, let us say what kind of day it is for us today? For a Bishop, always, the day of ordination is a happy moment because of the exercise of the fullness of his Priesthood; because of addition of new ministers to the hierarchical order of the local church, as his dearest sons, his closest brothers, and his collaborators; and because of the edification of Holy Mother church, who is thus endowed with new minsters, new shepherds and new labourers in the Lord’s vineyard.

But today’s ordination, is distinguished by special circumstances – first my beloved sons, you are being ordained a short time before the “Year of Faith” as declared by Pope Benedict VXI to run from October 11, 2012 to November 24th, 2013, second you are being ordained at a period when universal church is bent seriously on the new evangelization programme; a programme which has become, as you all know become the drive and propensity of my episcopate for our Local Church of Warri.  Let me immediately share with you Pope Benedict VXI’s address on the relevance of the new evangelization: “In truth, the times in which we live demand a new missionary vigour on the part of Christians, who are called to form a mature and knowledgeable laity, identified with the Church and sensitive to the complex transformations taking place in our world.  Authentic witnesses to Jesus Christ are needed, above all in those human situations where the silence of the faith is most widely and deeply felt…and yet, dear brothers, may all those who defend the faith in these situations, with courage, with a vigorous catholic outlook in fidelity to the magisterium, continue to receive your help and your insightful encouragement in other to live out, as faithful laymen and women, their Christian freedom…” Against this background, your ordination is taking place in the era of new evangelization in our diocese.  This mission is enormous but the Lord of the harvest shall surely strengthen you in this task ahead to which he called you.

More significantly, we celebrate this ordination on this day, when the church celebrates the memorial of the Queenship of Mary universally.  The feast was established in October 11, 1954 by Pope Pius XII, and fixed to be celebrated in May 31. But this date was later moved to the octave day of the Feast of Assumption, August 22.  The feast of the Queenship of Mary in no small measure imposes on us significant lessons.

Therefore, this day of your ordination and of her queenship brings her conspicuously into your life as Mother, queen and model.  So I your bishop and spiritual Father hereby do urge you to take her specially and personally into your life from this day as John, the beloved disciple, did.  She will be a source of great assistant and edification to your priestly ministry.

In the words of Blessed John Paul II, “The priesthood is a great mystery and privilege”.  Dear Sons, you will recall that in 2003, 14 of you entered the spiritual year programme from Warri diocese. In 2008 only ten of you did your pastoral year assignment, but which left only seven of you to return to the seminary at the end of that year.  Today five of you are being raised to the order of priesthood.  Obviously, some of you who began this journey are no longer on the course.  Therefore, you must have taken to heart the words of Our Lord; ‘Once the hand is laid on the plough, no one who looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.’ Lk9:62.  You have refused to look back.  Do not forget the many cross roads, huddles, hazards, struggles and challenges that came across your way.  Your obedience has taken you thus far; hold tenaciously to this obedience.  It will enable you to have a fruitful and joyous ministry and lead you to your salvation.  Today and in this circumstances you are being ordained priests of Christ the High Priest, for his holy, one, catholic and apostolic church.  This will be the defining circumstances of your priesthood and ministry all your life.

To understand the true essence of the priest, let us ask a simple question; ‘what can these five men do at three o’clock this afternoon that they were unable to do by eight o’clock this morning? At the end of this ceremony, these men will then be able to call God down from heaven upon the altar in the Sacrifice of the Mass; they will be able to pronounce the words of absolution and forgive sins, and they will be able to teach as the official representatives of Christ and of the church.  No lay man and woman can do these; but only a priest can, and by the power of ordination.  One French spiritualist describes the priest as ‘He who when he raises his hand to bless us can no longer be distinguished from the very Son of Man, Jesus Christ.’ The letter to the Hebrews says; ‘Every High Priest has been taken from out of mankind and is appointed to act for men in their relations with God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins.  No one takes this honour on his self, but each one is called by God, as Aaron was.’ Bs 5:1-4.

A priest is taken from the community and is ordained for the community.  But the priest does not have its origin from the community.  Rather, he receives them from Christ through the bishop.  That is why the priest needs the faculties from the bishop, needs authorisation by the bishop to perform his priestly duties.  And when the bishop withdraws this authorization, the priest is rendered incapable to perform his duties.  Therefore the priest may be from the community, may be of the community, and with the community; but he is not by the community.  Vatican II describes the priest as ‘Representative of Jesus Christ, and also the servant of the Church.’  He is a sign and instrument of Christ, and conformed to act in the person of Christ the Head “LG. No. 28 $2.  In a special way, he is the agent of Christ, the Head of the Church, and the leader of God’s people.

Therefore, my dear sons, I urge you to be the priests according to the mind of Christ and according to the intention of Mother Church; be the priests as Bl. John II admonished; “holiness is the perspective in which the church’s pastoral life must be lived.” Hence, the church calls you to a life of the evangelical vows at your ordination.

Evangelical Poverty:

Priests are challenged to evangelical pastoral poverty, in imitation of him who out of love for his bride, the church, emptied himself poor.”  Such evangelical poverty will ensure that you remain available to be sent wherever your duties will be most useful and needed, even at the cost of personal sacrifice.  It makes you consider the poor and the weakest of the people entrusted to you in a special way.  Also it will make you capable of witnessing to poverty with a personal, simple lifestyle.  Essentially, this pastoral poverty will enable you, as priests to make a gift of self, a total gift of self to the church, following the example of Christ

Apostolic Obedience:

Again, priests are called to apostolic obedience in imitation of him who ‘humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even death on the cross.’ Phil. 2:8 this obedience has three fold dimension; the dimension of communion; so that you might serve in communion with the Holy Father, and especially of your own bishop; the dimension of community, so that you might serve within the solidarity of a single presbyterate, and the pastoral dimension; so that you might be taken up or consumed as it were with the needs and demands of the flocks entrusted to you.

Celibate Chastity:

Finally, the priest embraces the charism of celibate chastity, as a positive enrichment of the priesthood, and as a gift of self in and with Christ to his church, in order to continue his total and exclusive love for her. It must be appreciated that it is prayer, together with the church’s sacraments and ascetical practice that will provide hope and courage in the difficult journey.  This priestly celibacy can be achieved only by living all the three vows as an essential part of the priestly existence.

My dear priests, I have chosen to comment thus briefly on this aspects of priest’s life, because in this way, we “priests follow Christ, the poor, the obedient and the chaste; and in this manner of life we can rejoice to be prophetic signs of contradiction and separation from the tyranny of our contemporary world which extols freedom to do as you please; which makes pleasure supreme and promotes a good life, with the refusal of anything which speaks of sacrifice,” says the Pope, in Pastores Dabo Vobis

Let all priests reflect on this seriously, so that we can be strengthened in our identity as priests, encouraged to go in joy to exercise our priestly ministry through which we can work out our holiness of life and give our people the love, the care and the concern, the service which our Lord and High Priest gave to the people.

Men of Prayer:

To be models of these, know that the holiness of your life will not only come from your priestly ministry, but also from your entire life and that you must live as men of prayer, in public as well as in the intimacy of your private prayer and adoration. In setting your priorities, and making your schedules, you must see to it that prayer gets its prime place in your life; else you run the risk ‘of being empty cisterns, tinkling brass and sounding cymbals’, according to St. Paul.

The priest is called to be a witness to and the minister of the God who is revealed in Jesus Christ, as the way, the truth and the life.  The priest must be a true teacher in the faith.  The Rite of Ordination tells the new priest; “Apply your energies to the duty of teaching in the name of Christ,  the Chief Teacher.”  It urges the priest to “share with all mankind the word of God you have received with joy…” it calls on the priest to meditate on the law of God, believe what you read, teach what you believe and put into practice what you teach.”  The priest must be a teacher, but one whose teaching is authenticated by his own way of life.  In order to be a credible preacher, of the truth, the priest must also be a credible witness to the truth; according to Pope Paul VI in Evangelium Nunttandi, “modern man listens to teachers who are witnesses.”

And you, parents, family members and friends of the ordinands, once again, I greet you all with great respect, affection and paternal welcome.  To all of you, far and near, this ordination invites you into a special sharing.  My sons, your families and friends share firstly in the sacrifice of your lives to the service of God.  As a result they willingly give up your presence, your assistance, your undivided affection, so that you may dedicate yourselves completely to the priesthood and its duties.  Secondly they also share in your merit for this sacrifice, and participate in the graces which you call down upon all the Christian people, by your mediation between God and man.  Finally, they share today in your mediation upon the divine plan by which God has called you to his full service; and in the deep feelings of your heart that his choice, among all the human race, has actually fallen upon you.

And you, my dear Christ faithful of Warri diocese, I say to you, encourage your priests in all aspects if their lives by seriously praying for them and providing them with their life necessities.  This will aid the task and the mission of evangelization in the diocese. Your eternal salvation could be greatly fostered by your priests.  Remember the words of St. John Mary Vianney, “The salvation of the faithful is in the hands of the priest” through the many roles he plays in ministering Christ to you.  These are indeed enormous roles and extra-ordinary roles for that.

My dear ordinands, for all these tasks, and for much more, I will impose my hands on you, praying, “O Lord, renew within them the spirit of holiness”, which will be your constant source of light, strength and holiness.  The Spirit of the Lord is upon you “because the Lord He has anointed you.” From today you will celebrate the Holy sacrifice of the Holy Eucharist; the source and summit of our faith.  I ask you to cherish it.  St. Augustine said, “O venerable dignity of priests, in whose hands the Son of God becomes incarnate anew as he formally became incarnate in the womb of the Virgin Mary.”  Reflect on the saying that “a Priest is what his Eucharistic life is.” Make your own the words of Bl. John Paul II, “The priest is a man of the Eucharist…”, so as to be eucharistically devoted.

I commend you to Mary, the Mother of Jesus Christ our High Priest, and the Mother of those who share in the priesthood. May you always find satisfaction and fulfilment, true joy and happiness in your ministry to which the Lord has called you.  In a few moments the mark of this priesthood will be indelibly impressed on your souls to make you “priests forever according to the order of Melchizedeck,” and may you be so, my sons, through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.