50th Anniversary  -  4th Sunday of Advent
(B-cycle)  December  20,  2008

This half-century of priesthood, of which you are such an important part seems to have passed like the blink of an eye.  It seems like only yesterday that I put my suitcase down and rang the bell at St Francis in Naugatuck, my first assignment. It’s as if my career is only beginning rather than winding down.  This may mean that I’m a slow starter. I’m sure it means that time flies and we better make the most of it.

The Gospel for the Fourth Sunday in Advent, the day on which I celebrated my first Mass, is the Gospel of the Annunciation—when Mary consented to be the Mother of God in God’s human nature.  I don’t think any other passage of Scripture would be more fitting for launching a priest, who every day brings Christ into the world.
What an honor, what a towering responsibility for a sinful human being to stand in the place of Christ and say, “This is my body,” This is the cup of my blood.! Mary will always be a model for a priest in her wholehearted response to God’s call. “Behold the servant of the Lord. Let it be done to me as you say.” Woe to the priest who forgets he is a servant to God and God’s people. 

Shortly after my ordination, my family and I were part of an audience given by Pope John XXIII for new priests and their loved ones.  Good Pope John recommended that we reflect often on the 23^rd chapter of the spiritual classic The Imitation of Christ. The title of the chapter is “Four Ways That Bring Peace".  They are:

One:    Seek to do the will of others rather than your own.

Two:    Always choose to have less rather than more.

Three:  Look always for the last place and seek to be beneath all others.

Four:   Always wish and pray that the will of God be fully carried out in you. I’m sure Pope John meant these words not just for my meditation but also to be passed on to you. Only when I have followed them have I found true peace and real joy.

It makes me sad to think that so few priests are being ordained today, not just because there are fewer to do the work, but also because there are less to share the happiness I have known. You have been a great part of that. The really important milestone is not my 50^th anniversary, but the half century of St Tim’s.  I will never forget you.  I will always love you.  Thank you for all you have meant to me.