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A time of
prayer for the sanctification of priests
PRAISED BE JESUS
CHRIST!
(Now and Forever)
In a Holy Thursday message to the priests of the world in 1995, Pope
John Paul II suggested an annual day be set aside for prayer for the
sanctification of priests. The entire diocesan community, as John Paul
envisioned it, would be challenged to sustain priests through prayer and
sacrifice on this special day and hopefully be inspired to continue to
do so on an ongoing basis. While any date could be utilized for this
special day, the feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus was recommended.
This feast is celebrated each year on the Friday after Corpus Christi,
June 15 this year.
John Paul wanted to encourage priests to rediscover the importance of
holiness as an integral part of the identity and mission of priesthood.
He also hoped to draw the attention of each diocesan community to the
treasure of the priesthood.
For a variety of reasons, it has not been practical to gather the
priests of our Local Church together on the solemnity of the Sacred
Heart of Jesus. One reason for that is the fact that since 1987, your
priests have met in convocation for the better part of a week in early
June, this year from Monday afternoon, June 4, until a Friday morning
dismissal Mass celebrated on June 8. Given this reality, the convocation
has become our “day” of prayer for the sanctification of priests.
In Catholic theology, when a man is ordained to the priesthood he
undergoes a basic (ontological) change, one that conforms him to Christ
the High Priest and Good Shepherd in a unique way. A priest, of course,
is credible only insofar as his life proclaims a link between himself
and Christ. The person of Christ must be his point of reference. The
task of the priest is to make Christ present in the world as head and
spouse, as servant and victim, as priest and shepherd.
Through ordination, priests are given the great responsibility of
devoting their entire lives to the service of God’s people. To
authentically live out that priestly call, priests must carry the burden
of Christ’s cross every day. Priests must die to self in union with
Christ in the service of God’s people. They are to bring sacred
mysteries to their brothers and sisters not only at the altar, in the
confessional and the pulpit, but also in the sick room, classrooms, on
street corners and in parish offices. For priests to preach the mystery
of God, they must allow that mystery to shape their lives. With St. Paul
they must be able to say: “The life I live now is not my own; Christ is
living in me” (Gal. 2:20). Without solid rooting in spirituality, this
is an impossible mission. Commitment to holiness is crucial.
Priests are called to pray, fast, push themselves beyond the need for
rest when people demand their attention, understand that there will be
rejection, be willing to accept failure. These experiences clearly are
not unique to priests. John Paul II, however, felt it important for each
and every priest to be encouraged to discover the importance of holiness
as it applies to his identity and mission and for the attention of the
entire diocesan community to be drawn to the treasure of the priesthood
which often is taken for granted.
I respectfully ask the Catholics of Northcentral Indiana to hold us,
your priests, up to the Lord in prayer in a special way during the week
of June 4-8 when we will be on convocation at Brown County State Park.
Pray that we may increasingly be aware of the grace of our consecration
and the importance of growth in holiness that we might fulfill the
mission given to us in our ordination.
Pray, too, that we may live lives of priestly fraternity and appreciate
more fully the unity of the priesthood. Pray that we may give greater
expression of our love to the Lord and to the Church by our
unconditional loving care given to the people entrusted to us. Pray that
we will know how to respond to the signs of the times with tenacious
fidelity to the word of God and the magisterium of the Church. Pray that
we may be heralds of hope as we proclaim that Jesus Christ is Lord.
From a faith perspective, there is no greater blessing than a call to
the ministerial priesthood of Jesus Christ. The role of the priest in
the Church is truly unique. Failure to celebrate that role and hold it
up as a blessing is, unquestionably, one of the reasons there are not
more ordinations.
We who have been called to the priesthood fall far short of the idea, we
know. We, like you, have feet of clay. Nonetheless, conscious of our
shortcomings, we beg you, our brothers and sisters, to pray for us that
we may not become discouraged, arrogant or contentious, but nourish our
ministry with a fruitful spiritual life, closely united to Christ the
Good Shepherd, who holds us up in his heart to the heavenly Father.
During the convocation this year, Father Charles Remaklus will be
honored for 60 years of priesthood; Father Louis Heitz, Father James
Goodrum, Father W. Michael Kettron and Father John Schultz for 50 years;
Father George Askar for 40 years; Father Kevin Haines for 20 years, and
Father Brian Dudzinski, Father Theodore Dudzinski and Father Edward
Kacena for 10 years of priesthood.
Father Larry Gillick, SJ, will be our presenter.
Father Gillick was born in Milwaukee and attended Marquette Jesuit High
and St. Norbert College before entering the Society of Jesus in 1960. He
received his bachelor’s degree from St. Louis University in 1966. He
taught at Campion Jesuit High in Wisconsin for the next three years. He
was ordained in June 1972 after completing his theology studies at Regis
College in Toronto. For the next seven years, he was on the staff of the
seminary in Toronto as a spiritual director for the younger Jesuits. He
was sent to Omaha in 1979 as spiritual director for scholastics studying
at Creighton University. In 1984, he assumed the office of rector of the
Jesuit Community at Creighton Prep in Omaha. He served in this capacity
until the fall of 1991, when he was assigned to be the director of the
Deglman Center for Ignatian Spirituality at Creighton University. Father
Gillick is blind. That reality has not held him down.
The highlight of each convocation day is concelebrated Mass. The Office
of the Hours is also prayed together. Formal presentations are made in
the morning and after dinner in the evening. Afternoons are free for
relaxation and fellowship.
It’s a special time for your priests. Again, please keep us in your
prayers as we thank God for the ordination of three men to the
priesthood this year. We will be praying for you, the people God has
commissioned us to serve. |
