Following is the prepared homily from Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted on March 21, 2016:
“Give thanks to the Lord for He is good, for His mercy endures forever… Let those who fear the Lord say, His mercy endures forever” (Psalm 118: 1-4).
In this Jubilee Year of Mercy, it is good for all of us — clergy, religious and laity — to praise God for His merciful love. In a particular way, it is good for us priests and bishops to give thanks to God for the mercy He has extended to each of us personally and for the great privilege of being missionaries of His mercy at this time in history.
Tonight, as we celebrate this Chrism Mass, let me just mention a few reasons why God’s mercy and the priesthood are so intimately woven together.
First, because we followers of Jesus can live an authentic human life only to the degree that we receive God’s mercy with gratitude and then put it into practice. Why does Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta inspire us? Because she did precisely that. She was a servant of mercy, or as she called herself and her Sisters, a Missionary of Charity.
Why has Pope Francis moved many Catholics to return to the active practice of their faith and even prompted opponents of the Church to give the Catholic faith a second look? Because there is an authenticity about the way he lives his life each day, joyfully treasuring the Lord’s mercy found in the word of God, and receiving the great sacraments of mercy: the Eucharist and the Sacrament of Confession.
Mercy is the most wondrous attribute of our Creator. Because of His mercy, God created us in His own image and likeness. When that divine image was marred by sin, out of mercy Jesus redeemed every human person by suffering death for us on the Cross and rising again to new life.
The Church is most truly herself, then, when she brings people close to the source of mercy. And a priest is most truly himself when he brings people close to the source of mercy, in other words, when he brings them to Jesus.
Allow me to mention three ways in particular that priests bring people close to the fullness of mercy in Christ. The first is by handing on the word of God. We should have a sense of urgency about this teaching mission. Let us never forget that the enemy of God’s Kingdom is “the father of lies,” but that Jesus is “the way and the truth and the life.” Even before Adam and Eve were created, a great battle was raging between Satan and the Eternal Word of God. This is why St. Peter writes that the devil prowls about the world seeking the destruction of souls. In this world, we are in enemy territory; we have no lasting home here, we are strangers and sojourners on earth, we were created for heaven. But within the Church and to priests in particular, Christ has entrusted the sword of the Spirit, i.e. His holy word, and this Word can pierce more surely than a 2-edged sword. All we have to do is to speak His word faithfully. As St. Augustine said: “The truth is like a lion. You don’t have to defend it. Let it loose. It will defend itself.” Let us never be ashamed, my brothers, to hand on the word of God in all its integrity and fullness. It will defeat the enemy and bear good fruit.
St. John Vianney, the patron saint for priests, proclaimed the mercy of God with great success because he devoted himself constantly to three activities: teaching the word of God, celebrating the Sacred Liturgy with reverence, and spending many hours hearing Confessions.
The Confessional was the place, in particular, where St. John Vianney became best known for being a missionary of mercy, spending great lengths of time there, serving as an instrument of God’s forgiveness and hope. However, when Fr. Vianney first arrived in Ars, almost no one was going to Confession. He faced a crisis of this sacrament more serious that what we face in America. He faced the crisis by deepening his personal closeness to Jesus and by giving attention first to preaching and the celebration of the Eucharistic sacrifice.
Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI said of St. John Vianney, “He was convinced that the fervor of a priest’s life depended entirely upon the Mass: ‘The reason why a priest is lax
[John Vianney said] is that he does not pay attention to the Mass! My God, how we ought to pity a priest who celebrates as if he were engaged in something routine!’” Then, Pope Benedict continued, “…This deep personal identification with the Sacrifice of the Cross led him – by a sole inward movement – from the altar to the confessional. Priests ought never to be resigned to empty confessionals or the apparent indifference of the faithful to this Sacrament. In France, at the time of the Cure of Ars, confession was no more easy or frequent than in our own day, since the upheaval caused by the French Revolution had long inhibited the practice of religion. Yet he sought in every way, by his preaching and power of persuasion, to help his parishioners to rediscover the meaning and beauty of the Sacrament of Penance.”
My dear brother priests, in this Jubilee Year of Mercy, give generously of your time to being missionaries of mercy like St. John Vianney. If we do, we can be certain that we are being true to the promises we made on the day of our ordination, which we shall now renew in this Sacred Liturgy.
