Peace be with you. Friends, as we
resume Ordinary Time, we come to this Eleventh
Sunday in Ordinary Time, I want to talk to
you about vocations. Vocations specifically
to the priesthood. It’s not something I
talk about that often in these Sunday sermons, but the reading today
just jumped out at me. Something else
very recently —as I record these words, I’m finishing a Confirmation
season in my diocese. And I was at one of
our parishes way out west in my diocese with beautiful
stained-glass windows, and they had depictions
of the various sacraments. And right across from me there
was one depicting marriage, a very beautifully
arranged window. And I looked at that at,
appreciated it. And then right next to
it there was the window dedicated to the priesthood. And it showed Jesus
there with his Apostles. And I’ll tell you, it was
an old-fashioned window, probably early twentieth century,
late nineteenth century. Just the way it was arranged,
there was something about it. It sang to me the same
way similar images sang to me when
I was a kid. Here’s what I mean. So I appreciate the window
dedicated to marriage, and yes, I understand
marriage is a great sacrament. But when I was a kid,
when the priesthood was proposed or the priesthood
was imaged or presented, it just sang to me. It resonated in
me very deeply. Not against marriage, but at least for me,
in a deeper way. And so here I am now
many years later, I’ve been a priest
for thirty-seven years, been a bishop now for
almost eight years, but I’m looking
up at that window, and honest to God,
I’m feeling the same thing. I felt that same sense of, “Yes, yes, that’s what
God wants me to do. That’s the person
God wants me to be.” We talk about vocation
to the priesthood, “vocare,” to call. It’s not some
vague idea. It’s very mysterious. My brother and I are only
fifteen months apart, same parents, same education,
same school, same everything, and
my brother never felt a call to the priesthood. But I did. It would be
facile to say, “Well, of course you did
because you’re from this Irish Catholic family and
went to Catholic schools.” Well, I know,
my brother did too, but he didn’t
feel the call. Looking up at that window
reminded me of what it was like
to feel that. “Yes, yes, that’s what
Christ wants me to do. That’s the life he
wants me to lead.” Now here’s why I’m
thinking about this. Our Gospel for
today from Matthew: “At the sight of the crowds,
Jesus’ heart was moved with pity for them
because they were troubled and abandoned, like sheep without
a shepherd.” Now, we just heard that,
because last week I preached on Corpus Christi and I
used that passage from Mark, but the same
language is used. You see, the Lord
says to Ezekiel, “I myself will come and
shepherd my people.” Well, here he is
now in person. His heart moved
with pity. It’s the compassionate
Christ who wants to shepherd his people. Now, why? Because they’re
troubled and abandoned. What’s the priest
called upon to do? To participate in this
shepherding role of Christ. To feel that same pity,
that same compassion for Christ’s abandoned
and troubled people. Are there lots of troubled
and abandoned people around today?
Uh-huh. Open your eyes. Especially in
our culture now, it seems to me,
a lot of people are like sheep
without a shepherd. And the same Christ is
looking out in the same way at his church and feeling
that same compassion. But see, what does
he want to do? Listen: “Then he said to
his disciples, ‘The harvest is abundant
but the laborers are few; so ask the master
of the harvest to send out laborers
for his harvest.’” What’s he talking about?
The priesthood. “Oh, that’s clericalism.” No, it’s not clericalism.
It’s the opposite of it. Clericalism is divorcing
priesthood from the care for the people. That’s what clericalism is. No, no, this is a
desire to share in the shepherding
role of Christ, to feel in your heart
the same compassion, the same pity he feels for
his lost and abandoned people. Again, the beauty of the
biblical style here, everybody. Yes, Christ could,
I suppose, shepherd the whole
Church by himself, but he gives us the
privilege and prerogative of sharing in his work. The harvest is abundant,
but the laborers are few. Stir up, ask the Lord
to stir up this feeling. It’s the one that I
had as a kid and that I felt even
the other day. That same sense of, yes, this is what
I want to do, this is who
I want to be: someone that shares in
Christ’s shepherding ministry. Listen now,
I know there are people right now listening to me
who feel that same pull, feel that same attraction. I know there are. You’re listening
to me right now. If you sense that,
don’t ignore it. If it’s something that
comes back to you again and again and again, even as you try
to turn from it, but it comes back to you,
that’s a sign. That’s a sign that
Christ is calling, “vocare.” He’s calling out to you to join him in his
shepherding work. So listen: “Then he summoned
his twelve disciples and gave them authority
over unclean spirits to drive them out
and to cure every disease and every illness.” We just
heard his people are troubled
and abandoned. Okay, he needs shepherds
who are going to do some strong and hard work. See, don’t think for
a second, everybody, that the priesthood is some
kind of namby-pamby vocation. On the contrary,
it’s a warrior’s vocation. Listen again. “He gave them authority
over unclean spirits.” Are there unclean
spirits around? You bet.
You bet there are. Unclean spirits,
yes, in that full metaphysical sense,
but also unclean spirits of pride and envy and
anger and sloth and gluttony and lust and
imperialism and the drive for power,
cruelty, hatred, violence. You bet there are. There are a lot of
unclean spirits, and Christ calls shepherds,
pastors, warriors, and he gives them authority
over these spirits. “Oh, what do I know?
What can I do? Oh, who am I?” Come on, that’s
not the priesthood. That’s some namby-pamby
simulacrum of the priesthood. The real priesthood is
this tough warrior’s work, but the Lord has given
authority to these shepherds over these unclean spirits. One of the problems
I think, everybody, that especially young people
have is they’re beset by the unclean spirits but
there’s nobody around them who’s claimed the
authority over them. “Oh, no. You do
whatever you want. You’ll be whoever
you want to be.” Yeah, and it’s leading
everybody over the cliff. What we need are laborers,
warriors, shepherds, who have the authority from
Christ over unclean spirits and can effect this
transformation of the world. That’s what the
priest is about. See, “to drive them out.” We’re not having dialogue
with unclean spirits. Listen, by the way,
Pope Francis is really good on this. Talk about Mr. Dialogue. He is, indeed,
but he always says, “You don’t dialogue
with the devil. You don’t dialogue
with evil spirits.” Dead right, you don’t. You drive them out, and
it’s priests who’ve been given that authority to do it. “To cure every disease
and every illness.” I’ve known some priests
who do indeed have the charism of
physical healing. I’ve known some. But see, more
broadly speaking, disease and illness
of the heart, of the mind, of the spirit,
and authority now to heal. Priests are healers.
Priests are healers. That’s serious
business too. Don’t you love it,
the names of the twelve,
the people that he called to this task? Who are they? Well, we know them. Simon called Peter,
and Andrew, James, son of Zebedee,
his brother John, Philip, Bartholomew,
Thomas and Matthew, the tax collector.
On and on. Great figures,
yes indeed. Great saints, yes, through
the power of grace. But deeply flawed,
compromised people at the same time. But Christ called them. Christ called them. Don’t say for a second, “Oh look, he’d never call me.
I’m too much of a sinner. I’m too much of a loser.
I’m too much of a bumbler.” Well, look at these people. I mean these are hardly
paragons of humanity, but yet the Lord called them,
and he equipped them and gave them authority over
unclean spirits. He might be calling you. He might be calling you. “Jesus sent out these twelve
after instructing them thus, ‘Do not go into pagan territory
or enter a Samaritan town. Go rather to the lost sheep
of the house of Israel.’” Can I suggest
there’s something, I think, of great
contemporary resonance here, because I think the first
task of priests in the West is to find all those who have
wandered from the Church. It’s not necessarily to go
to the ends of the world and declare the Gospel to
those who’ve never heard it. There is plenty of work right
now in our country and our culture to find the lost
sheep of the house of Israel. I mean, people who
were born and raised Christian or Catholic but who wandered far
from the Gospel, wandered far from Christ. Good. That’s the call
of our time. Maybe you right now
are feeling that call. Don’t ignore it;
respond to it. Go and make
the proclamation “the kingdom of heaven
is at hand.” Right. There’s a worldly kingdom. There’s a worldly kingdom. It’s all around us,
based upon what Augustine called the “libido dominandi,” the lust to dominate. It’s characterized by self-love,
Augustine says. Oh, that kingdom. It’s got institutions
and it’s got powerful people associated with it. It’s got means
of communication. It’s tendrils,
it’s tentacles, reach into every
aspect of society. I know all about
that kingdom. But see, the priest is
called upon to declare a different kingdom,
the kingdom of heaven, the one that’s come
in power in Christ. And now we need
people to proclaim it and to make it
a reality. There’s the call
of the priest. “Oh, what do I know?
Who am I?” Forget that. No, no, you’ve been equipped
to deal with evil spirits, you’ve been equipped
to teach, and you’ve been equipped
to proclaim the kingdom of heaven. Get to it. The harvest is abundant,
but the laborers are few. And then, unless we forgot,
his last words: “Cure the sick,
raise the dead, cleanse lepers,
drive out demons.” Well, there it is. In case we’ve forgotten what
he just said a few lines ago, he says it again. There are armies of
people who are sick, who are leprous,
who are demon possessed, who are spiritually dead. Right? You know a lot of them,
and maybe you’ve been there. You know about that. We need priests who
have this capacity to do these very things. Look at the last line. “Without cost you
have received; without cost you
are to give.” Now there’s the
priest’s life, it seems to me. “Without cost you
have received.” You’ve been given gifts,
grace. I think of my own
vocation as that. It was a great grace,
and it was weirdly awakened the other night when I looked
at that window and thought, “Yes, that’s the life for me. That’s what I’m
supposed to do.” I was given that
without cost. It was a grace. So now, without cost
you are to give. See, all of these tasks —authority over the
unclean spirits and teaching and preaching and
proclaiming the kingdom and curing the sick and
raising the dead— all of that is a gift. All that’s grace. So give it without cost. Think about it. We need you, people
right now listening to me who might feel this
summons from Christ. Don’t ignore it.
Don’t ignore it. Follow it. I have found it
to be the source of the greatest joy
in my life, that from the time
I was a little kid, I allowed that call to
echo within my own soul. And God bless you.
