Given at the ordination to the priesthood of Rev Chinedu Enuh at the Church of the Sacred Heart and Mary Immaculate, Mill Hill, on 15th June 2019.
Evangelizare pauperibus misit me.
I am delighted to celebrate Chinedu’s ordination to the priesthood in the Congregation of the Mission here at Mill Hill. It is a great joy to see the relationship with my own formation and the work of the Vincentians at All Hallows College in Dublin and the Convitto Leoniano where I lived for two years in Rome. To hand on the gift of priesthood is an honour and a privilege. For the ‘little company’ of the Vincentians it is a sign of great hope and encouragement as you celebrate your first ordination since that of Fr Paschal the present Provincial and continue the mission in Britain and Ireland.
Chinedu, you are being ordained a priest to follow in the footsteps of many missioners inspired by the vision of St Vincent de Paul to put on the Spirit of Christ himself (Common Rules I:3), in order to acquire a holiness appropriate to your vocation (Common Rules XII:13), work at evangelizing the poor, especially the more abandoned; and to help the clergy and laity in their formation and lead them to a fuller participation in the evangelization of the poor (Constitutions, #1). Your ordination here in Mill Hill is a reminder of the mission of the province to Nigeria and the foundation of the Province there. Now you return to serve in this Province and help renew it. May this ordination be the beginning of a new stirring of faith in the life of your congregation.
Evangelizare pauperibus misit me. Chinedu, these words above the entrance of the church remind you that a Vincentian priest is called to see the spiritual heart of your priesthood in the life of St Vincent and the apostolic spirituality of God’s presence with the poor. You are invited to allow the gift of the poor to help you become a more joyful apostle. St Vincent matured into his priesthood when God converted his heart from the ambitions of wealth, honour and comfort to discover Christ crucified in the poor and most abandoned. He reminds us that priesthood is a gift, a precious treasure which is held in earthenware pots and so we need to rely on the gift of God’s mercy.
As a priest, you will announce Christ and his kingdom at the celebration of the sacraments and by your preaching. Your hands will be anointed for service as the Father anointed Christ through the power of the Spirit. We pray that, ‘Jesus will preserve you to sanctify the Christian people and to offer sacrifice to God.’
You will sanctify Christ’s people through the sacraments.
Your anointed hands will serve the sick and dying to bring them forgiveness, healing and consolation through the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick.
As they humbly confess their sins, you will offer the gift of God’s absolution of sins, restoration of grace and freedom to live in freedom from sin. As people struggle to overcome their sinfulness and seek conversion, may you always speak the truth in love and ‘be careful not to break the bruised reed or to quench the dimly burning wick’ (cf. Is 42:3) (Veritatis Splendor 95). The friendship of St Vincent with St Francis de Sales and St Jane de Chantel helped him to understand the power of the persuasion of gentleness.
In the Mass, you will consecrate the Body and Blood of Christ to be offered as nourishment on the journey of Christian life. As the paten and chalice are presented to you, you will hear the words: ‘Accept from the holy people of God the gifts to be offered to him. Know what you are doing, and imitate the mystery you celebrate: model your life on the mystery of the Lord’s cross.’ Your understanding of these words will be enriched by the spirituality of St Louise de Marillac. Jesus crucified is at the centre of her spirituality as she united herself to Jesus on the cross ever more intensely and for whom the ‘charity of Jesus crucified urges us’.
Stay close to the suffering of the poor for there you will touch the wounds of Christ. St Vincent de Paul heard the cry of the galley convicts awaiting transportation to Marseilles and beyond and ministered to their need. St Louise de Marillac brought food and spiritual comfort to the sick of Paris’s oldest and largest hospital, the Hôtel-Dieu, and then other hospitals, and cared for abandoned children. May such friendship strengthen you as did these two saints for over 36 years.
Much of priestly ministry is a ‘hidden life’: the whisper of sins confessed, spiritual comfort and prayer to those in need, a quiet and encouraging word, traumas carried, needs offered at the altar of the Mass. This ministry stands as a paradox to much of daily life where everything is to be aired in public: Facebook, tweets etc. Both Vincent and Louise understood that humility is the key that opens the door of love. Instead, you will share in the privilege of feeding, healing and consoling the poor of the Body of Christ.
Finally, the way of St Vincent, the radical nature of his poverty, his reliance on the unconditional mercy of God, his closeness to Jesus and his openness to the Holy Spirit, provide the ‘tools’ (or means of discernment) to help you see the promptings of the Holy Spirit in the lives of people and events. There you will see the face of Christ and become aware of God’s view. St Vincent acted according to God’s time, not his own. He provides wise advice to ‘Do the good that presents itself to be done,’ and ‘Do not tread on the heels of Providence’.