Given at the Mass of Ordination to the Sacred Priesthood at Westminster Cathedral on the Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, 25th June 2022
The feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary is a wonderful day on which to be ordained a priest!
Today we celebrate the purity and clarity of the heart of Mary which enabled her to say ‘Yes’, unequivocally, to the invitation brought by the Angel. Today we think, too, of the selfless love with which she attended to her child, teaching and guiding him, showing him the path of life, even though he was, by his nature, God in our flesh. Today we think of Mary at the foot of the cross, entering into the suffering of her son with great purity of heart, with no shadow of self-pity, or indignation or recrimination - just the love of an immaculate heart. Imagine the crystal clear love she brought into the company of the first disciples of the Lord, even as they waited in the upper room, fearful yet expectant. No one else, ever, has had such a pure love, such a selfless love that is total, unspoilt and enduring. And this is what she brings to each one of us, whenever we turn to her, or whenever she comes to us. The gift of her immaculate and loving heart is our rejoicing today.
Our hearts are not so. In the words of the poet, for us ‘all is seared with trade, bleared, smeared with toil and wears man’s smudge and shares man’s smell’. This is the burden we bear. Yet, by the gift of grace our lives are made fresh again, and with Mary we strive, day by day, to make a gift of our lives in love.
Today, in this ordination, we rejoice in the gift being made by these four men, David, Daniel, Michael and Matteo: the gift of their lives. They are giving their hearts to the Lord, and thereby to us too. In offering themselves for ordination, they hand over the very depth of their being that they may be bound ever more closely to our Blessed Lord so that he may use them for service to his Body, the Church. For them there is no holding back, no conditions attached, just a total gift, given with all the freedom and integrity they can muster.
As we celebrate this ordination, I have a strong sense of being surrounded by a great assembly of encouragement and example. Yes, that is you, the faithful and loving company of the Church, including the families of these men, whom I thank for your part in the making of the gift we are receiving today. But we are also surrounded by the rich procession of saints whom the Church has put before us in the liturgical calendar in these recent days.
If, at this moment of ordination, we are in need of encouragement, think of the Bishop St John Fisher, whose feast day was on Wednesday, and his thirty years of unbroken, faithful ministry in Rochester; or of the Bishop Irenaeus, from the second century, whose love of scripture and study helped him to establish the books of the Bible. It is in communion with them that we exercise our priesthood. Or, closer to home, indeed here in our midst, we have the inspiration of St John Southworth, one of our own priests. He was arrested three times, in 1627, in 1637 and in 1645, yet somehow managed to carry on his ministry, selflessly, in the face of dangers from the State and from the plague, in these streets, until his martyrdom in old age. His feast day is on Monday. Alongside him, last Tuesday, appears St Aloysius Gonzaga, a young Jesuit novice who also served with little regard for himself, in an outbreak of plague, and died from its effects at the age of twenty-two. Sacrificial love, given with a pure heart.
And then I don’t have time to mention St Thomas More, or even Saints Peter and Paul, with their feast next Wednesday, but I must include, from early this week, St Alban, a man whose love of the priesthood led him to the ultimate sacrifice of his life.
This love continues in the Church today, despite all the failings of us priests, so widely known today. For that love I thank you all.
This same love was heroically expressed by St Margaret Clitheroe and, to add another woman saint, here I can see St Thérèse of Lisieux, the patron of every missionary endeavour, who is keeping a close eye on us priests.
It is in this company that you, David, Daniel, Michael and Matteo, today make this gift of your love: love of the Lord, of his Sacred Heart, in union with the heart of Our Blessed Lady.
Love, of course, if it is true, always becomes costly. And aspects of this ceremony spell out something of that cost.
Shortly you will promise to exercise the priesthood you are to receive ‘as a fellow worker with the bishop’. Now, that simple phrase underlines that what you are receiving today is not a private possession, not a professional licence permitting you to set up your own business. The phrase ‘my priesthood’ is really best avoided, for this is always the priesthood of Jesus Christ, the priesthood of the Church his Body. This ordination is not something that brings you grandeur, but involves rather a forgetting of self and a stepping into something greater, something to which you give your obedience as well as your best efforts. At times that will be costly. But love always is.
Other expressions of costly love are to be found in the other promises you make: to be a preacher of the Gospel, a teacher of the Catholic faith, a faithful celebrant of the sacraments ‘as the Church hands them down’. These promises apply, of course, not only to the pulpit and to the sanctuary but also to every word you speak, every action your make, especially towards those in your care. Harsh words, sarcastic comments, easy condemnations do more harm than a hundred clumsy homilies, although they too are best avoided. Strong opinions in liturgical taste are best kept private, as we strive to celebrate not in a manner pleasing to us, but in the manner asked of us by the Church.
You promise to follow the way of sacrificial love. Mary will teach you how. This way requires a daily practice of self-sacrifice, in choosing what to do, to whom to give attention. The daily fashioning of this gift, in the way you shape your day and spend your time: that is to be your hallmark.
Today you give of yourself to the Lord from a heart that is focussed and clear in its intention. Remember this day well. Imitate the actions of Mary, in the Gospel, and ponder these things in your heart every day: the wonder of the gift you are receiving, the goodness of the company you are keeping and the hope that you hold dear in your heart so that, with Mary, you may be made temples fit for God’s glory.
So now let us proceed.
✠Cardinal Vincent Nichols
Archbishop of Westminster
Photo: Mazur/CBCEW.org.uk