The Great Gift of the Priesthood

You may notice I didn't copy and paste the readings for today. That's because the readings we had at Mass today were the optional readings for the Memorial of St. John Vianney, and I thought I'd tell of an experience I shared today instead.

I was excited when I got up this morning because today is the day a friend of mine was to accompany me to Mass for the first time! I was so happy that he was going to see what worship of Our Lord has been, is, and can be for a believer in Christ and the Church He founded over 2000 years ago!

We have been talking about going to a weekday Mass so he wouldn’t feel overwhelmed by the “smells and bells” that can sometimes make seekers of the truth skeptical of the Subject of our worship, if they don’t realize that those very rites and traditions are what makes us focus our eyes and hearts on HIM.

My friend has been getting Tuesdays off—he works two jobs, God bless him—so we thought that today would be the day. He lives only a block away from St. Joseph’s in Modesto and we were able to meet at 5:30 for the 5:45 Mass.

It never occurred to me that the church would be having their festival in August and during the week! Or that they would be having a special Mass in honor of St. John Vianney with a guest homilist brought over all the way from Germany! Or that it would be a concelebrated HIGH Mass (as high as the ordinary form gets, anyway). St. Joseph’s pastor, Father Illo is a very holy and orthodox priest, so there is usually a lot more “punch” to his Masses than in any of the others I am privilged to attend, but I didn’t expect a “full house!” There were confessions going on when we arrived, and it didn’t look like we were going to get started on time, either. Sure enough, Father Illo got up to the lecturn and told us that the visiting priest’s flight from Germany had been canceled and he had to scramble to find another, so he was going to be late and Mass would not start until 6:15. Oh, well. That gave me more time to go over a few of the subtleties of the Mass with my friend, “Joe”. (I’m keeping his real name out of this, because I don’t know how he would feel if I posted it here—so discretion is my best friend in this case). All of this AND the "smells and bells". God sure has a funny sense of humor when He deals with me.

After Mass we spoke for a couple of minutes about a some questions he had, and all in all I felt pretty good about the experience. I hope the experience helps “Joe” come to a full understanding of Christ and His Church so I can witness his baptism some day.

The Great Gift of the Priesthood

The homily was on the gift and mystery of the priesthood and the citation from St. John Vianney, the patron saint of priests, that illustrated in strong terms just how important the priest is in the salvific plan Jesus established.

"Go and confess to the Blessed Virgin or to an angel," he began. "Will they absolve you? Will they give you the body and blood of Our Lord? No, the Blessed Virgin cannot make her divine Son descend in the host. Even if you had two hundred angels there with you, they could not absolve you. A priest, no matter how simple he may be, can. He can say to you: go in peace, I forgive you."

This is a year in which all of us are called to grow in appreciation of — and cease being apologetic about — this great treasure and most precious gift. We are also called to volunteer to help in any way we can—through prayer (always the first choice), ministry, or service. Don’t forget to pray for vocations! There’s a link on the left side of this blog if you need help.