Dear Friends,
For many years now, the Archdiocese has been celebrating priestly ordinations on the first Saturday in June. Thirty-six years ago, my four classmates and I lay on the floor of the Cathedral awaiting the laying on hands and the imposition of the holy oil from the Archbishop that would make us permanently marked as priests of God. Archbishop Sheehan asked us the questions from the ritual and we each declared respect and obedience to him and his successors. We were welcomed into the priesthood by the more than 150 priests who were present for the ceremony. And, the following day, I gathered with close friends and family to celebrate my first Mass of Thanksgiving in my home parish of St. Isidore’s in Columbus, Nebraska.
Then, as it is this weekend, the liturgical year was celebrating the feast of Pentecost, the outpouring of the gift of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples. It was, and is, a great liturgical feast to kick off a lifetime of service. My ministry of the Catholic priesthood has been a grand adventure and I have no regrets about the thirty-six years of service I have given. I know that young people often ask, “How do you know that this is what God has called you to do?” My answer is something similar to what Dorothy Day gave to a college student a number of years ago when confronted with a similar question about her work:
“We are not always that sure about ourselves and the work we are doing here! What I can tell you is that the work we are doing here is not a sacrifice or something done because we are interested in doing good, or in finding an answer to the demands of conscience. All that, yes, all that is true. But I think we are quite happy here a lot of the time, doing what we do, because we believe we feel the spirit of Christ at work – in the work. We are not so high on ourselves that we feel Christ is in us; no, we hope we are moving a bit closer to Him, to His spirit, through the work we do, and that gives us the strength, the desire, to keep working at it. But, of course, we are human beings, and we can be hypocrites and phonies, no question about that! What I tell people why I am doing what I am doing in this last part of my life; I try to tell them that I am doing what I was put here to do by the Lord. When I was twenty or now that I am seventy-five, it’s all the same in this respect: I’m a person who’s trying to find out how to live. At twenty, I didn’t know; now I think I do – so I do, I work. And in the work, we encounter Christ.”
Priesthood has given me the same opportunity. It has given me a chance to encounter Christ in you, in the work, in the parish, and in this amazing world God has given us. By striving to live what Jesus taught, we place ourselves where it might be possible to encounter Christ.
Last Saturday, I had the opportunity to show our new building, the Cabrini Parish Center, to the Archbishop. We have made great progress since we took possession of the building just a year ago. As he was leaving he said, “I look forward to seeing what you are going to build with it.” It was a statement reflecting a profound truth about the church – it is not a building – it is a people. Buildings are simply tools that help us to shape the faith of a people. The Church does not build structures for the sake of structures, we build to have a place where people can pray, where people can learn, where people can serve those in need, and where people can build community.
One of the older priests who came to my first Mass thirty-six years ago gave me a congratulatory note that said, I should not be concerned about how many programs I start, how many buildings I build, how many sacraments I offer or how good my preaching is. He said the only thing I should ask myself each night before going to sleep was did I love the people? If I could say each day that I had loved the people God had sent my way, then my priesthood would be successful. I have done so ever since and I continue to share that same wisdom with those who are ordained each year.
Peace,
Fr. Damian