This last Sunday afternoon, I had the pleasure to take a little hike through Nelson’s Ledges down near Garrettsville with a few brother seminarians.
- During the car ride down there we were talking about the blessing of living in Ohio and being able to experience all of the seasons.
- Now in the latter third of the month of November, this change in seasons became apparent as we commenced on our hike:
- winter is fast approaching, the chill is setting in, darkness is coming earlier, the sun is seen less, the trees are going barren, the grass is turning to stubble if it isn’t already covered with an inch or seven of snow…nature is dying.
It is very appropriate that Holy Mother Church gives us these apocalyptic readings from Revelations and the Gospels, now in the month of the November, in these last days of the liturgical year when nature is dying.
- The readings that remind us, that there is an end to all of this…death comes for nature and it comes for all of us. And with death comes judgment. Both are inescapable.
- We are reminded, therefore, that we ought to be prepared for death.
- In fact, as Christians, dying, dying to self, dying to our self-indulgent selfishness, is part of our way of life.
- We are to live for our eternal goal, rejecting anything that distracts or takes us away from heaven. In fact, dying to self frees us for selfless love in imitation of our Lord.
This time of year reminds me of those months when I first began considering entering the seminary about eight years ago.
- And during this time, I was prompted to ask myself what I found particularly attractive about the priesthood—what part of priestly identity spoke to me—what about the priests in my life beckoned me to desire to imitate them?
- And this may sound somewhat morbid—but one of the aspects of priestly identity that spoke to me was the priest’s serenity about death and dying.
- Death--that which most men fear and spend their lives fleeing from and distracting themselves from, priests seemed to have conquered this greatest of fears.
It was as if they had experienced death themselves, that they’d traveled off into the unknown and carried back some mysterious answer that underlied everything they said and did.
- It wasn’t merely that they dressed in black clerical clothes or a cassock—but that they embodied in some way, the truth about death.
- I came to realize that it wasn’t that the priest embraces death, but that he embraces Christ.
- He embraces Christ not merely as an idea or philosophy, but the priest’s soul encounters Christ, says “Yes” to Christ, and teaches the rest of us that neither death, nor the dying to self that every Christian is called to is a cause for fear.
- The priests which attracted me to consider entering seminary, and I’m sure of this, had a profound relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ and in embracing Christ who selflessly lived out the Father’s will, who died and rose from death, the priest finds freedom from death with Christ.
Brothers, these days to come will undoubtedly require each of us to die. If in the course of our formation there is not a growing detachment from worldly things—from luxuries, comforts and self-indulgences, we may need to renew our commitment to the spiritual life.
- Moreover and more immediately, Thanksgiving break may be only a short six days, but it can have its fare share of temptations and pitfalls:
- the devil has come upon us with a great fury for he knows his time is short.
- There will be friends home from college particularly of the female persuasion, there will be a lack of reverend father rectors ensuring that we are at daily mass, there will be little fraternal accountability from your seminary brothers,
- therefore it will require a great deal of dying, self-mastery, self-discipline.
From a real relationship with the crucified-and-risen Christ the priest becomes a man of Hope.
- The priest in union with Christ is a man of hope—and from that union comes an unshakeable trust that God keeps his promise to raise those who die with Christ.
- The priest bears the crucified within him and shares his God given hope with those in need of it.
- True hope in the face of death, of crumbling empires, earthquakes, famines, and plagues isn’t mere optimism that life continues after death, but a conviction and trust and surrender to God whether we are facing our mortal end or being called to conversion.
As we receive the Body and Blood of Jesus we truly proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes in glory. May this Eucharist renew in us the freedom of the sons of God—freedom from the fear of death and all selfishness. ****END****
· For the needs of the Church, for our Holy Father and the Bishops, and Christians everywhere may be strengthened in faith, hope, and love, especially for Christians undergoing persecution.
· That the testimony of love offered by the Saints, may fortify Christians in their service to God and neighbor, imitating Christ who came not to be served but to serve.
· That our president-elect and all civic leaders may work to promote laws and establish authentic justice in accord with the dignity and respect owed to all human persons.
· For all those who have fallen away from the Church, that they may be attentive to the work of the Holy Spirit in their hearts and return to the practice of the Faith.
· For an increase in vocations to the priesthood and the religious life and for all those who serve as missionaries.
· For safety for all travelers over the Thanksgiving Holiday, for purity for all college students, and for all families experiencing division
· For all those who have died, especially among our families, friends, and benefactors, for all those whose names are written in the Book of the names of the Dead, for those priests of the Diocese of Cleveland who died on this date… and for all those who died in service to the Church. We pray to the Lord.
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