A few weeks ago, I was on retreat and went to Mass one morning at a nearby parish. It was the 30th ordination anniversary of a priest friend of ours, and I was hoping that he would be celebrating the early Mass that day. To my delight, he was!
As you may know, the Church gives particular prayers that are to be used each day for Mass, whether they are for the saint we’re celebrating, or a particular liturgical season, or a Votive Mass. There is also a little section at the back of the Roman Missal with prayers for Masses “for Various Needs and Occasions.” In that section, there are prayers for the priest to use for Mass on the anniversary of his ordination.
The Entrance Antiphon for that Mass begins, “It was not you who chose me, says the Lord, but I who chose you….” These words from St. John’s Gospel are very familiar to many of us. As Father read them at the start of Mass that day, I was deeply struck by the significance of God’s call. The Lord chose this man to be a priest after His own Heart. Father responded to that call 30 years ago and every day since then. I was deeply moved by this thought as I reflected on it throughout the Mass that morning. Every priest has given up his life, not just once on his ordination day, but everyday thereafter, in service of God and His Church. As I knelt in prayer during the Consecration, something was clarified for me: I was moved by the personal gift that the priesthood is to me. A deep prayer of gratitude arose in my heart: “Thank You, Jesus, for this priest who has given up his life for me! Who gives up his life every day for my sanctification and salvation!”
At an ordination, the Bishop says to the newly ordained priest, “May Jesus preserve you to sanctify the Christian people.” He then exhorts him, “Model your life on the mystery of the Lord’s cross.” How blessed we are to have priests who joyfully and generously accept this call and strive to live it every single day of their lives! Their gift of self makes the sacraments available to us, and their example gives us living witnesses of what it really means to have hearts after His own Heart.
The Prayer after Communion for the anniversary of a priest’s ordination concludes in this way, “that I may be in truth what I have handled mystically in this sacrifice.” Let us pray this prayer with and for all our priests, that they will be more and more deeply conformed to Christ and that they will be blessed with every grace that they are in need of as they lay down their lives in service each and every day – for us!
Sr. Kelly Francis
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