Called to Help Up Participate More
in the Priesthood of Jesus Christ

Thanksgiving Mass of Fr. Xavier Alpasa, S.J.
with Frs. Francis Alvarez, Oliver Dy, Jason Dy, Frank Savadera, Robbie Sian, S.J

Fr. Joel Tabora, S.J.
AdNU University Church of Christ the King
Sunday, May 10, 2009, 5:00 pm

On the 4th of April 2009, six Jesuits received the sacrament of Holy Orders in the Church of the Gesu of the AdMU.  Some of us were there.  Some of us tried to get there, and didn’t succeed.  Most of us could not be there.  We are overjoyed today that these newly ordained Jesuit priests are now here, grateful for their priesthood, grateful for their priesthood, grateful for their new missions in life.  We are grateful especially for the presence of Fr. Javy who spent his regency here.  We welcome him with his co-ordinati home on Mothers’ Day, on the 73rd birthday of his mother, and on the golden wedding anniversary of his parents.  Before the image of our King, and before the image of our Ina, we join our thanks with theirs – who are now ordained to serve the Church as priests.

We give thanks because in God’s providence they were called from ordinary life to do the extraordinary work of a priest.  Francis Alvarez was a favorite high school actor of AdMU’s Dulaang Sibol who has now special training in Philosophy; Jason Dy finished  civil engineering at Xavier University;  Oliver Dy completed physics at AdMU;  Frank Savadera mastered psychology at the University of the Philippines;  Robbie Sian became a doctor of Medicine at the University of the Philippines.  Javy Alpasa finished economics at the University of Sto. Thomas, and worked at Solid Bank, the Bank of Nova Scotia, San Miguel Corporation and PCI Bank before yielding “in the flower of his youth” to the call  to join the Society of Jesus.  As the disciples were called to leave their nets to follow Jesus, so were these young urban professionals called to leave their careers, their earnings, and their worldly futures to do the extraordinary work of a priest.  We give thanks today because when they were called they said yes, and because God in his providence has brought them to this happy day.

They were called from the ordinary life of fishermen, of philosophers, of civil engineers, of physicists, of psychologists, of business managers and entrepreneurs to do the extraordinary work of the priest.  Some may consider the opposite to be the case:  that they were called from extraordinary promising professions just to become priests.  Why the movement from riches to rags? But these are those who in today’s secularized culture no longer appreciate the mystery of initiating young and old into the Christian community, the awesomeness of forgiving sins in God’s name, the consolation of praying over the sick in the name of the Church, the thrill of calling the Christian Community together at Mass to listen to the word of God and to participate in the saving Sacrifice of the Lord on the Cross.   This is indeed among the great privileges and missions of the priest:  to preach the word of God and to celebrate his sacraments of love present in our lives.  In my view, I think we must exert special effort to clarify how extraordinary this is.  

And how unworthy we, who are called to this ministry, are for this work – despite the genuinely extraordinary talents and stunning achievements we bring to it.  In the Society of Jesus it is clear to all:  Jesuits are sinners – often rather extraordinary sinners - called to work at the side of Christ – who is our one priest.

Perhaps we don’t reflect on this enough.  There is no priesthood outside of Jesus Christ.  There are no priests outside of Jesus Christ.  There is only one who offers sacrifice on our behalf – and that is Jesus Christ.  There is only one effective mediator between us human beings and Almighty God, and that is Jesus Christ.  That is why at the highpoint of the Mass – in a crescendo of praise  - which presumes the utmost in humility – with hearts singing, bells ringing and incense rising we declare:  [It is] Through him, [only through him], with him, in him, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, all glory and honor is yours Almighty Father… 

We really don’t reflect on this enough.  When we think of the priesthood and of the symbols associated with the priest, we normally think of the chalice and paten, the stole, the chasuble, the black clerical shirt and the white roman collar, perhaps even the breviary.  We think of Masses in churches and the principle witness at weddings and presiders over funerals; the movies certainly don’t seem to present priests in any other light!  Indeed, all these may very well bespeak the priestly.  But we fail, I think, to connect these with the principal symbol of the Lord’s priesthood:  the Cross, better, the Crucifix, the image of Jesus crucified on the Cross. 

For Jesus is our Priest because of the Cross.  As our Priest he offers – once and for all times – the saving Sacrifice on the Cross 

It is he who as Priest does not refuse to drink of the bitter cup, though he would rather not have; it is he who conforms his personal will to the will of his Father:  he who offers his suffering and death to free us from suffering and death.
It is he who as Priest takes sin to himself and dies to conquer sin.
It is he who as Priest accepts death for himself to win for us eternal life.
It is he who as Priest takes us to himself in love and is raised to conquer us completely in love.

There is one Priest, Jesus Christ.  As through our baptism we are baptized into the suffering and death of the Lord, that is, as through our baptism we are made part of the saving Sacrifice of the Lord, through our baptism we ALL are made part of the Priesthood of the Lord.  There is but one priest, and all of us who are baptized take part in the one Priesthood of the Lord.  There is only one priest.  But all of us share in his one Priesthood.  There is only one priest, but all of us are priests in his one Priesthood. 

We are all priests by virtue of baptism.  But a small group taken from our number are priests not only by baptism but also by virtue of Holy Orders. Among these are Francis, Jason, ODy, Frank, Robbie and Javy.  From among those called to the priesthood of the faithful by virtue of baptism, there are those called to the ministerial priesthood by virtue of Holy Orders.  They are called from the ordinariness of our lives – from being bankers, businessmen, psychologists, physicists, physicians, farmers and fishermen – to the extraordinariness of helping us who are baptized in the Lord’s priesthood to participate more in his priesthood.  They are called to help us real-ize the truth of Jesus’ priesthood as it affects us and others in our daily lives.  They are called to help us accept the Cross as our Cross, the Cross we must – as the Lord said - take up daily in following him.  They are called to help us die to sin on His Cross as sin caused him to die on His Cross.  They are called to help us live eternally in the hope of the resurrection won once and for all times by the Cross.  They are called to help place our lives in the perspective of the death and resurrection of the Lord, so that what is primary in life is not what is profane, ephemeral and fleeting, but what is sacred, lasting and permanent:  the love of God for us, proven in his sacrifice on the Cross for us.   

Our greater participation in the sacrifice of the Lord, this is what our ministerial priests are called to bring forth – with every Eucharist, with every confession, with every privileged moment to preach the Word, with every chance to proclaim the Good News, with every conversation, with every prayer, with every breath.  It is a service to the Christian community willed by our Lord, the High Priest, himself, and normally conditioned on a deep, personal realization of how we are all saved in the Sacrifice of the Lord, but also challenged to make our bitter cup in life, our current struggle with our conscience, our pained wrestling with temptations, our deep divisions within, our difficulties with our spouse, our quarrels with our neighbor, our being misjudged by our sister or brother, our too often violent divisions within the Christian or human community, but also our every experience in life of “the sweet cup that runneth over,” our every experience of success, our every experience of kindness, our every experience of great human achievement,  our every experience of elation in friendship and ecstasy in love, [we are challenged to make all of this] part, our living part of the redeeming and uplifting sacrifice of the Lord.  The ministerial priests are called to help us participate more in this Sacrifice by leading us to feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, clothe the naked, shelter the homeless, instruct the ignorant, speak out against injustice, fight corruption, oppose everything that demeans man made in the image and likeness of God, promote everything that uplifts man called to “the abundance and fullness of human life,” to transform corruption into integrity, sickness into health, and rags into riches – and pay the price in personal sacrifice. It is in this light that, after the consecration during the Mass, it is said: “In memory of the death and resurrection of our Lord…we offer you, Father, in thanksgiving this life-giving bread, this saving cup.” - We offer you, Father, this redeeming sacrifice.   It is the ministerial priest united with all who are baptized who utters these words; he utters them profoundly united with our Lord, the High Priest, “We offer you… this sacrifice” – Jesus’ sacrifice, our sacrifice.  In churches, in barrios, in schools, in convents, in hospitals, in homes, in countries from east to west, north to south, in Payatas or Culion, the words are repeated and the sacrifice takes place for us.  But not without the ministerial priest.

Francis, Jason, ODy, Frank, Robbie and Javy, we thank the Lord and yourselves for your ordination.  As you serve the Christian community as ministerial priests, we wish you every joy, every blessing, every success. In a world that is no longer bothered by the image of the Cross and seems to have lost its taste even for worthwhile sacrifice, may your contemplation of the image of the Crucified Lord continually unfold for you the meaning and urgency of your ministerial priesthood!  May this sacred image in our secular world ever force you as priests to prayer, as life continually forces you in prayer to the Cross!  May your union with the self-sacrificing Crucified One be the content of your priesthood and the joy of your extraordinary priestly vocation! May your preaching of the Risen Lord still carrying his Cross help us all to gratefully yield to his relentlessly self-sacrificing love!