(This article courtesy of the Arlington Catholic Herald.)
Recently, I re-read the sermon I was privileged to preach on Gaudete Sunday as my classmates and I continued our retreat in preparation for our priestly ordination the following Ember Saturday morning. The dominant theme in this neophyte’s sermon was joy and confidence in the Holy Spirit. Much has happened since I preached that sermon during the retreat.
Yet, the truth remains: the source of our joy and hope lies in the presence within us of the Holy Spirit. After all, His mission is to enflesh in us the presence of the Lord Jesus, who comes with the Father to make His dwelling within us (cf. Jn. 14:23). Indeed, we become the living temple of the Triune God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. May you experience in these days of Christmas that joy and hope which are truly rooted in the Holy Spirit with whom all of us have been anointed at Baptism and Confirmation.
I share with you the text of that 1965 sermon.
God’s Word in today’s Liturgy stresses again and again just one point: rejoice, be happy, be joyful. “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say, rejoice…the Lord is near” (Entrance Antiphon: Phil. 4:4-5). Joy is a fundamental attitude, not only during these days of reflection and prayer, but for all days, because joy is intrinsic to the Good News of Christianity.
And yet, can we be joyful? As we attempt to answer the same question asked of John in today’s gospel reading: “What do you have to say for yourself” (Jn. 1:22), we seem to hesitate. Our reply made with the same frankness as John’s, may not seem too joyful. At the end of these years of preparation for the Priesthood, we find that we are neither so holy nor so learned as we hoped we would be. As we come to the end of this training, our hands seem so empty, our talents so few and still so undeveloped. Looking ahead to the future and its challenge, we can only repeat with the prophet: “How can Jacob stand when he is so small?”(Amos 7:2) Dare we, then, be joyful?
We can be joyful – we must be joyful! Why? Because despite our insufficiency, the Lord has chosen us to share in His Priesthood. The Lord is near; within a few days, He will pour upon us the fullness of His Spirit. And this is why we must be joyful: the Holy Spirit will be given to us as a continual and abiding pledge of strength and power. We will dare to bring our people to a meeting with Christ in the sacraments, we will dare to preach and to act as priests, we will dare to love as Christ loves – only because the Spirit will be with us. Christ promises us today as He promised the Twelve: “The Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in My Name will teach you everything and remind you of everything I have spoken to you” (Jn. 14:26). Within a few days these words from Scripture will be fulfilled in us: “The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you” (Lk. 1:35). This, then, is the reason for our joy.
So, in confidence and hope, we join together in offering the Eucharist, in praying the Office, in reflecting upon the Scriptures and the Exercises, and in performing acts of penance, for in so doing, we are preparing ourselves to receive the Holy Spirit. “Have no anxieties, but in every circumstance by prayer and petition joined with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God” (Phil. 4:6). And the peace of God will be ours.
Rejoice, brothers, again I say, rejoice! The Lord is near and He will send upon us His Spirit.
In the spirit of joyful hope, I ask you to pray daily for more vocations to the priesthood and consecrated life. Because we continue to grow at a strong rate, we need more vocations to both the priesthood and the consecrated life in order to ensure a stable future in this new century. Please ask the Lord each day to choose someone from your family to be a priest, brother or sister. The answer to tomorrow’s needs is today.
Permit me to close with a similar invitation from Pope John Paul II’s Message for the World Day of Prayer for Vocations on April 21, 2002. “The theme of the Message is ‘The Vocation to Holiness.’ Every vocation is at the service of holiness. Some, however, such as the vocations to ordained ministry and consecrated life, are at the service of holiness in a thoroughly unique manner. It is to these vocations that I invite everyone to pay particular attention today, by intensifying their prayers for them” (L’Osservatore Romano, n. 49 [1721], p.1).
The Holy Father also referred in his Message to the Third Continental Congress (which will be held in Montreal April 18-22, 2002) for vocations to ordained ministry and to the consecrated life in North America. I echo the Holy Father’s invitation to pray for this event. “I invite everyone to pray, so that this important gathering may produce a renewed commitment to the service of vocations and a more generous enthusiasm among the Christians of the ‘New World’ (L’Osservatore Romano, n. 49 [1721], p. 3).
May the Lord continue to call forth many vocations to priesthood and consecrated life and give to each of you in these early days of Christmas His peace, hope and joy.
