Sunday Sixth of Easter, 2012
Fr. Anthony Brankin
(Full text of sermon) May I take this opportunity to welcome all of you to Saint Odilo Church on the occasion of the celebration of the First Solemn Mass by Father Piotr Rapcia.
We extend a very special welcome to Father Piotr’s father and mother and sister who have come all the way from Poland so that they would be here in Chicago for Piotr’s ordination to the Sacred Priesthood and this First Mass.
I am humbled by their faith and love—not only for their dear son and brother—but also for the depth of their own faith—for it was within their home that Piotr’s calling to the priesthood was first heard. How proud they are of Piotr.
A first for Fr. Brankin
I am also humbled that Piotr asked me to concelebrate with him and preach at his First Solemn Mass. It is an old tradition for a newly ordained priest to ask one of the older clergy to give the sermon at that special Mass.
It is an honor and a first in my life. Thank you, Piotr, for your friendship and confidence.
Know what you are doing, imitate the mystery you celebrate: model your life on the mystery of the Lord’s cross—words taken from the Ordination the Priesthood.
I remember about four years ago when Mundelein Seminary telephoned me and asked if Saint Odilo Parish would be able to accommodate two seminarians from Poland. They needed a place to stay while they were studying English at the University of Illinois. The seminary said that it was also important for these young men to see the daily life of a typical American Catholic parish Well, I could not guarantee the seminary that Saint Odilo was typical, but I thought about how generous were these young men, Piotr Rapcia and Marcin Zasada—that they would leave their home and their families, their friends and relations—to come to America—to Chicago—to be priests for us.
How could I be so selfish as to say, “No” to such a display of faith and heart. And so in the face of their generosity, I knew I had to say “Yes.” They studied so hard—about English—about America—about Chicago. After Mass every morning, they went to language school. And then in the afternoons, tired as they were from school, they helped me around the parish. They learned that a priest’s job is not only about souls and grace—but sometimes about material things like buildings and pipes and gardens and floors. After all, was not Jesus in the building trades for many years? Piotr and Marcin learned so well that they taught me about being generous with time and talent—and never saying “No I am too tired.” Little by little, they grew into Chicago seminarians—scholars trying to be saints— young men aspiring to be priests.
I remember asking Piotr about his life at home in Poland. And I understood from him that he lived in a small town—a village close to the country. I used to imagine Piotr walking down tree-lined roads—with wooden fences to the right and bushes to the left—and mountains off in the distance—a life defined by earth below and heaven above.
Concrete and asphalt
How different Chicago must have seemed to Piotr. Here in America it was all concrete and asphalt—noise and traffic—an ocean of bright lights hiding deep darks. He was now living in a land of artifice and plastic, where flaws and failings were trumpeted as virtue, and sins were sung aloud as victories. How many times must Piotr have asked himself: “What am I doing here? I should go back home—where Catholic people live under a Catholic sky—and where they understand about God and Jesus and the Virgin Mary and grace and redemption.” Of all the cities that Piotr could have chosen to work as an Apostle, he chose Chicago—par excellence the City of Man—the city of gangsters and graft.
We who have lived here all our lives don’t really notice it. But Piotr must have seen it. The modern city—despite its sleek downtown and fashionable people—is pretty ugly—with more sadness and violence and heartache and ruin than anyone would ever imagine. And I am sure Piotr wondered as he wandered through this quintessentially modernist city: What is the disconnect here? Why with all their wealth and style—do these people seem so needy? How is it that the streets of the City of Man are not paved with gold but with the tear-stained shards of the broken dreams of the millions who came here looking for the salvation that riches and material success purport to bring—but they find only heartache and sorrow.
When they need Him most
And then it hit him! The problem is “They do not think they need Jesus!” And Piotr concluded confirming his vocation to himself, “But that is when they most need Him—when they think they can do without Him!” And so Piotr resolved to do what he could do to bring the Good News of Jesus—the comfort and love of Our Lord to a City that does not think it needs the good News and comfort and love of Jesus.
It was one thing a thousand years ago to be a missionary to people who knew there was something out there — a God and maybe even a heaven. It is quite another to come to a people who believe in nothing but themselves.
Oh that is not to say that there are not millions of holy, wonderful Catholics and people of good will here in Chicago or America. And Piotr has met thousands of them—in the parishes where he has taught and worked as a seminarian—at McNeal (that is desperate for Piotr to work as a chaplain for them). And he loves them and they love him; but their faith grows more fragile in this City of Man with each passing day; and so Piotr has accepted the challenge to keep Christ among his people—or to bring Christ here where He is absent. The challenge of the Modern Age will be the challenge of Piotr’s Life and priesthood.
Changed forever
Yesterday the cardinal laid hands on the head of Piotr and ordained him a priest. That is the gesture that changed Piotr forever. Imposition of hands as the essential ordaining ritual goes back two thousand years to the moment when the first Apostle imposed hands on one of the first disciples and made him a priest. Piotr can now trace his ordination—first through Cardinal George and then back through whomever imposed hands on Cardinal George—and on and on—through history—in an unbroken line back to one of the Apostles.
As priest Piotr has the power now to take bread and wine and say the words of Jesus—and it becomes the actual Body and Blood of Christ. He has the power to forgive sins or bring us to the waters of regeneration in Baptism. He gives comfort to the sick and instruction to the needy.
He is a priest. But we moderns can sometimes look upon the priest in a modern way—as a pretty nice person who wants to do pretty nice things in a sometimes not-nice world. We think of the priest as the good-will ambassador of the Catholic Church.
Not in his own name
But he is more than that and in a certain sense—less than that. The priest is one who offers sacrifice—the sacrifice of Jesus—the sacrifice of himself. He brings salvation not in his own name or by his own talents or because of his own goodness. He is priest in Christ’s name and in Christ’s place.
In the ordination rite yesterday, the Cardinal told Piotr that he must model his life on the mystery of the cross of Christ. But how does that happen? Well he does this by offering ritual sacrifice. When Piotr says Mass he will brings Christ down from the Cross and place Him upon the altar so that we may have Life and life to the full—that we might have Salvation. St. Odilo Schola Cantorum The St. Odilo Schola Cantorum will render the following music at these upcoming Sunday, 9:30 A.M. Masses: Sunday, May 20 – Missa “Rosa Mystica” by Vito Carnevali Sunday, May 27 & June 10 – Missa Brevis by Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina Sunday, June 3 – Missa Brevis Sancti Joannis de Deo by Franz Joseph Haydn–on this date, the Schola will be joined by string players from Northwestern University and Concordia College But then even more than that: Jesus will use Piotr—his body and soul—his life and love—His days and nights—his past and future to become a sort of altar upon which Jesus offers sacrifice. In a certain sense there are two altars for every Mass—the marble altar upon which we place the Host and Chalice—and the bodily altar of the priest upon which Jesus lays His Cross. This is how Piotr will model his life on the Mystery of the Cross.
A priest like Jesus?
Piotr’s daily Mass—as Christ’s un-bloody sacrifice—will be Piotr’s un-bloody sacrifice—his life offered to Jesus and every day and in every way; and the more will Piotr’s priesthood be like Christ’s—holy and self sacrificing. And could Piotr ever ask for anything more than to be a priest like Jesus? And how did Jesus save us? By becoming a victim in the very act of being a priest.
Piotr does not bring salvation in his name—or by virtue of his talents. A priest must never forget that he is only a vessel, a vessel of clay to be sure. He himself is just as in need of salvation, grace, and Jesus—as anyone to whom he ministers. He is as broken as anyone he tries to put together. He is as wounded as anyone he tries to heal. He is as weak as anyone he tries to strengthen. The priest will be most effective and strongest when he remembers that it is Jesus who saves and that he is only the instrument.
In a certain sense God chooses his priests—not because they are so wonderful, but because of their weakness.
Power brought to perfection
God chooses those who recognize how empty they are without the grace of God. In this way God can perform all the supernatural wonders that need to be performed. In the weakness of the priest, power is brought to perfection. Jesus offers himself as the sacrifice for the world in the self-sacrifice of his priest.
Piotr has an abundance of gifts: Courage, integrity, intelligence, a heart for others a deep faith in the reality of the supernatural. But that is not what will make him a good priest—it is that Piotr will bring Jesus to this world that needs Jesus so desperately—and he will do it at Mass every day. As well, I know that when the phone rings at two o’clock in the morning—and it is the hospital, Piotr will bring Jesus there too—and every Saturday he will sit in some confessional and he will bring Jesus to some poor troubled souls. And being Piotr, he will understand that this is all part of modeling his life on the mystery of the cross—that he is more often than not—on that cross with Jesus. And it is Jesus on the cross whom Piotr on the cross will bring.
And if Piotr understands it this way and prays his prayers every day and does his duty and abandons himself to Jesus and allows Jesus to work through him without being a hindrance to Jesus—without getting in the way of Grace and God—well then he will be the best of priests.