A bridge between Christ and humanity
Ordination to the Priesthood: Jessie Banez
One of the clear tests of a vocation is that it persists deep in the heart even when circumstances seem to inhibit its realisation. That it persists is a sign that it is from God and not just human inclination.
Jessie, this is very evident in your own vocational journey which has reached its goal this evening.
Your desire to join the minor seminary indicated that a calling to the priesthood was stirring within you from an early age. This initial step was not able to be fulfilled. Then military service intervened. You found an outlet to your calling in being able to serve those in need through working with the Salesians in Makati City. This led to the opportunity to commence formal studies for the priesthood in Don Bosco Seminary College. Your journey then led you to the diocesan seminary in Manila, but it was a call to missionary service that ultimately led you to Hobart, after a time of caring for your family upon the death of your mother in 2014.
Over all these years, with many twists and turns, a calling to serve God and God’s people never left you. Even though it was not given definitive form for several decades, tonight it has been finally realised. I know that this is a night of great joy for you. And a joy for us in the Archdiocese of Hobart, and for your family in the Philippines.
The well-known passage from the Prophet Isaiah read this evening, was chosen by the Lord Himself to express his missionary vision. It begins with the words, “the spirit of the Lord has been given to me”. You know well that a vocation has its origins with the work of the Holy Spirit within the soul. It is mysterious but powerfully real. You know that your vocation is of divine origin. This understanding will be a source of inspiration and encouragement as you carry out your priestly ministry. It will sustain you during years ahead, years, I am sure, of faithful priestly service.
We know that we are priests because it has been God’s Holy Spirit that has drawn us. The gift of the priesthood is bestowed upon us through the Rite of Ordination. We are configured to Christ the Priest, by the action of the Holy Spirit. Tonight, Jessie, you are changed in your identity: You are a priest, secundum ordinem Melchizedek. God has endowed you with a share in the one priesthood of Jesus Christ.
From an awareness of the bestowal of the Holy Spirit through the Sacrament of Orders comes a clear and consuming sense of mission. The words of the Prophet Isaiah express our mission: “He has sent me to bring good news to the poor, to bind up hearts that are broken”.
Jessie, your earlier attraction to work among street children is surely a sign of your compassion towards those whose lives are broken. May you always have a heart for the poor and suffering.
This spirit of compassion is a reflection of the heart of a good shepherd described so poignantly by the Lord himself through the Gospel reading. In a passage that is a moment of self-revelation, Jesus speaks of a shepherd who is prepared to lay down his life for his sheep. While we are aware of its supreme expression in Jesus’ own life on Calvary, we are also aware that it was the Lord’s daily preoccupation as he moved among the poor and suffering people of his time.
He laid down his life each day. So, does a priest. The life and ministry of a priest is oriented towards the needs of the people he is called to serve. A priest lives among the people. He comes to know them and their needs. He makes himself available to them. He listens. He reaches out in love and kindness. He sees himself as being available for them and their pastoral and spiritual needs. A priest’s life is one of service to the people.
Jessie, the greatest gift you can give to those you serve is to enable them to come into a deep and personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Always have this as the central goal of your priestly ministry. Always preach Christ and help people to open their hearts and lives to Him.
A religious vocation is celebrated with joy within the Catholic community, but is often a complete mystery to those outside the community who do not have faith. Indeed, a religious vocation only makes sense when it is appreciated within the light of faith.
St Paul puts in words what is surely the motivating principle to his own calling and mission. He captures his own experience of Christ when he says, “the love of Christ overwhelms us”. His meeting with Christ on the Damascus road led him to know Christ is a deeply personal way. He saw his whole life as being oriented around Christ. He said in his letter to the Philippians (1:21),“For me to live is Christ”. Christ was all that mattered to him.
In the reading this evening he adds what to him seems perfect logic: “and the reason he died for all was so that living men should live no longer for themselves, but for him who died and was raised to life for them”.
This is the logic of faith. The Christian can live only one way – we no longer live for ourselves but for him who died and rose for us.
Jessie, tonight your long vocational journey has reached its goal. From now on, you are to live this new reality that you have sought and desired for so long. Now, you are a priest. In your priestly life you will be a bridge upon which Christ will cross over to humanity and humanity can cross over to the Christ. Be that bridge always.
Archbishop Julian Porteous
Friday, 9 April 2021