May God be glorified in you
Ordination to Priesthood – Ashan Peiris
Ashan, tonight here at St Mary’s Cathedral, Hobart, with members of your family from Sri Lanka, priests, deacons and seminarians from the Archdiocese of Hobart, and the Catholic faithful, a spiritual journey, a vocational journey, finds a completion: you are to be ordained a priest.
The words of the Prophet Jeremiah speak to you as God’s word for you: “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you came to birth I consecrated you”. This journey is not just your journey, your chosen path, but it is a path that God has chosen for you, and you have said “yes”.
Always remember that you are a priest because it is God’s good intention for your life. The Psalmist had a deep sense that all will be well, when he said in Psalm 16, “the lot marked out for me is my delight”. He who called you will sustain you. He will never desert you. Tonight, resolve to put your priestly life, in trusting surrender, into the hands of God.
In June 2010 on the Feast of the Sacred Heart (and I know you have a special devotion to the Sacred Heart), Pope Benedict celebrated a Mass in St Peter’s Square with 20 Cardinals, 350 other bishops and 15,000 priests, to mark the end of the Year of Priests. I was present at that Mass. It was probably the largest concelebrated Mass in history.
In his homily the Pope commented on the priesthood in these words,
The priest is not a mere office-holder, like those which every society needs in order to carry out certain functions. Instead, he does something which no human being can do of his own power: in Christ’s name he speaks the words which absolve us of our sins and in this way he changes, starting with God, our entire life. Over the offerings of bread and wine he speaks Christ’s words of thanksgiving, which are words of transubstantiation – words which make Christ himself present, the Risen One, his Body and Blood – words which thus transform the elements of the world, which open the world to God and unite it to him. The priesthood, then, is not simply “office” but sacrament: God makes use of us poor men in order to be, through us, present to all men and women, and to act on their behalf.
This is the nobility of the priesthood. We bring the mercy and love of God to be made present and effective in the lives of our brothers and sisters. The Pope then adds,
This audacity of God who entrusts himself to human beings – who, conscious of our weaknesses, nonetheless considers men capable of acting and being present in his stead – this audacity of God is the true grandeur concealed in the word “priesthood”. That God thinks that we are capable of this; that in this way he calls men to his service and thus from within binds himself to them: this is what we wanted to reflect upon and appreciate anew over the course of the past year.
Ashan, though we are frail and imperfect human beings, God considers us capable of being the instruments of his saving grace. This is the wonder of the priesthood. It at once enhances our lives as we are configured to Christ the Priest, but at the same time God is content to work through us as very imperfect instruments. God believes in us. Ashan, God believes in you!
At the heart of the priesthood is the celebration of the Sacred Liturgy, particularly the Holy Eucharist. Tonight, you will join me and the other priests here present as we do what Jesus did at the Last Supper. This action draws us into the heart of the saving mystery of our Lord, Jesus Christ. We proclaim his death and profess his resurrection which are the saving actions of God for humanity. We touch the deepest mystery of our Catholic faith. We are the means by which this profound mystery is effected and made available to our brothers and sisters.
You are given the power through Ordination to bring about the transformation of bread and wine into the Body and Blood of the Redeemer. Nowhere else is a priest more a priest than when he stands at the altar and celebrates the Mass. Your brothers and sisters in the faith need your faithful service at the altar. You are one who can bring them the Bread of Life. You enable them to enter a profound communion with their Lord as they receive the Holy Eucharist.
Ashan, allow the mystery of the Eucharist to be the source and summit of your priestly life, as it is the source and summit of the Christian life.
Ashan, you know only too well that the priesthood that you receive today is not your own, for it is that of Jesus Christ. You are invested with the character and grace of the Sacrament of Orders, and constituted a witness and minister of divine mercy, and you offer yourself to undertake a life in the service of all.
This priestly service will occur within the particular social, cultural or historical circumstances of our day. Your task is to bring the person and saving power of Christ into the lives of people who are living in an increasingly secularist and consumerist environment which erodes the meaning of Christianity for many. I remind of the teaching of the Apostle John that the victory that overcomes the world is our faith. (1 John 5:4). The deep faith in and love for Christ that you have will overcome all obstacles and be the means by which God will touch many through your ministry.
What a priest is above all else and what people expect of him above all else is that he is a man of God. St Augustine said simply: “Our knowledge is Christ and our wisdom is also Christ”.
You are given particular authority to proclaim the Gospel and preach the word that nourishes the soul of believers. Your faithful meditation on the Word of God, the depth of your interior life, will be the source of the spiritual fecundity of your preaching ministry. People living in this spiritually and morally arid environment thirst for the word of life. Bring them the living and transforming power of the Word of God.
You are given power to conquer the evil of sin through sacramental forgiveness. Your words of absolution will bring peace and hope to many souls. You will be an agent of divine mercy. In the quiet of the confessional, or offering spiritual direction, you will be able to guide many along paths of truth and wisdom. You will assist many in their search for God.
And as priest you will particularly show the love of Christ to the poor, the sick, the suffering. You will often be the compassionate face of God and bring great comfort and light to those in the shadows. You will be a source of grace for the dying, aiding them in their moment of surrender to death and into the arms of God.
All these and so much more is now your ministry in the Church, and they will become your joy and your crown.
Ashan, in a few moments you will publicly declare your intentions. Then in the Sacrament of Orders the grace of God will come upon you and conform your whole being to that of Christ the Priest. You will be changed forever. You will become a priest secundum ordinem Melchisedech.
May God be glorified in you.
Archbishop Julian Porteous
Friday, 14 February 2025