I had the pleasure of attending an overnighter at the seminary on the eve of ordination day. The event consisted of participating in some of Friday night’s activities, and then going to the ordination Mass on Saturday at the cathedral. There were about a dozen of us participating; five of us were already accepted and planning to enter in August. Several of the rest were in various stages of formal discernment and application as well.
The event consisted of dinner, which was a casual (i.e. civilian attire on everyone, including all the priests) indoor barbecue and “roast” of the deacons to be ordained priests. After that our little group took a rosary walk around the grounds, and then we watched a video of an ordination Mass to become familiar with what’ll take place. Around 9:00 we participated in a Holy Hour/Compline (which was formal), and then they had a clap-out ceremony for the ordinandi. Then it was bedtime. Saturday consisted of breakfast and then heading over to the cathedral for the Mass. After Mass, we made our way back to the seminary for lunch and the day was done.
As one would expect, the ordination Mass was superb. I’m not good at estimating crows size, but I’d say there were probably 100 concelebrating priests, plus most of the other bishops of the archdiocese. Seminarians handled all the serving duties. The music was appropriate. There was a nice mix of Latin chant and more modern music. Nothing hokey. I believe they had instituted lector seminarians do the readings. The cardinal preached a typical-for-him homily. Those of you who’ve heard him preach will understand. Excellent content, but delivered in such a monotone that an entire orchestra could probably tune their instruments while listening to him preach. The actual Rite of Ordination was a beautiful site to behold. The Liturgy of the Eucharist was reverent, and Communion was distributed primarily by the new priests and the bishops — awesome! After the Mass, the new priests were getting photos taken and giving blessings. In other words all that good liturgical stuff that makes me drool.
Someone once made a quote in reference to the Catholic Church: “here comes everybody.”
That quote came to mind multiple times during the weekend when seeing the seminarians and the priests. They’re all unique individuals. They all have different upbringings, ages, hobbies, food preferences, styles of dress, hairstyles, tastes in music, shoe sizes, etc. In other words, they’re human. Just like the rest of us. You can see it quite clearly when they’re all hanging around in their civvies enjoying burgers and hot dogs and chatting about all kinds of random things.
Yet, a few hours later, that same group was dressed to the nines in cassocks and surplices and chanting Night Prayer in front of the exposed Blessed Sacrament. That individuality seems to fade in the sea of black and white, and you start to see what they all have in common: a deep love for Christ and His Church.
And then, after that, back to the individuality as cassocks give way to shorts and collars are shed in favor of pajamas.
I think many Catholics today don’t realize that their priests are regular human beings, because most of us only see them when they’re “on the job.” But “off the job,” they have lives too. We see our clergy on Sundays at Mass, but there’s more to their lives than just Sunday Mass, and just because a man is a priest doesn’t mean he can’t enjoy some fun in his life.
Taking things a bit further, the same could apply to all the faithful. Every one of the 1.1 billion or so Catholics in the world is a unique individual. Yet, we come together to show our love of God in our public worship. Together, that individuality fades, and Christ replaces it.
We come into church with our varied lives. We unite. And then we head out and go back, hopefully a little better than when we came in. A poor man might sit next to a rich woman. There is no black and white and Hispanic and Asian. A heavily tattooed and pierced person receives the same Eucharist as the prim and proper southern belle.
Dare I say, it’s possible that in the Church, the wolf really has become a guest of the lamb, the leopard does lie down with the kid, the calf and the young lion are browsing together. Cows and bears truly are neighbors, here in the Church.
Maybe not the most profound of thoughts. But an interesting reflection to take away from what was already a splendid weekend.
