This coming Saturday, June 3, the Diocese of Rockford will rejoice in the ordination to Holy Orders of one priest and two transitional deacons.  During that ceremony, to take place at the Cathedral of St. Peter Parish in Rockford, Deacon Connor Orabutt will be ordained to the priesthood.  He will begin his ministry as parochial vicar at Holy Cross Parish in Batavia. Grant Colborn and Jeffrey Filipski will be ordained to the diaconate as they continue their formation for ordination to the priesthood next year.

 

Our joy on ordination day is to be once again motivated to deepen our faith by the example of young men who are offering their faith and their lives for the salvation of the world.  

 

The ordination of the two young men to the transitional diaconate joins them to the permanent diaconate that is so familiar throughout the Diocese of Rockford.  In both cases, the special calling of the diaconate was first discerned by the Church in the earliest days.  That is, a deep spiritual response to God’s calling of “reputable men, filled with the Spirit and wisdom” (Acts 6: 3), which is specifically linked to service in the life of the Church.

 

With the ordination of a new priest, we are reminded how the life of the Church, founded and established by Jesus Himself, continues in our own time.  The Gospels record that as Jesus walked along the Sea of Galilee, He chose those whom He wanted.   He said simply “Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men.”

 

Subsequently, after three years of living, speaking and praying with His apostles, Jesus entrusted the Church and His very self to them on Holy Thursday.  He made the apostles priests at the Last Supper and entrusted to them, His power to change bread into His body and wine into His blood.  So too were they entrusted with Jesus’s own power to forgive sins.

 

As the apostles died and new local churches were founded, the Church, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, recognized that the priesthood was a part of Jesus’s promise to be with the us always, “until the end of the age”.  (Mt, 28:20)   And so, the apostles chose and ordained successors to be joined to Christ, as they were.  

 

The calling of Jesus, “Come, follow me” is understood to continue in our day.  We rejoice in the generosity and faith of the men who, after the discernment of the Church, come forward as priests.  We are grateful as well for their fidelity to the celibate commitment long treasured by the Church and graced by God, as well as for their promise of obedience in imitation of Jesus fulfilling the will of His Father.

 

It is no secret that the numbers of candidates for the priesthood are down in our current time.  Some of that is related to demographics.  With less children being welcomed into families, there are less potential candidates for the priesthood.  The material temptations and moral confusion of our society also seek to make the priesthood less attractive since its nature contradicts our current secular ideology.  And the confusion and the scandals that have been sadly so present in the Church do not serve as an earthly encouragement.

 

The celebration of ordination, then, becomes a reminder for all of us, but especially for the lay faithful. We must do our part.  Jesus has told us, “The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few; so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest.”  (Mt, 9:38)  We need to encourage and support our priests.  We should ask our Heavenly Father with prayers and fasting, for more and worthy new priests.

 

Above all, we should thank God for His love for us and for His priests.  Christ loves His Church and accompanies it always.  And that includes His priests.

 

Please join me in praying for, and thanking God for, those to be ordained this weekend.  And in our joy let us ask the Master of the Harvest to send yet more men to work in the harvest for the good of souls and of the whole world.