The priests of the Diocese of Youngstown
returned Friday from a 4-day convocation with our bishop.
It was a time for us to socialize, to get to know one another better,
to gather in a spirit of fraternity as brother priests…
with our spiritual father, the bishop,
to learn and grow in knowledge of the challenges we face as priests,
and to be refreshed, so that we may return to our flocks
renewed in our commitment to ministry in the Church.
At the end of the convocation, Bishop Murry presented a concluding summary,
in which he offered a challenge to all of us:
He challenged us to let go of all that might keep us divided…
all that may have burdened us in the past…
all that keeps us from being open to grace at work in us…
and to move forward with him to a bright future.
[PAUSE]
Such a challenge is given to us by the Holy Scriptures.
It is clear that to embrace the Lord’s call to discipleship
means to leave behind all that does not lead us closer to Him…
so that we might journey ahead unencumbered to a bright future.
We are called to renounce anything we have
that stands in the way of putting Christ first.
And yet, the radical call of the Gospel
is more than renouncing physical possessions.
It means leaving behind the kind of relationships that lead us to impurity…
leaving behind ideologies and ways of thinking
that do not conform to the will of God and the mind of the Church…
leaving behind attitudes and behaviors that do not please God.
True love requires giving up that which we might desire to hold onto…
in order to follow our beloved.
This is true of marriage and family life…
where a man and a woman leave behind all other potential spouses
in order to commit themselves to one person for life…
and in which mothers and fathers often must leave behind what they desire
for the sake of their children.
In the Christian life…
true love means renouncing not just possessions…
but relationships, ideologies, and patterns of behavior…
in order that Christ might reign in our hearts.
There are some things we simply cannot have and cannot do…
if we are to be truly Christian.
[PAUSE]
In his first encyclical…Deus Caritas Est…God is Love…
Pope Benedict XVI writes of the ancient understanding of two kinds of love.
First of all, “eros,” from which we derive the word “erotic,”
is passionate, possessive, covetous love.
Secondly, there is “agape,” oblative, or self-giving, love.
The Holy Father teaches us that the true nature of love is realized
when the two find unity in the one reality of love.
As human persons…our minds and bodies experience the passion of “eros”…
of that possessive and self-seeking kind of love.
True love and happiness is found when “eros” is transformed by “agape”…
when our self-serving passions
are exalted by the holiness of self-giving love.
In this we are most fully ourselves as human persons…
and most closely in union with God, who is love itself.
As Pope John Paul II wrote…
“Man is most fully himself when he makes a sincere gift of himself.”
[PAUSE]
To live this challenge from God well
requires that we possess and exercise the gift of discernment.
In the Gospel today, the Lord presents two examples of discernment.
The wise contractor calculates his plans and finances to see if his work is prudent.
The wise commander calculates the battle plan to see if attack is prudent.
If we are to order our lives around God and the Church…
as we are all called to do…
we first must discern what in our lives must be left behind.
In prayer and in peace and in purity of heart…
we reflect on what we have and where we stand before God.
We ask the Lord for wisdom and guidance…
to make clear and prudent decisions about our lives.
In a spirit of discernment…
united with God in prayer…and open to the grace of the Holy Spirit…
we can prudently and joyfully renounce all in our lives that is not holy
offer ourselves as a gift to the Lord
and journey ahead in true love with our God.
The Lord calls us to renounce all that keeps Him from being the center of our lives.
The Lord calls us to love in a way that seeks Him above all else…
and seeks the good of others before ourselves.
The Lord calls us to a spirit of discernment
wherein we allow Him to direct our lives.
With our lives centered always in God and in the teaching of the Church…
we will be able to journey together
as the members of the Mystical Body of Christ…
to a bright future where holiness reigns in our hearts.
This day we offer our lives to Christ…whom we receive in this Holy Mass…
renouncing all for His sake and pledging our lives in His service…
until we are united with Him and all the angels and saints
in the eternal feast of Heaven’s glory!
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