Going My Way – All Aboard!
The following is Bishop Barbarito’s homily from the April 15 chrism Mass at the Cathedral of St. Ignatius Loyola.
When I was growing up, I remember that from a very young age I wanted to be a railroad engineer. My Mom came from a small rural town in western Pennsylvania, where we stayed with her family during the summers. We had to take a day-long train journey from New York to get there. There was a railroad up the road from my grandparents’ house and one down the road on a mountain across the river. I watched trains come and go and listened to their rumbling on the tracks as well as the sound of their horns, both during the day and in the quiet of the night. The sights and sounds were somewhat mystifying. While spending long summers in rural Pennsylvania surrounded by railroad trains, I grew up in Brooklyn, New York. Here, I frequently rode on the subway and was fascinated by its mystique, including the crowd that rode upon it. I loved trains, and I was sure I wanted to be an engineer, especially as I would play with the trains I set up at Christmas received as gifts. I liked, and still do, trains and the direction of the engineer behind all of the train controls and his service of getting people, as travelers, safely to their destinations.
My fancied hope to become a railroad engineer suddenly changed one day when I was at Mass, even before my first Communion, as I was closely watching the priest celebrate. I decided, even though I still loved trains, that I now wanted to be a priest. I liked what I saw, and I wanted to be a priest saying Mass. In retrospect, I never understood why I made this sudden change of decision. I remember telling my Mom and Dad, who thought my new hope was very nice but nothing substantial. As I grew up, my Mom continued to tell me that I would change my mind. As I faithfully watched the weekly TV series Going My Way about Father O’Malley and city parish life, my Dad used to tell me that priesthood and parish life would not be like what I saw on TV.
Without realizing it, I think I sensed the priest as operating the train of life with people on it all going their way together as fellow pilgrims. The priest wore a uniform, like a railroad engineer, and was the one people relied upon if they wanted to get to their destination. As I continued to grow, with my hope to become a priest, I saw more and more how the priest represented Christ, especially at Mass, and in celebrating the sacraments. He had his own whistles, horns and smoke from the engine. I experienced, in my parish and in my family, how the priest was the one people generally looked to for direction and guidance in life, as he knew how to point to their ultimate destination, God’s Kingdom. The priest assisted them, and himself, in getting there happily. He had some resemblance to a railroad engineer in a spiritual way.
As I continued to grow in my desire to be a priest, I began to appreciate more and more the central role the priest had in the lives of people, especially in regard to the meaning of life. As other professions, such as a doctor, teacher, lawyer or many others, had a significant role in people’s lives, it was always the priest and only the priest who had the ultimate answer to speak about life. This was pointedly true at the end of life when the only one summoned was the priest to give the final anointing. Everyone moved aside for the priest. When the doctor could no longer speak his words, the priest spoke his with certitude. The priest offers the meaning of life at all stages, including its beginning at Baptism. However, it is the final anointing for the fullness of life which speaks the real meaning of life for which we prepare all during our lives. The priest is part of the journey of life most especially in preparing for its conclusion. This is why the priest is always the bearer of hope, and the hope that he bears is what this Jubilee Year of Hope is about.
The one who has given us the theme for the Jubilee Year is our Holy Father, Pope Francis. The theme is “Pilgrims of Hope,” based on the words of St. Paul in his Letter to the Romans, “Hope does not disappoint” (5:5). The Catechism of the Catholic Church defines hope as “The theological virtue by which we desire the kingdom of heaven, and eternal life as our happiness, placing our trust in Christ’s promises, and not relying on our own strength, but on the help of the grace of the Holy Spirit.” How appropriate it is to apply those words to the vocation of a priest since the priest is the one who shepherds us in seeking the kingdom of heaven and eternal life as our happiness. He enables us to place our trust in Christ’s promises, bringing us the grace to receive the happiness of Christ in the sacraments. While optimism, positive outlook, drive, enthusiasm and success are all positive qualities associated with hope, they ultimately are not what hope is all about. True hope engenders these qualities and fuels them. As Pope Francis has stated in his recent autobiography, entitled Hope, “We all know from direct experience that the journey in life is one of joy as well as one of toil. Hope is not a way of making things easy or a panacea for simpletons, nor another way of saying, ‘All is fine and dandy’: instead, it is the force for living in the present with courage and a capacity to look towards the future.” Such is the vocation of one who is called by God to priesthood.
Perhaps the pilgrim who is giving us a living example of what true hope is all about, especially as lived by a priest, is Pope Francis in his current illness. He speaks with wisdom from having lived the journey of life. His resolve to live each day, carrying out the mission which God has entrusted to him in this life, is due to his living with true hope here and now with his gaze fixed on eternal life, even in the midst of his fragility. In a world so caught up in instant accomplishment and communication, Pope Francis is living in a more limited capacity serving the Church through prayer and his continued exhortation, through word and example, knowing he may soon pass from this world.
Much like St. John Paul II and Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, Pope Francis, in a different way, with his own gifts and personality as given to him by God, is teaching what they did in the limitations of their own lives near the end. We will all face the same end in life, and it is only our firm belief in the hope of the Resurrection that enables us to put all of this life in perspective and to support each other as pilgrims of hope as we journey day by day. Pope Francis certainly is a pilgrim of hope with all of us, reminding us of the purpose, dignity and value of life here and now and ultimately in eternity. This truly is the living message of the priest. No other vocation speaks the meaning of life and death like that of the priest.
As we consecrate the chrism and bless the oils at this Mass, we are reminded through them of the unique role of the priest in celebrating the sacraments at all stages of life. The oil of the sick reminds us of the ultimate word the priest speaks at the final anointing, which proclaims the hope of eternal life. The priest offers healing at all stages of life through the message of Christ. As all other voices are silent in the final hour, the priest offers the sure hope that life is not ended but changed. The Viaticum is the final celebration, which literally means “with you on the way.” This truly is the theme of this Jubilee Year. Priests are Pilgrims of Hope with all the faithful and speak the words of hope, which we all need to hear, including himself.
I take this opportunity to thank my brother priests who daily give witness of hope in the lives of the people they serve and to me in a very personal and inspirational manner. My brother priests, as we now renew our priestly commitment, may the Lord continue to strengthen us in hope, encouraging us to wait for something that has already been given to us. In the sacraments, we celebrate eternal life and God’s infinite love. We, as priests, are privileged to be pilgrims in the certain hope with all of you, the faithful, in this journey of life.
Going My Way was basically a movie whose title and song suggested that its characters were on a journey with the companionship of a priest as a fellow pilgrim finding the way to a better place here and now but ultimately to eternity. A very fitting movie then, and now, this year as we journey as Pilgrims of Hope.
Going my way! All aboard!!
Most Reverend Gerald M. Barbarito
