Compassionate Continuity
Homily from the Priesthood Ordination of Deacon Jude Oguchukwu Okeke
Today is a very joyful one for the Diocese of Palm Beach as we ordain our brother, Deacon Jude, to the Order of Priesthood. We are grateful to Jude for his discerning the call of the Lord and coming to us from his home in Nigeria to be a member of our presbyterate. We are very grateful to your family and welcome your Mom as she is present with us this morning. My brother, Jude, your Nigerian identity blesses our Diocese, known for its rich cultural background, and enriches our presbyterate in a manner that shows the diversity of the Church.
Jude, you are ordained on the Feast of the Apostles, Philip and James. You also bear the name of an apostle, Jude. The call of Jesus to the apostles was an individual one as it is to you. Christ did not call 12 men with identical personalities, backgrounds, talents and interests. They were all different. They were fishermen, tax collectors, businessmen and politicians. Some of these men were of more reliable character than others. As Jesus just said in the Gospel today, “It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you.” He called the apostles because He sensed in them a desire, a love for Him and His mission.
Jesus envisioned the relationship between Him and His apostles as similar to the relationship between Him and His Father. As He says, “As the Father loves me, so I also love you. Remain in my love.” He calls them because He knows that they would find true joy in carrying out His mission. He assures them, “I have told you all this so that my joy may be yours and your joy may be complete.” He calls the apostles to be His friends, intimate to Him as the Father is to Him. He calls them to lay down their lives for Him as he laid down His for us.
The apostles were all different. They were not supposed to be the same. But Jesus called them all to one mission. That is to be yours today, Jude, and that is to serve the Lord as He has made you, just as He had each of the apostles. While the apostles remained as individuals, they were to be one in Christ. They were to be one fraternity, as we priests in the Diocese of Palm Beach are one presbyterate. As Peter proclaims today in the first reading from the Acts of the Apostles, “He commissioned us to preach to the people and testify that He is the one approved by God as judge of the living in the dead.”
My brother, Jude, you are being ordained a priest today and called to the mission of Jesus Christ during a very unique time in the life of the Church. It is at a time when the role of the apostle, Peter, called by Christ to be the leader of the apostles and the Chief Shepherd of the Church, is vacant. We are still in the period of mourning the loss of our beloved Holy Father, Pope Francis, which will close tomorrow before the period of the conclave to elect his successor begins on Wednesday. This reminds us that Christ chooses men with different personalities and abilities to carry out His mission. He uses them with His own hands for His purpose and not theirs. Their being different only enhances His purpose.
Francis was an extraordinary man, but it will not be the role and the mission of the new pope to be the same as him. He is to be as Christ was in the manner in which God created him to be. Jude, as you are ordained to priesthood today, the same call is given to you. You are to be the friend and servant of Christ in the manner in which God has fashioned you as a unique person. In that effort, you are to lose yourself by becoming Him in order to act in His Person and help others appreciate the unique person God made each of them to be. Pope Francis was an excellent model in this regard. As priests, we are to act in compassionate solidarity with our brother priests and each other, and not in competition with each other. The apostles showed their dark side when they argued among themselves as to who was the greatest. They reflected the clericalism of which Pope Francis was so critical.
In the homily for the funeral of Pope Francis last week, Cardinal Giovanni Re, dean of the College of Cardinals, spoke insightful and powerful words about Pope Francis, his legacy and his role. There is one part which is worth repeating today, Jude, at your ordination, for they apply so well to the call you are receiving today as well as for all of us priests. Cardinal Re said, “We are enlightened and guided by the passage of the Gospel, in which the very voice of Christ resounded, asking the first of the apostles: ‘Peter, do you love me more than these?’ Peter’s answer was proper and sincere: ‘Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you!’ Jesus entrusted him with a great mission: ‘Feed my sheep.’ This will be the constant task of Peter and his successors, a service of love in the footsteps of Christ, our Master and Lord, who came not to be served but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many’ (Mk 10:45). Despite his frailty and suffering towards the end, Pope Francis chose to follow this path of self-giving until the last day of his earthly life. He followed in the footsteps of his Lord, the Good Shepherd, who loved His sheep to the point of giving His life for them.”
Soon the successor of St. Peter will be chosen. The continuity of the Church will continue until the end of time as Christ promised. My brother, Jude, you will be an integral part of that compassionate continuity. The Church has had extraordinary men of service in recent years to act as the Vicar of Christ. Some are canonized saints by Pope Francis himself: St. Pope John XXIII, St. Pope Paul VI, St. John Paul II. The process for canonization has already begun for Pope John Paul I and the future may very well see the same process for Pope Benedict XVI as well as for Pope Francis. These men were not all the same but carried out the same mission. While they kept their own individual identities, they lost themselves in the Person of Christ and in their prayerful union with Him. The same will happen to you today. Always pay attention to and carry out your ministry in union with the Vicar of Christ, your bishop, and your presbyterate and you will serve Christ’s Church with the joy He promised His priests. It is only by losing yourself that you find yourself, and prayer is the foundation of this.
I conclude with the powerful words of the second reading from the Letter to the Hebrews we just heard: “In the same way, it was not Christ who glorified Himself, in becoming high priest, but rather the one who said to him: ‘You are my Son; this day I have begotten you;’ just as he says in another place: You are a priest forever, according to the order of Melchizedek.’” My brother, Jude, from this day forward you will be a priest forever. Conform your unique self more fully to the Person of Christ, and in that you will always find your joy and bring it to the people you serve. Be continually united with Him in prayer, especially in the Eucharist. You will be part of the compassionate continuity of the Church. May the Lord, who begins this good work in you today, continue to bring it to fulfillment.
Most Reverend Gerald M. Barbarito
