ORDINARY TIME rForf y Tears a ^Priest ago on December 20 , 1 lay prostrate with fiftyorty ( ~r^ years _L three classmates on the caipeted floor of St. Peter 's Basilica, hardly hearing the familiar chant of the Litany of the Saints begging the whole of heaven to make us faithful and faith-filled priests of Jesus Christ. I cannot today remember what I was thinking at that moment. Perhaps it was the prayer I used to return to most frequently in those moments of silent prayer before the Blessed Sacrament in the seminary: the prayer of Jesus during his agony in the garden has always seemed to me the necessary prayer of the priest, "Not my will but thine be done. " The day was also my father 's
"December 20 , 19 61: Irif ty -f our candidates f or the p riesthood - including William Levada , the f uture Archbishop of San Francisco - p rostrate , themselves during their ordination liturgy in St. Teter 's basilica . MWACIMHWWSWftWIWOTRWiM^^
61st birthday. Until his death in 1970 , we had a double celebration on December 20 — his birthday and my anniversary of priestly ordination. I can hear him still recalling on each occasion how cold it was in St. Peter 's that December morning. A man who started working for Shell in Martinez as a pipefitter and who retired from the same company 40-plus years later as chief engineer at the Torrance plant, he had never anticipated my being a priest. He had often mentioned his hopes th at I might get a Ph.D. in chemical engineering; it never occurred to him as I was growing up that it would be in Theology instead. No doubt he had to learn how to pray that prayer of Jesus as well, "Not my will but thine be done." Of course, it 's the necessary prayer of every Christian. The second day after my ordination at the tomb of St. Peter, I celebrated Mass at the tomb of St. Paul , in the Basilica of St. Paul Outside-the-Walls. Wh at a great teacher of priests Paul is: "Think of us in this way, as servants of Christ and stewards of Cod 's mysteries," savs Pau l in his first letter to the Church at Corinth . "Moreover , " he goes on to write, "it is required of stewards that they be found trustworthy" (I Cor. 4, 1-2). What a helpful image of the priest — a steward of God's mysteries. Like the faithful steward in Jesus ' parable in Luke 's Gospel, the priest is appointed to do Christ's work, not his own. When I look back on these forty years, I recognize the many unanticipated gifts and graces, the opportunities and blessings, that the Lord has lavished upon me. As I offer my prayer of thanks to God , I hasten to add, "Lord , help me never to fail to be that faithful and trustworthy steward of your mysteries whom your Son chose as his priest forty years ago. Let me live up to my role as his steward, to share these graces and blessings with those You have called me to serve, as shepherd of your people in your Church. " The Catechism of the Catholic Church calls Holy Orders and Matrimony "Sacraments at the Service of Communion." The "communion " it refers to is the "koinonia , " sometimes rendered "fellowship" but more appropriately "communion," which Jesus creates among his disciples by the anointing — the consecration —- of the Holy Spirit. This is the "koinonia " or ' communion we call Church. ORDINARY TIME, page 15
On the Street Where You Live
Pop e speaks out on war, peace, justice ~ Page 6 ~
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Monsignor Flynn dies . . . . 3 Fasting for peace
Christmas liturgies in the Archdiocese ~ Page 6-9 ~
Baking bricks, making friends
7 10-11
Kids Christmas books . . . 18