Homily originally presented February 10, 2019

God calls certain Men to be Priests!

Have you ever been late to Mass?

I’ve run late a few times in attending daily Mass ...

and even a few times attending a Sunday Mass.

I lived in Atlanta for 3years before I entered the Seminary.

There, as the Regional Manager for Kodak Service Marketing. 

I tried to attend Mass every day ... either before or after the work day.

Most of the time I was on time ... but there were some days where I was running late and had to duck into Mass a few minutes after it had started.

Perhaps some of you know what that’s like.

Now recognize that there’s a big difference between

being late for a 6:30 AM Weekday Mass

   and being late for the 9 or 11 AM Sunday Mass or the 5:30PM Vigil Mass!

I hated being late for Mass and it was only after I was ordained a few months

that I had this striking revelation … As Priest, I’ll never be late for Mass again!

You see, the Mass begins when the Priest walks in,

so since I’m the Priest, I know that I’ll never be late for Mass again!

The Priest is the essential person for the celebration of Holy Mass.

• The Organist, the Cantor & Choir can be ready;
• the Ushers can be in their places;
• the Extraordinary Ministers can be signed in and seated,
• the Altar Servers can be vested in Cassocks and Surplices with candles lit,
• and every single Parishioner be in the pew,

but the Mass doesn’t take place without the Priest.

No Priest … no Mass!

The Priest is essential to celebrating Holy Mass.

By God’s design, the ordained Priest stands in the place of Christ at the Altar and has the power to transubstantiate bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Jesus.

The Priest must be present for this miracle and for the re-presentation

of Jesus’ once for all perfect sacrifice to the Father to take place.

I hope that this helps you to see the need that we have ... the need for Priests.

No Priests … no Mass!

And, without the Mass, we would lose our Greatest, Most Pleasing,

Most Efficacious link with God the Father ... and with Jesus His Son.

When you realize just how sacred and special the Mass is in our worship of God,

the very thought of losing access to the Mass is very scary indeed.

We need the Mass desperately. And therefore we need Priests to pray the Mass.

God knows this. He’s the one who established the Mass and He’s the one who has called men throughout the ages to become Priests so as to pray the Mass.

In our Gospel today, Jesus called Peter, James and John to surrender their profession of being fishers of fish to take up the profession of being fishers of men!

St. Luke tells us today, “They left everything and followed him.”

That’s the way that we should all respond to God’s call ...

with a willingness to drop everything and follow Him wherever He wants us to go.

When I say that we need Priests, that isn’t because God isn’t calling men any more,

rather, it’s because the noisy and distracting culture that we live in ...

is making it especially difficult for men to hear God’s call.

We live in a culture that glorifies the human person, not God.

We live in a culture that emphasizes having things our way, not God’s way.

We live in a culture that measures our worth by how much we have,

not who we serve.

With that noise surrounding us, it’s difficult to hear the voice of God calling us.

In our First Reading, we how God called the man Isaiah, saying,

“Whom shall I send?”  ...    to which Isaiah responds, “Here I am … send me.”

Today we call him The Prophet Isaiah ... the greatest of the Prophets!

God knows that we need Priests in order for us to give Him proper worship and in order for us to feed on His Son. He is definitely calling men into this vocation.

The question is, “Are we listening?”

The question is, “Are men hearing God’s call to serve Him as His Priests?

You see, Priesthood is not something that’s chosen by men;

      rather it’s something that’s bestowed by God.

In our Gospel today, Jesus, the Son of God, did the calling.

Peter, James and John wanted to be fishermen,

Jesus wanted them to be something else … Priests of His Church!

There’s no way in the world that those men could have known

what Jesus had in mind for them. But by submitting to His call,

they got to experience things that no one else in all of time will ever experience.

They got to walk and talk with Jesus every day for three years!

They became the first men in the world to feed on the body and blood of Christ. And they were given the power to confect the Sacrament ... to feed others with the Body and Blood of Jesus.

They were given the power to bestow God’s blessing on other men to be Priests ...

making it possible to perpetuate the Mass throughout the ages ...

And so worship the Father through His Divine Son truly present on our altars.

to over and over again ... “Do this in memory of Me.”

By answering God’s call, the Apostle were the first ones

 to wash the souls of sinners with the mercy of God!

God is still calling men of every place and time to serve His Church

as a Catholic Priest.

What’s required is the environment to be able to hear God’s call to Priesthood,

and then the humility to say yes to God’s call.

It’s our responsibility to do everything possible to insure that

those who He is calling hear and answer His call.

As we progress through the month February, perhaps this would be a good time for all single men to ask themselves the question,

“Could God be calling me to serve His Church as a Priest?”

God calls men at all different ages.

• Kevin Bazzel, who is on Temporary Assignment in Rome, entered seminary right out of College, at the age of 22.
• I entered the seminary after 22 years in the workforce, at the age of 44.
• Don Forsythe, entered the seminary after serving as an anesthesiologist for some 37 years, at the age of 66!
• Forsythe was ordained in 2007 and served for 8 years till his death in 2015.

This man was married for 37 years and raised 8 children. But after his wife died of cancer, he felt God calling him to be a Priest

God calls men of all ages … some at 22, some at 44, some at 66.

The whole idea is to follow God’s call, whenever it comes ...

because God has the best plan for our life.

For those of you who are parents, this would be a good time to start reflecting on the question, “Could God be calling my son to be a Priest?” It’s possible that you have some pretty clear designs on what you’d like your son to become in life.

You may want him to be a Doctor, or Lawyer or Football player.

But the best thing that you can do is to pray for and hold up to your son the idea of following God’s plan … not your son’s plan, not your plan, but God’s plan,  whatever that may be. Your son will never be happier and he will never bring more glory to God than by following God’s plan for his life.

One way that men can find out if God might be calling them to the Priesthood is by taking part in a Vocational discernment retreat.

One is being offered here in our diocese in 2 weeks ...

a “Come & See” gathering of men up at Camp Tekackwitha east of Birmingham.  

Friday and Saturday and Sunday, Feb 22^nd to 24^th.

We have a magnificient Priest to give the Discernment Retreat ...

Fr. Brett Brennan from the Diocese of Savannah Georgia.

The author of the book “To save a thousand Souls”

All single men, High School age or older are invited to attend this brief exposure to what Priestly life is all about. Simply call the Vocations Office of our Diocese, or our Parish office or speak to me for more details about this opportunity.

Being a Priest is a wonderful life. If God is calling you to be a Priest, He will surely bless you with joy and fulfillment.

One thing’s for sure about the Priesthood … you’ll have job security!

There’s more than enough work to be done.

There are so many people who want to nourish their faith!

There are so many people who have lost their faith!

There are so many people who have never heard the Good News about Jesus Christ!

Hopefully the day will never come where you come for Mass and there’s no Mass … because there’s no Priest.

God’s lambs need to be gathered

and He’s counting on His Priests to lead them to the fold.

Please pray for Priests … everyday!

Pray for the Priests serving you now.

We have so many Priests over retirement age.

Fr. Muller at Our Lady of Sorrows in Homewood is 87 ...

          and many others are getting up in age.

If they leave get sick or die ... we will really be hurting to serve the people of God.

Pray for our future Priests … those in Seminary right now and those discerning His call.

Approach God every day in prayer ...

to hear His call for everything you do ...

and to have the courage to follow His call.

And do everything in your power ...

to help your children and your friends ... to hear God’s call for them.