ARCHDIOCESE OF PHILADELPHIA

Dear Friends,

Some years ago Pope John Paul II, who will be beatified next Sunday, on the 50th anniversary of his ordination to the Priesthood wrote a book entitled Gift and Mystery. In this book he explained that it is through the Priesthood that we have the Eucharist. And in the celebration of the Eucharist we have the sacramental re-presentation of the death of our Lord Jesus Christ and its fulfillment in His glorious Resurrection.

Yesterday we celebrated Easter Sunday not only by telling the Easter story but the proclamation of the Word of God actually brought us into contact with the power of Christ’s Resurrection, which is the power of His victory over sin and death. And the proclamation of the Word of God reached its climax as the Priest consecrated the bread and wine in the Sacrifice of the Mass.

In every Mass through the gift and mystery of the Priesthood, the Death of Christ and His Resurrection become a reality for all God’s people. But why is this so important? It is so important because Christ saved us by His Death and Resurrection. The Church proclaims this so beautifully when she says: “Dying you destroyed our death and rising you restored our life.” In God’s plan all of this is linked to the Priesthood, which is truly such a great gift and mystery.

To speak of the Priesthood is to speak of Jesus Christ, our great High Priest. It is He who is present in every Mass. It is by His power that His saving Death and Resurrection are renewed on our altars. But it is also His will to be represented by the Priest, who in his ordination is configured to Christ and receives the power to offer up the Eucharist—but only in Christ’s name.

Hence the Priesthood, from the time of the Apostles at the Last Supper, is both gift and mystery. It is a gift of Christ’s Sacred Heart. It is a mystery of faith, which requires of us acceptance of Jesus Christ and of His freedom to call the men whom He chooses to share His Priesthood and to act in His Name. Those whom He chooses have no motive to boast; rather they receive the grace to fulfill their office faithfully, but this also requires effort, sacrifice and love.

I am grateful to all of you who have come together with me to celebrate my ordination to the Priesthood fifty years ago today. I wish particularly to thank Cardinal Levada who has been a close friend for fifty-seven years since our time together in the seminary and who has come from Rome to join in this celebration of thanksgiving. I also greet Cardinal Foley, another friend of many years, whose presence means so much to me today. My deep gratitude goes likewise to Bishop Stika of Knoxville, for so much support and help, and also to my Auxiliary Bishops and brother Priests whose presence has required so much effort and is so much appreciated. It is an enormous privilege to offer up the Eucharistic sacrifice in thanksgiving, surrounded by lay faithful and religious of the Archdiocese and other devoted friends who mean so much to me and whose prayerful support I so greatly count on. Among those present there is one who was at my ordination fifty years ago in the Cathedral of Los Angeles. I am pleased to welcome my sister, Sister Charlotte Rigali of the Sisters of Saint Joseph of Carondelet.

For all of us this celebration is directed to thanking God for the gift and mystery of Christ’s Priesthood, even as it is expressed amidst the frailty and limitations of the humanity of our Priests. For me personally it is an opportunity to thank God for all those who helped me reach the Priesthood: my parents, family, friends, devoted Priests and sisters, teachers, seminary professors and fellow students, and so many unknown benefactors, without whose prayers I would never have reached the Priesthood.

Among the memories of this day I recall in prayer Blessed John XXIII, during whose pontificate I was ordained, and Cardinal James Francis McIntyre who was my Archbishop and ordaining Prelate. In addition I remember with profound affection the three Popes whom I subsequently was honored to serve: Pope Paul VI, Pope John Paul I and Pope John Paul II. I remember the faithful to whom I was privileged to minister, either as a priest or bishop, in Los Angeles, Rome, St. Louis, Scranton and Philadelphia.

Today’s Eucharistic celebration takes place in close union with our present Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI, whom I thank for the blessing that he has just sent me for this occasion and to whom I pledge the full communion of the Church of Philadelphia.

Even as fifty years in the priesthood require on my part deep sentiments of thanksgiving, they also require me to renew in the Church’s words my own daily plea for God’s mercy and forgiveness: “I confess to Almighty God and to you my brother and sisters that I have sinned through my own fault in my thoughts and in my words, in what I have done, and in what I have failed to do.” It is for this reason that “I ask Blessed Mary ever Virgin all the angels and saints and you, my brothers and sisters, to pray for me to the Lord our God.” I ask, morever, the Holy Spirit by His grace to supply for all my deficiencies and to bring to completion whatever good I have been able to accomplish in the past fifty years.

Since there is no way that the Resurrection of the Lord can be adequately celebrated in a single day the Church continues today and throughout this whole week the special celebration of Easter. The message that we proclaim is the beautiful message of Saint Peter: “God raised...Jesus.... Exalted at the right hand of God, he poured forth the promise of the Holy Spirit.” Peter, in turn, as our Gospel attests, had received this message from the women who had met the Risen Lord Jesus on that Easter morning. To all of us personally the living Jesus now repeats: “Do not be afraid.”

In the power of the Risen Jesus, the gift and mystery of the Priesthood continues in the Church, despite human weakness. Through the priest the people of God participate in the Eucharist and hence in the power of the Death and Resurrection of the Lord. Sins are forgiven through the Sacrament of Confession and God’s word continues to bring forth fruits of conversion and holiness of life in the faithful. For the great privilege of sharing for fifty years in this gift and mystery as a Priest, I thank God today in your presence. With Him, I thank Mary, the Mother of Jesus, our great High Priest, for her constant intercession and perpetual help in all the hopes and joys, difficulties and challenges of these years.

Finally as we continue our celebration of Christ’s Resurrection let us all join in the Church’s Easter hymn of praise, proclaiming: “This is the day the Lord has made; let us be glad and rejoice in it. Alleluia, alleluia.”