Today we have the special grace of having Father John Lawrence celebrate his first Mass
here at Our Lady of Guadalupe Friary.
And so we welcome him back from Italy.
He was ordained this year, the year of the priest, at the hands of His Excellency Raymond Burke.
And so after the Mass we'll also have an opportunity to venerate his hands
and this custom of kissing the hands of the priests,
of the newly ordained priest, is meant to be a recognition of the change that has taken place in his soul
and the particular importance in the sign of the hands, the hands of the priest,
that during the rite of ordination are anointed.
The hands of the priest has special significance.
Because it is those hands which will hold the body of our Lord,
the blood of our Lord, and distribute it to others.
According to our Lord's words to His Apostles,
do this in remembrance of me.
It's the hands of the priest that makes the sign of the cross over the penitent when he absolves sins.
Again, this sacred power given.
By our Lord to the Apostles, when he said,
receive the Holy Spirit, whose sins you forgive, they are forgiven.
Whose sins you retain, they are retained.
And this power being passed on from the Apostles to their following bishops and priests,
always by means of the rite of ordination.
And so this is a sign of the power of the Holy Spirit.
And so this is a sign of the power of the Holy Spirit.
This is a great gift for the church.
As Thomas Akempis says, it's also a great dignity.
He says, great is the mystery and great is the dignity of priests,
to whom has been given that which has not been granted to the angels.
To consecrate the sacred host and the precious blood,
and to forgive men's sins.
And so as I was mentioning the other day,
with every gift, there also comes with it great responsibility.
And so we see here, with the maximum gift,
also comes the maximum responsibility.
The maximum gift given to Father John Lawrence in the rite of ordination.
To become an alter Christus.
To become another Christ.
And with that, comes the maximum responsibility.
And what is the responsibility of the priest?
To lead souls to heaven.
You know, when we boil things down in this world,
and we get right down to it,
what really matters is that the soul go to heaven.
If a soul eventually, at the end of its course in this world,
makes its way to heaven,
it has gained everything.
If at the end of its course here on earth,
it doesn't arrive in heaven,
it has lost everything.
So again, the maximum responsibility.
And we see here, why it's so important to pray for priests.
That they remain faithful to their responsibilities.
I remember,
when I was in Italy studying canon law,
under our Father Berard,
he explained, we're going over the part in canon law,
where it talks about penalties against priests,
the laicization of priests, etc.
And Father Berard said these words.
He said, that if Satan can bring about the fall of one priest,
can bring one priest,
a priest alone,
to abandon his ministry,
it is an enormous conquest.
An enormous conquest.
Why?
Because in the train of that priest,
there will be many, many souls.
Many souls.
A priest, if he is holy,
and he himself becomes a saint,
he will bring many souls with him in his wake,
into heaven.
But if he is not holy,
if he is not faithful to his vocation,
to fulfilling his duties,
he will bring many, many souls down with him.
Maximum dignity,
maximum responsibility.
So today, we want to keep Father John Lawrence in our prayers,
in gratitude for the gift given to him,
and also that he will be faithful
in carrying out the responsibilities
that go along with this gift.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son,
and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.