When we listen to the words of both the first reading and the gospel, we recognize in them
what our beloved Holy Father has referred to as the new evangelization.
You see, in his writings of the year 2000, he mentions that it is impossible for mankind
to find solely in the historical Jesus everything they need in order to truly achieve what we are
called to as Christians by our very baptism. And so it's so much deeper. He speaks of the fact that
we have to be men of prayer. We have to make certain that the mystery is not only understood
by the mind, but is loved in the heart. It is never enough simply to preach. He speaks about
we have to go to church. We have to go to church. We have to go to church. We have to go to church.
We have to go to church. We have to go to church. We have to go to church. We have to go to church.
We have to go deeper into the mystery, become one with the mystery, be the Christ that we preach.
That means every single moment when we are in our deep in our prayer by ourselves, when we are in
liturgical prayer such as the mass. These are expressions of that which has to be so fundamentally
a part of our being that their difference is non-existent. That when we speak, it is Christ
speaking. When we enter into the world, we enter into it in that mystery of the mystery of the
mystery of Christ. In other words, I am never without the mystery. He speaks about the day-by-day
activities, especially of those involved in ministry. And he speaks about how important it is
that we never lose ourselves in the day-by-day things that surround our ministry. Rather, we
have to always go beneath them. Yesterday, when we were looking at the time of eternity, the
day-by-day activities, we had to force ourselves from it. That every single waking, sleeping moment,
we are living in that mystery, in that eternal I am of God, in that constant presence to the
entire passion, death, and resurrection of Christ. That's why to think that we can focus our lives
solely on the life of a man who lived 2,000 years ago would be a foolish endeavor because
to follow just the external actions means that we don't understand what's going on.
That's what they meant. A sacrament is an outward sign. And in Italy, they have a little phrase
called il sacramento del momento, the sacrament of the moment. It means that behind every single day,
every single minute of every day, every action that we perform is a profound depth that we have
to be in touch with, in tuned with, so we never lose this ability to recognize that there's
something greater happening in our lives, no matter what we're doing.
No matter if we're entering day-by-day. And you know, we were talking in morning and breakfast
of the glorified life of a priest that we had at our table, one of the newbies, you know,
five, six months ordained. Remember what it was like when you, after the bishop imposed his hands
and you're covered with that oil. What were the desires of your heart? What was it that you wanted
to do? What was it that you wanted to do? What was it that you wanted to do? What was it that you wanted to do?
What was it that you had before your mind's eye that your life would accomplish? Those desires
are what are important. It never matters to God what we achieve and what we succeed in.
You notice that success has never been used as a description of God, because he wasn't,
humanly speaking. And so therefore, you and I have to recognize that it matters little whether
we succeed or achieve great things. But it matters to God that we achieve great things.
But we have to enter into each and every moment of our life, realizing that it is not going to be
the outcome that we are searching for. It is not going to be the fact that we'll draw thousands of
people to us. You and I were called for the one. His eminence was called for the 99.
If you ever remember, there was a little cartoon named Brother Juniper,
Franciscan guy. And Brother Juniper, there's a little cartoon, and he's got a sheep over his
shoulder.
And there's a tear in his eye. And the little caption underneath read,
I lost the 99. That's sometimes how we feel. Sometimes we don't get what we want. Sometimes
things don't happen the way it should. But that doesn't matter. What matters is that we do every
single thing we do for love, that we enter through prayer into who it is we are. Because the
definition of a priest isn't,
necessarily, alter Christus. It isn't necessarily teacher. Those things are important. And most
certainly, those are functions of the priest. And he becomes alter Christus. He is Christ when he
blesses. He is blessing in the person of Christ. He is God. Jesus Christ himself is celebrating this
mass. There's no question about that. But when we really now need to understand who and what we are
by definition as shepherd and priest. When I was in the university at the Angelicum,
they asked us that question. And we came up with so many wonderful, beautiful titles. And the
priest just looked at us and he shook his head and he said, no. He said, none of these titles will
help you become the best priest possible. He said, write this down. And I never had to because it
made perfect sense to me. This is what he said. Not only is a priest all that you said, but above
all, if you want to be a true priest, you have to realize that you are a true priest. You have to
realize that you are a true priest. You have to realize that you are a true priest. You have to
realize that the perfect definition is this. A priest is a sinner chosen from among sinners to
help sinners. And he said, if you ever forget that, you will cease doing anything worthy of
your call. We are the ones who need to recognize how much we need the grace that we give. And if
we do that, then every day will be exciting. Every day will be new. We will never just get caught up
in the day by day stuff. We will never just get caught up in the day by day stuff. We will never
just get caught up in the day by day stuff. We will never just get caught up in the day by day stuff.
But rather, every day will be a new experience of love, an experience of recognizing and finding
him all around us. Because no matter where we go, no matter what we do, we always can find Christ.
He may be dead in some. He may be suffering in others. He may be glorified and joyful in many.
But we can always find him. The key is to always be looking. Mother Teresa said once she was kneeling
in front of the Blessed Sacrament for hours.
On the dirt floor. And a man who was a reporter came up to her and he says, you know, Mother,
there are people dying in the streets of Calcutta while you are praying before this Eucharist.
And she looked at him and she said, if I didn't find him first here, I would never recognize him
in the poor. This is the center of our lives. This is the purpose for our existence.
If that is truly what it is, and we seek to do that every day, because I know, my dear brothers,
it is easy, way easy for me to celebrate Mass through rote. And in his letter, Pope Benedict,
when he was Cardinal, he made it very clear that we have to be very careful never to just say the
words. Because it's never going to be you or me that's going to bring these people
together. And that's what we're going to do. And that's what we're going to do. And that's what
we're going to do. And that's what we're going to do. And that's what we're going to do. And that's
what we're going to do. And that's what we're going to do. And that's what we're going to do.
To a true evangelization, it is going to be the prayer and the spirit with which they are said.
It is going to be solely and exclusively the work of God through those who truly are sinners who
need him. So let us once again enter into this most wondrous sacrament and sacrifice with a great
awareness of whom it is that we touch, whom it is that we receive, whom it is that we give to the
world.