Holy Thursday 2010

So many people commented about my Holy Thursday Homily on facebook that i was asked for a copy of it by friends who live in other places and by locals who were not at Holy Thursday Mass at the Newman Center. As often is the case, I did not preach from a prepared text that night and, while i had spent long hours in preparation (and agony) over this homily, much of what I said that night welled up from my heart. I have attempted a reconstruction of the homily here - if anyone who was present remembers soemthing else I have left out, let me know. Usual caveats apply - preaching is a spoken artform and a homily will always seem flat on the written page.

Happy Holy Thursday to everyone!

This day, there are really two different realities of the Church celebrated: The institution of the Eucharist and, correlatively, the establishment of the priesthood. Liturgically, the priesthood is celebrated at the diocesan celebration called the “chrism mass” which is envisioned to take place earlier on Holy Thursday in the Diocesan Cathedral at which all the priests of the diocese gather in celebration with their bishop. Properly, in the parish setting, the only Mass that may be celebrated today is the evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper which is clearly focused on the establishment of the Eucharist. That at his last supper, Jesus offers himself broken and poured out for the salvation of the world. But with the ministerial focus of the foot-washing Gospel, some priests feel compelled to celebrate the Mass of the Lord’s Supper as a celebration of priesthood as well. I have managed to preach through 13 years of Holy Thursdays never once mentioning the priesthood except in a very peripheral way. Even though this day is celebrated as the “feast of the priesthood, “ I have felt that the focus was properly on the Eucharist.

But this year I have been reflecting a lot about priesthood and feel compelled to speak about it. After all, it is “year for priests.” I have to admit that when Pope Benedict called for a “year for priests,” I was not thrilled. In fact I was somewhat embarrassed. I was in Jerusalem when I first heard about it and I remember literally laughing out loud and saying to my classmates “What year isn’t a ‘year for priests’ in this Church?” After years of so much negative focus on priesthood, I finally felt we were beginning to move beyond a constant focus on scandal and I simply wished he had not called for this special observance. (incidentally, I gotta believe in recent weeks that maybe he’s feeling the same way now…)

I also determined that I would never publicly speak of the year for priests. And until tonight I have kept that promise. Not that I am ashamed of being a priest, I love being a priest, and not that I don’t appreciate the call for greater prayers for our priests, we all need it – I just feel that too much of Catholic life is focused on priests and when I read tonight’s Gospel – Jesus’ washing of his disciple’s feet – I gotta wonder how come priests today don’t look like that? One theology of priesthood sees the establishment of a priesthood on Holy Thursday, but if we are really honest, we have to admit that nothing has changed so much or so often in the history of the Church as our understanding of priesthood. One must wonder if Jesus would even recognize today’s priesthood as the one he established on Holy Thursday.

If we understand the disciple of Jesus as the originators of a ministerial priesthood and we see it having grown out of Holy Thursday, then the primary function of priesthood is supposed to be servitude – we are supposed to be washers of feet. Where did this go wrong? When did it change?

Historically that is a really easy question to answer: It changed drastically early in the Fourth Century. When Constantine made the Church , first legal, and, then official: Catholic Priesthood took on a very different face. Christian priests took over many of the religious and social functions that had been held by pagan preists in the Empire previous to the ‘conversion’ of the Empire. Christian priests, like the Jewish priests of Jesus’ Day (and before whom Jesus would be tried later tonight), were officials of the Roman Empire. One need only look at some of the remaining vestiges of those days to see what I am talking about: The bishop of Rome still uses the Title ‘Pontifex Maximus’ a pagan title from the days of the Roman Empire related to the blessing of imperial public works. ‘Diocese’ and ‘Parishes’ were administrative divisions of the Empire. A ‘basilica’ was a building for public gatherings and public administration, and this vestment that I am wearing is a modification of a Roman official’s vestment. Priests went from being hunted outlaws of the empire committed to serving the needs of their people at their own peril to chief citizens of the empire. Protestants still criticize Catholics because so many of our ritual and external functions came from our connection to the Empire. Oh, don’t get me wrong, there are many good things that came from this shift – when the empire collapsed it would be priests and other churchmen who would have the organization and resources to hold society together. But because of this, priests would grow in great prestige and the imperial priesthood would emerge from the Middle Ages with even more power than it had in antiquity.

One must wonder how we got from “whoever wishes to be great among you shall be your servant; whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave. Just so, the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. (Mt 20:26-28)" to a priesthood known, at the end of the middle ages as ‘the First Estate…” Is it any wonder that poor of France would rise up against the “First Estate?”

Jesus reserved his harshest criticism for religious leaders who lost their focus, forgot that they were called to be servants, and got ‘too big for their britches…” His deepest condemnations were for clergy who called their aggrandizing of themselves “service to God…” It makes sense then that every major reformed called for in the Church from antiquity to the protestant revolt to our present day has included some element of calling clergy back to the model we are given on Holy Thursday - "Do you realize what I have done for you? You call me 'teacher' and 'master,' and rightly so, for indeed I am. If I, therefore, the master and teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash one another's feet. I have given you a model to follow, so that as I have done for you, you should also do.” John 13:12-15

The one we (Dominicans) are most aware of is the reform demanded by the Albigensian controversy in Southern France in the 13th Century. It ended with the foundation of our Order. One of the reason that Christians in Southern France were turning to the Albigensian heresy in droves is because the leaders of the Albigensians adopted apostolic poverty. The bishops and clergy of the Catholics lived in palaces, owned huge estates and were tied up in temporal affairs more than spiritual. Dominic Guzman knew that the Albigensians were on to something real and insisted that if his followers were going to be successful in winning the Albigensians back to the Church, they too would have to look more like the Jesus they preached and the Dominicans adopted apostolic poverty s one of the principles of our lives.

I have agaonized in recent days over reports that the scandals that rocked the Church in our country in recent years are now rocking it as hard in Europe and other places. The world should be scandalized when we do not live up to our promises. The world should be scandalized when the protection of church reputation seems to be a higher concern than the protection of the weakest and most vulnerable in our midst. The church should be scandalized, you should be scandalized, I should be scandalized! Many of you know that I worked in provincial administration before coming to Tucson, right in the midst of the worst days of the scandals that rocked the US Church. It is mind-numbing to remember how much time, energy and resources we poured in to dealing with the aftermath of scandalous behavior by only a few, but a few too many. It was demoralizing and heart breaking. But it also taught me to understand that much of the scandal was not a failure of sex or sexuality, it was not a failure of celibacy or chastity – so much of what we saw in this country and what is coming to light in other places was a failure of arrogance, a failure of entitlement, a failure of privilege, a failure of secrecy and a failure to model our priesthood on the self-sacrificing priesthood of Jesus. And for that I and every priest in the world owes you and apology and penance…

I stand before you this Holy Thursday as I do every Holy Thursday – a sinful man in need of your prayers. I took shortcuts on my Lenten promises just like you did. I need to go to confession more often, just like you do… I struggle to make the right choices and do the right things just like you do. I suppose I’m not a very holy man by some people’s measure. And as a priest I need your prayers to grow in holiness and faithfulness. I suppose that if I wanted to appear more holy, I could say more masses, or increase the number of days that I say my office completely and correctly, I could put on more holy clothes and bow more deeply, I could fold my hands just so and utter Latin prayers all day long. But those things are not about holiness, they are about religion; and we don’t need our priests to be more religious we need them to be more holy. And the only way we will ever achieve that is to be priests more like Jesus is a priest – to allow ourselves to be broken and poured out for the world the way Jesus was broken and poured out; to give our lives – our body and blood for the service of others – to be servants willing to wash the feet of others. In this, and this alone can we achieve the Holiness demanded by Jesus.

And you know what: we (priests) are not the only one called to that kind of holiness. One of the problems in our church is that you have been convinced that we are supposed to be more holy than you and you excuse yourselves while holding us to a higher standard. Isn’t that convenient for you? NO! You are held to the exact same standard. This is not just the anniversary of the establishment of the priesthood, this is the anniversary of the establishment of a ministry to which we are all called. You are are called to be servants as much as I am.

Pope Benedict called on you to pray for your priests. This is the part of the year for priests that I like very much. Yes, you should be praying that we will be holy and Godly men. But you should also be holding us accountable. The image and standard of the priesthood that you should be holding us to is the servant on his knees washing the feet of others. When we do not look like this, when we are conforming ourselves rather to an imperial image and setting ourselves on pedestals, you must hold us accountable and call for the reform of the priesthood. As I said at the beginning of the homily, nothing has changed more or more often in the history of the Church than the shape of the priesthood, it can change again – it must continually change until all priests see their primary leadership in service.

In a few minutes, I am going to wash the feet of 12 of our students. I wish I had time to wash all your feet. This was an amazing prophetic gesture on Jesus’ part by which he demonstrated what leadership would mean among his followers. As I repeat this gesture, the 12 will represent all of you and I will represent all priests. But in addition to washing feet tonight, I am going to anoint the feet of these twelve with genuine spikenard. In addition to repeating the prophetic gesture of Jesus, I am also repeating the prophetic gesture of the woman who anointed Jesus feet. I do so in prayer that we priests who have so much for which we have been and need to be forgiven, might learn to love more. He who is forgiven much, loves much…

And in this year for priests, I beg not only for your forgiveness, but also for your prayers that we might live more completely the holiness Jesus calls us too and demonstrated for us…