“We do not preach ourselves but Jesus Christ as Lord.” These words that St. Paul wrote in his Second Letter to the Corinthians -- our second reading today -- carry with them a special poignancy in this celebration of the ordination to the priesthood of these four men who will devote the rest of their lives, among other things, to preaching the Word of God, that is Jesus Christ as Lord, to the people of God. 

St. Paul provides important words here, words for all priests and deacons to remember. In our ministry, with all its many facets, the one occasion where we meet and connect with the majority of our parishioners is in the homily at Mass. We priests and deacons have a ”captive audience” ... our preaching, however, should not make them feel “captive” like hostages. That will not happen if, as St. Paul instructs us, we do not preach ourselves but Jesus Christ as Lord.

In one of his early homilies, Pope Benedict XVI reminded priests that:

… in our hearts, we priests must live the relationship with Christ and, through him, with the Father; only then can we truly understand people; only in God can the depth of humanity be understood. Then those who are listening to us realize that we are not speaking of ourselves or some thing, but of the true Shepherd… (Homily, May 7, 2006)

And how is it that we priests and deacons have this wonderful, profound, awesome responsibility?  Our Gospel from St. John tells us tells us today. The Lord Jesus prayed to his Father: 

I revealed your name to those whom you gave me out of the world… consecrate them in the truth. Your word is truth.  As you sent me into the world so I sent them into the world.

When I ordained you deacons last year, after I laid my hands upon your head and prayed the consecratory prayer, I placed the Gospel book in your hands and instructed you:

Receive the Gospel of Christ whose herald you have become.  Believe what you read.  Teach what you believe.  Practice what you teach.

Have you done that?  Do you do that? The emphasis here and always and everywhere is the Lord Jesus Christ. His Gospel. His teachings. His life. His Church. He says of us in the Gospel today: “Father … they belonged to you and you gave them to me.” 

My brothers, you belong to Christ, to his Church, to your brother priests and to the people of the Diocese of Trenton. For them you have already been consecrated in the truth; for them you will be ordained priests; for them you will be sent into the world to join the ranks of those who have come before you and with whom you will share a life and ministry.  Together, “we do not preach ourselves but Jesus Christ as Lord.” 

Bishop George Thomas of Helena, Mont., recently advised his newly ordained priests to “Faithfully represent the Gospel and the magisterium of the Church.” 

Always remember that you are ordained priests today “to form, to reform, to inform and to transform” the parish communities to whom you are sent. But to do that with God’s Word that has first formed, reformed, informed and transformed you.  In that way, “the first and most important homily that you will preach will be the example of your daily lives.”

In another of his homilies, Pope Benedict XVI referred to the priest as the bridge between God and his people. It is, he explained, through the preaching and ministry of the priest that the people of God come face to face with their Lord. Because of this, people expect to see in us, in you more than a man … they expect to see and hear and touch the Lord. We cannot let them down. That is our call. That is our consecration. That is why we are here today, in this cathedral, surrounded by brother priests, our families and the people of God. Are we perfect, no.  Are we worthy, no.  Do we deserve this moment, have we earned it and all that comes with it, no.  But here is what Pope Benedict XVI referred to as the “audacity of God.”  God is far more aware of our human weakness and frailty than we are and, yet, he allows us --- more than that, he calls and consecrates us --- in all our imperfection to stand for him and to act in his name for the people here and throughout our diocese --- powers that only God can make perfect in our weakness (Pope Benedict XVI, “The Priest: A Bridge to God,” pp. 29-30).  So never preach yourselves; preach only Jesus Christ as Lord. For it is, as St. Paul told us, only through his mercy that we have been given this ministry.

Jesus Christ now calls you in his Church in our Diocese to be his priests, our priests. Present yourselves now for the people’s approval and mine as, together, we listen to the Church’s instruction to you  (Roman Pontifical, “the Instruction” in the Rite of Ordination).