Homily Exaltation of the Cross 14th September, 2014
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A warm welcome and thank you to His Grace Archbishop Mark Coleridge DD, who presided at the Saturday night 6pm Mass at St Rita's Catholic Parish, Victoria Point, for the installation of Fr. Paul Kelly as Parish Priest.
This is the blessing prayer for the installation:
Rite of Installation and Prayers of Intercession | |
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| (The parish priest comes forward and stands near the Archbishop. The reader who will lead the general intercessions goes to ambo.)
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| Archbishop: | Brothers and sisters, with the Installation of its pastor this community of faith enters upon a new phase of its journey. This is therefore a time of fresh hope.
Father Paul, you have been called to serve as pastor of St Rita’s Parish. I ask you therefore: Are you willing, through the grace of your ordination as a presbyter, to accept the call to be pastor in this community of faith? |
| FR PAUL: | I am.
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| Archbishop: | Are you willing to commit yourself wholeheartedly to the mission of Christ within this community, allowing its baptismal gifts to flourish for the building up of Christ’s Body, the Church? |
| FR PAUL: | I am.
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| Reader: | Let us pray for Father Paul, that as he begins to serve as pastor in this parish, he will grow in love of Christ and his people. (pause) We pray to the Lord. |
| All: | Lord hear our prayer.
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| Archbishop: | Fr Paul, are you willing to serve this community of faith through the ordained ministries of Word and Sacrament? |
| Parish Priest: | Yes, I am. I will also work with those who serve the parish through its many ministries and works of service. I will strive to support them in all that they do and to encourage everyone to share fully in the life of the community.
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| Reader: | Let us pray for all ordained ministers, especially Fr Paul and for all who serve this community in its many ministries and works of service, that they will lead the parish to grow in faith, hope and love. (pause) We pray to the lord. |
| All: | Lord hear our prayer.
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| Archbishop: | My brothers and sisters: Are you willing to receive Fr Paul as the Parish Priest of St Rita’s and to support him in his ministry by your faith, your love and your prayer? |
| All: | We are.
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| Reader: | Let us pray for all the members of the parish community as we look forward to the ministry of Fr Paul. May all of us be open to the working of the Holy Spirit, be ready to carry out God’s will joyfully, and to bear witness to Christ unfailingly in our daily life. (pause) We pray to the lord. |
| All: | Lord hear our prayer.
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| Reader: | Let us pray for the Archdiocese of Brisbane under the leadership of our Archbishop, and for all who have been charged with the ministry of servant leadership. May they be conformed more deeply each day to the likeness of Christ who came not to be served but to serve. (pause) We pray to the lord. |
| All: | Lord hear our prayer.
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| Reader: | Let us pray that the love of God will accompany us always on our pilgrimage of faith, giving us courage when we are afraid, patience when we are afflicted, happiness when we are blessed and joy in his service. (pause) We pray to the lord. |
| All: | Lord hear our prayer. |
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| Prayer of Blessing | (Parish priest stands in front of Archbishop. With hands outstretched the Archbishop sings or says:) |
| Archbishop: | Lord our God, in your loving kindness you sent your Son Jesus to be our shepherd, leading us into eternal life. Bless + Paul your servant, our brother, as he begins to serve here as pastor in this community of faith. Let your Holy Spirit fill his life that he may never fail to be an instrument of your peace for all who worship here. By his faith and hope and love may he show forth your word of truth. By his prayer and self-sacrifice may he grow in knowledge and love of you. By his acceptance of your call, first given in baptism and sealed in ordination, may he be strengthened in his mission of service to the Church and to the world. Through Christ our Lord. |
| All: | Amen. |
(the homily below is From Fr. Paul for Sunday Masses of 14th September.....
“In Christ’s suffering and death on the Cross, Our Lord underwent the very worst of human torture and had accepted it all ‘for our sake.’……. Always we hear this phrase: for our sake. Jesus became human for our sake. Jesus lived for our sake. Jesus suffered for our sake. Jesus died for our sake. Jesus rose for our sake.”[i] Not for himself… but totally for the sake of others… for all…. It’s a wonderful example of self sacrifice, self-forgetting, self giving…
The cross of Jesus Christ is not a sign that a ‘bloodthirsty God’ has no other way of forgiving sins than by demanding that humans pay for their sins with physical punishment, by forfeiting their lives….. by dying…… The Cross, is not really about humans paying for their collective sin by satisfying a hard-to-please God by offering up an innocent representative …. Although that certainly is the human way of thinking….. / Jesus certainly was seen and described as the Passover lamb, innocent and spotless…. sacrificed to atone for the sins of others…. That is clearly so…… but what I am meaning here is…. I don’t believe GOD demanded this be so, but that humans demanded that this be so……. Humans have always demanded that be so……… and God knew that was the way we humans think and met us where we were….. out of love… out of a desire to save us….. // God did everything that it took to release us from the sin that we find it hard to release others from without dire sacrifice.. and which we often find to release ourselves from….
The Cross, then, is really a sign of God’s faithfulness and closeness to us through the most difficult times of life…. through the best and worst of what the world offers….. // If I take your sins upon my own shoulders… if my son gives his very life with you.. will you quit with killing, with hatred, with selfishess… and return to me with all your heart????/… if I do this… will it be enough to end the cycle of hatred and sin….??? (and indeed – yes it is!!).
We are told by the Gospel…. Jesus came into the world and died on the cross not to condemn…. but that we might all be saved…….
God looked deep into the human heart…. and sees in us humans a seemingly constant need that we pay for our mistakes with retribution…… (often violent retribution)…… that one person wins…. by others losing……
God, in Jesus, became the scapegoat for the worst of what humanity can throw at each other…… Jesus became a thing of horror on the cross…. so that everyone and anyone can throw… can project all that is wrong and bad about the world… or about the complexities of their lives and circumstances…. and project it all at this figure on the cross….. who will disempower it…. defeat it….. nuetralise it…… thus putting an end to violence as a solution to everything….
The triumph of the Cross of Christ is God’s ultimate word to humans - NOW, and end to harm towards each-other….. as the price for wrongs suffered…. // let me bear this in myself…. let me bear the world’s insane need for retribution for everything wrong done….. so that you won’t keep doing this to yourselves… to each other….. so you won’t keep thinking that God is demanding blood for sins committed……
We should never underestimate the human ability to withhold forgiveness….. to demand incredible price for wrongdoing…… and even then leave people no hope for moving beyond the hurt… the wrong…… the cross can be a powerful sign that there is an infinitely stronger solution to the wrongs in the world than mere eye-for-an-eye….. which leads to an endless cycle of retribution and counter-retribution…..
This weekend’s feast of the Triumph of the cross… is also a wonderful statement that unmasks many false concepts of what true POWER is really like…..
the cross says that power is NOT really any of the following things..
- true power is not about domination… but about love… about freedom and persuasion…
- true power is being able to forgive… rather than becoming a slave to the necessity of striking back…..
- true power is not about controlling… or standing over others……. but about walking together as one…
- true power, in the cross, is revealed in love willing to suffer to others… to serve to put others first….
Jesus believed so completely in the needs and protection of everyone… even those most on the margins…. and put his whole life on the line to ensure it….. this power is stronger than all others…. and we celebrate the love and care of God revealed in this most contradictory sign …
of victory and love…. Through the Cross..!
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REFERENCES:
· FR. PAUL W. KELLY
· MONASTERY OF CHRIST IN THE DESERT. ABBOT’S HOMILY.
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[i] Abbots Homily, Christ in the Desert - The Monastery of Christ in the Desert Homily posted on September 10 2014. The Exaltation of the Holy Cross 2014. Cycle A. 2014
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