“Pulling All the Stops”
for God
On July 17, I celebrated the fourth anniversary of my priesthood
ordination. It brought back some great memories. At my Ordination Mass
in Tyler that hot Saturday morning four years ago, about half of the attendees
were non-Catholics. Many of whom had never even been to a Catholic
Mass. As many of you know, a priesthood ordination is one of the most
impressive liturgies the Catholic Church offers. All the ministers are
well-practiced; there are gold and white vestments; incense, chant and many
external signs and symbols accompany the ordination rite. Since so many
attendees were Protestants, I was curious about how they would react to such
traditional worship. The week after my ordination, so many of these
people stopped by my parents’ house to say how they were moved by the ceremony
— that they had never seen such beauty and that the ‘choreography’ even rivaled
that of military ceremonies. The most interesting comment came from a
gentleman whose son had graduated with me from high school. They are
members of the Church of the Nazarene in Gilmer. I asked him what he
thought of the Ordination. He said, “I don’t know if I believe all things
Catholics believe, but I will say this . . . when you Catholics worship God,
y’all pull all the stops!” He told me that he had always thought
Catholics mechanically went through the motions of standing, sitting, kneeling,
etc. However, what he found is that Catholics were really praying through
these gestures.
I recount this story not only because it demonstrates that
sacred liturgy has the power to evangelize, but because some Protestants
recognize what we as Catholics sometimes take for granted, namely, that the
holy Mass deserves the very best: the best vestments, the best vessels, the
best music, the best of everything. And why? Because Christ is Whom
we encounter personally at each Mass — and He is worth it! Christ is the
“pearl of great price” (Mt 13:46); He is the “treasure
hidden in the field” for whom we give up everything to purchase (Mt 13:44).
Since I believe in Christ’s Real Presence in the Eucharist, I am extremely
careful when I am handling His Sacred Body and Precious Blood; but this is also
why I never rush the Mass and why I take my time leading the prayers of the
Mass, both spoken and silent. I am simply doing what the Church asks all
priests, that is, to celebrate faithfully and reverently the holy mysteries of
God so that the People of God can encounter Christ personally.
Unfortunately, because our society is so polarized (as I wrote in the bulletin
on the Feast of Sts. Peter and Paul), some in the Church categorize priests who
are being faithful to church documents as “conservative” or “traditional” — or
even “old school.” Thankfully, the Bishop has been emphatic that we
priests of the Diocese of Tyler need to be faithful to the liturgical documents
of Vatican II and those promulgated hitherto. He correctly understands
that our past history and traditions are always in continuity with the present
and future. Bishop Strickland, who could represent the head of the
household (see Mt 13:52), is bringing from the storeroom both the new and
the old. As a pastor, I am grateful for a Bishop who supports my pastoral
agenda — to show how all the beautiful endeavors and adornments that enhance
our worship of the living God are key to our growth individually and
communally, in the charity we show our neighbor, and making our parish grow in
faith and in numbers. Through our beautiful, dignified, reverent worship
of God, we not only remind ourselves but the whole world “when it comes to the
worship of God, we Catholics pull all the stops!”
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