Priesthood Ordination Homily
June 6, 2026 – St. James Cathedral
Deacon Simon Stehr and Br. Damien Joseph Rappuhn, OSB
The Gospel chosen for today’s ordination places Jesus at table with the apostles. (Luke 22) This is a beautiful image that defines the one Priesthood of Jesus Christ quite succinctly. Jesus is the center and source of priesthood. But, before we speak of priesthood, let’s start at the beginning, namely, our journey of coming to know Christ.
Peter Brown in his Biography of St. Augustine shares many marvelous insights into the saint. He captures this concise summary of Augustine regarding self-knowledge: Knowing that God ‘searched the hearts of men’, Augustine insisted “that no man could ever sufficiently search his own heart, that the ‘spreading, limitless room’ was so complex, so mysterious, that no one could ever know his whole personality; and so, that no one could be certain that all of him would rally to standards, which the conscious mind alone had accepted.” (Augustine of Hippo, a Biography, p. 173).
This thought of St. Augustine is a profound insight into what it means to be created in the image and likeness of God. Does it not make sense that the infinite and mysterious reality of God is also reflected in the human heart; this ‘spreading and limitless room’? One need only think of the reality of love to know this truth. One needs only to be honest about the effort to truly know oneself!
And here is the connection to priesthood. First, each priest long before ordination has entered a life-long journey of coming to know Christ. It is only in knowing Christ that we know his voice and hear his call to follow him. It is only in relationship to Christ that we truly come to the knowledge of the unfathomable, personal love of God. This journey of relationship takes place in the world, in the Church, and most intimately in the heart; one’s own heart in union with the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
Here we discover something essential for priesthood: the Heart of Jesus is not simply an object of devotion—it is the very school of pastoral charity. In His Heart, pierced on the Cross, we see the total gift of self for the salvation of the world. Every priest is ordained to stand within that mystery—to receive that love and to give it away.
The Sacred Heart reveals a love that is at once contemplative and missionary – monastic and diocesan: a love that rests in the Father, yet goes out in search of the lost, the wounded, and the poor. My brothers, your priesthood must be formed in this Heart—patient, merciful, and faithful, even when it is costly.
And in a world often marked by indifference or even rejection of God, devotion to the Sacred Heart calls us also to a quiet but real work of reparation: to console the Heart of Christ by lives of fidelity, prayer, and loving service.
The instruction for each of you today is simply this – be yourself. Jesus has called you personally, as a unique individual to share his priesthood. You do not need to become something or someone else. He has called you – as you are. But this also requires humility and a commitment to continually grow in self-knowledge. As St. Catherine of Siena knew, the more one knows oneself, the more one knows God and vice-versa. Part and parcel of being oneself – in all of its mystery and wonder – is being in regular, steady relationship with Jesus, who through Holy Orders conforms you to himself in a sacramental way.
With this configuration comes our most intimate access to the lives of those whom we are called to serve – the People of God. Pope Leo made a similar remark (April 26, 2026: Good Shepherd Sunday) in a homily for Priesthood Ordinations: “This is one secret for the life of the priest. Dear ordinands, the deeper your bond with Christ, the more radical your belonging to all of humanity.”
“Your belonging to all of humanity”! Is this not another way of expressing the words of Jesus which we just heard in the Gospel? “I am among you as one who serves.”?
Let us reflect on the significance of Jesus taking his place at table with the apostles, because it is instructive of priesthood.
Jesus at table is a clear demonstration that the priest is called to build community. Not only is Jesus at the last Supper strengthening the priestly fraternity of the apostles, but it is from this table that Jesus elevates the Passover meal commemorating the deliverance of the people of Israel from slavery and clearly sets it into its fullest context of the Kingdom of God. The Eucharist forms us into the family of God – the people of God – the Church. A priest, in the person of Jesus, is a builder of the same community.
The building of this community – of this Kingdom of God extends beyond the table and does so through the most selfless act of love. From this table Christ ‘goes out’ and offers his most poignant demonstration of love for the world – through his passion death and resurrection.
Priests are to overcome fears and become missionaries – sometimes going where they would rather not in search of the poor, the lost, those most distant from the faith. As St. Paul tells Timothy in the second reading today: “God did not give us a spirit of cowardice but rather of power and love and self-control.” (2 Timothy 1:7)
Priesthood is Love in service. Priesthood is kenotic in the same manner of Jesus– an offering of self. This is what true Pastoral Charity looks like in the life of the priest. Priests cannot live in isolation because our conformity to Christ leads us out in a profound belonging to the people of God.
This pastoral charity is not abstract—it is concrete, Eucharistic, and relational. It is forged in long hours of listening, in the patience of accompaniment, in the courage to preach the truth, and in the willingness to remain with your people in their suffering.
When your hearts are united to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, your ministry will bear fruit—not because of your own strength, but because His love will live and work through you.
As we bring this reflection to a close, we turn our gaze to Mary, Mother of the Clergy. She who gave her “yes” without reserve teaches every priest how to receive a vocation not as a possession, but as a gift to be lived for others. She stood at the foot of the Cross, close to the Heart of her Son as it was pierced for the life of the world. In that moment, she received the beloved disciple—and in him, every priest—as her son.
Dear brothers, entrust your priesthood to her. Let her form in you a heart like her Son’s: attentive, obedient, and filled with compassion. When your strength falters, she will remain with you. When your love is tested, she will lead you back to the Heart of Christ.
May Mary, Mother of the Clergy, accompany you always, so that your lives may become a living echo of her fiat—given entirely for the glory of God and the salvation of His people. Amen.
0 Comments