On Sunday, July 1st, I begin my new ministry as Rector of Saint John's Seminary.  While I will be maintaining this blog with updates on all my talks and presentations, I will also be writing a daily blog as Rector of Saint John's Seminary for the benefit of all members of the Seminary community and friends.


The new blog can be found at: http://sjsrector.blogspot.com/


I also beginning a new twitter feed from the Office of the Rector: @rectorsjs


Please keep me in your prayers as I begin this new ministry.  See you in the blogosphere!


Msgr Moroney

On Retreat with the Priests of Rapid City

I am in the beautiful Terra Sancta Retreat Center with the good priests of Rapid City, South Dakota these days preaching a retreat entitled: “"Who do I say you are?  Christ and the Priest.”  If you would like to download a PDF copy of the slides from my conferences, just click on the links below:

1:  Who do they say you are?

2:  The Priest as alter Christus

3:  Sacrifices offered on an Altar

4:  Obedience, Kenosis, and Priesthood

5:  The Priest and Penance (two conferences)

6:  The Priest as Teacher

7:  The Priest and the Ars Celebrandi

8: Who does he say you are?

By the way, in our lat session, one of the priests asked for the source of this quote from Saint Augustine: "The one to guard against is the man whose eloquence is no more than an abundant flow of empty words.  His listener is more easily charmed by him in matters that are unprofitable to hear about and, all too frequently, such eloquence is mistaken for truth."  It's from Book IV of De doctrina Christiana (4.5.7)

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/39867894/9.pdf

Kansas City Priests' Retreat

It was a great joy being with the Priests of Kansas City on the beautiful campus of Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas.  I spoke on the topic of "Who do I say you are?  Christ and the Priest.  The slides from this exploration of Priestly Identity can be downloaded in PDF format by clicking the following links:

1. Who do they say your are?

2. The Priest as alter Christus

3. Obedience, Kenosis, and Priesthood

4. The Priest and Penance

5. The Priest and the Roman Missal

6. Who do I say you are?

FIRST MASS OF FATHER ERIC ASANTE

My dear brother priests,

holy deacons,

my brothers and sisters,

and my dear Father Asante,

To Eric:

As an older brother whom you have called Father, I have been particularly touched by the wondrous ways in which Christ has conformed you to his own image.  The words spoken by the Bishop as he placed the chalice and paten into your hands a mere 30 hours ago have been lived by you since your mother first carried you in her arms.  Through all the years, on all the many roads, you have sought to know what you were doing, to imitate the mysteries you have celebrated and to conform yourself to the mystery of the Lord’s Cross.

The Psalmist is right this Trinity Sunday when he proclaims the people the Lord has chosen as Blessed, who in his kindness sends shepherds to lead them to restful pastures.  Good shepherds, who know their sheep and are known by them, who will not abandon the flock to the wolf, and who seek out the lost and carry them home.

To the congregation:

This man, your brother and freind, who sits in the Chair of Moses for the first time today, has become such a shepherd.  He did it, or rather God has accomplished this shepherd-making, by inviting him into an intimate relationship with Christ Jesus, the High Priest and Shepherd, since Eric was just a ittle boy, and all through school, and all through seminary.  By two continents of faithful Cathoics, Eric has been formed and shaped into the image of Christ, whose sacraments he will celebrate, whose Gospel he will preach and in whose footsteps he will seek to lead a holy people for the rest of his life.

To Eric:

You do not yet know this people, Eric.  But they are waiting for you, many of them not yet born.  You will console and challenge them, you will teach them, young and old, to cry Abba in their need. You will baptize their childen and bury their dead.  You will encourage them to carry their crosses and dry their tears.  Through you, Christ will love them, forgive them, and strengthen them for their journey through this life.

And when, in the years to come, things get tiresome or tough, just keep thinking of them...the thousands who are waiting for you in the years to come.  For they are now your daughters and sons, your brothers and sisters.  And they need you to bring them the real presence of Christ by the Sacrament you have received.

❦

The Gospel in which the Lord gives to his disciples the mandatum, he gives to you as well today: “Go...and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.”

There’s a curious line in that Gospel. Did you catch it?  We are told that just before the Lord send them forth, the disciples worshipped the Lord, “but they doubted.”  Doubt is the default position of the human condition, it is the plague of our age and our constant temptation.  Your life, dear Father Eric, will be spent dispelling doubt, but God has chosen, in you, an apt instrument for the task.

In homiletics class, each time I heard you preach, I was reminded of your greatest strength.  You heard me say it over and over again.  For each time I hear your deep and resonant voice, filled with hope and sincerity, it sounds like God is talking.  And, you know, he is.  God is talking to us through Eric, Christ is speaking and acting through Father Asante.

How can anyone ever doubt again, before such a wonderful manifestation of God’s love for us?!

❦

So now you will take up the cup of salvation and call upon the Lord for us, you will offer his perfect sacrifice for us, joining us to him and making sense of our lives.  You will baptize us into his death and resurrection, feed us with his Body and Blood, seal our covenants, heal our sick, forgive our sins and bury our dead.  You will be Christ for us.

Not because we chose you, but because he chose you, and sent you to be our shepherd and our Priest.

Saint Francis of Assisi used to say that if he met a saint and a priest on the road he would be nice to the saint, but he would kiss the hands of the Priest.  We venerate those hands which you have placed into the hands of Christ and which will touch us with the mysteries of his love for many many years to come.

Monsignor James P. Moroney