Sunday, June 09, 2013

The PLANS of Young Mike Rogers, Jr.--and the PLAN of God


Fr. Mike Rogers, S.J., celebrating his First Mass at St. Pius X in Westerly on June 9, 2013
 
My remarks after Communion at Fr. Mike Rogers’ First Mass on June 9, 2013, at St. Pius X Church.
 
[For the audio version of this talk, click here: Closing Remarks]

 

I’m grateful to Fr. Mike for asking me to say a few words at the end of his first Mass.  And don’t worry, it will be just a “few words”—relatively speaking.

When I sat down to pray about what I would say to you all this afternoon, what came to mind almost immediately was a homily I gave here at St. Pius way back in 1997.  I entitled that particular homily, “God’s plan; our plans.” 

I began by saying that, in case you haven’t noticed, those two realities don’t always align themselves perfectly!  Sometimes they do—and we usually rejoice in those rare moments when the alignment happens; but, more often than not, our personal plans do not fit neatly into the Lord’s plan for our life.

And sometimes they don’t fit at all.

How appropriate it is that we have this text from Galatians 1 as our second reading today, since St. Paul makes it very clear in this passage that, before his encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus, his personal plans did not include becoming the great Christian apostle to the Gentiles!  The great persecutor of Christians—yes!  The great apostle and evangelizer—definitely not!

But Paul is not alone in Christian history.  The members of the Society of Jesus can correct me later if I’m wrong, but from all that I’ve read on the subject, I think it’s safe to say that, prior to his battle injury and long convalescence, a young soldier named Ignatius did not have any plans to found a major religious order in the Church!

And speaking of Jesuits, it’s pretty clear that Cardinal Bergoglio’s plans earlier this year did not include an extended stay in the city of Rome!—given the fact that, when he arrived in Rome for the Conclave, he had his return ticket in his briefcase and his Easter homily all written and waiting for him back in Argentina.

We definitely thank the Lord that his plan and the Cardinal’s plans were different in that regard!

And while we’re on the subject of Jesuits, I know for an absolute fact that, prior to a beautiful bus trip out to Steubenville, Ohio, one summer in the mid-1990s, the plans of a certain Michael Rogers, Jr., did not include the events of the last two days!  They did not include many of the events of the last 11 years, for that matter!

But God’s plan did!  And for that we rejoice and thank the Lord this afternoon.

The challenge of priestly ministry is the challenge to say yes to the plan of God, even when it doesn’t include the plans we’ve made for ourselves.  That’s actually the challenge that every Christian faces in his or her life.

It’s easy to say yes to the plan on days like this, Fr. Mike; it will not be so easy on others.  I can certainly attest to that fact.  Believe me, my personal plans for my own priestly ministry did NOT include dealing with Parkinson’s Disease!

I tell people all the time, “When I used to pray the prayer, ‘Dear Lord, make me a priest like John Paul II,’ I did not mean, ‘Lord, allow me to get Parkinson’s!’  I meant, ‘Lord, make me a good and holy priest like John Paul II.’”   

If I didn’t know any better, I would think that the Lord misheard me on that one!

My point here, Fr. Mike, is that the cross, in some form, is always a part of the heavenly Father’s “plan” for us (clergy and laity alike)—as it was part of his plan for his divine Son!  Jesus, of course, accepted his cross, and he used it to save the world.  And the good news is, if we accept ours and use ours as priests, we become very effective instruments of Jesus for the salvation of souls!

Like John Paul II was.

The founder of your order, Fr. Mike, understood this as well as anybody.  That’s why he wrote the words of this very famous prayer:

Take, Lord, and receive all my liberty, my memory, my understanding and my entire will,

All I have and call my own.

You have given all to me.

To you, Lord, I return it.

Everything is yours; do with it what you will.

Give me only your love and your grace.

That is enough for me.

That prayer, like so many others, is really easy to say but very hard to live!  And yet, it is possible to live it, by the grace of God—as Ignatius of Loyola and the other great saints of the Church have shown us.

My prayer for you today, Fr. Mike, is that you, too, will always live that prayer in your priesthood.  As you said yes to God’s plan on that famous bus trip so many years ago, so may you say yes to God’s plan every day of your priestly life—and, in the process, may you help many others to say yes to God’s plan in theirs. 

Ad multos annos!

Amen.

 

 

 

 

 

This was the homily I gave at our parish Masses that same weekend:

 

I want to begin by congratulating our parishioner, Mike Rogers, Jr., on his ordination to the priesthood, which took place yesterday at Fordham University in New York City.  He was ordained there because he’s a Jesuit (the Jesuits, of course, are the largest religious order of men in the Church—and they run Fordham!).

Michael’s journey to the priesthood was fueled by the prayers and example of his parents, Mike, Sr. and Mary Ellen, as well as the prayers of all of you.  Fr. Mike has been prayed for at weekend Masses here at St. Pius since he entered the Jesuits 11 years ago, after his graduation from Holy Cross.

But what also made a big difference for Fr. Mike was his participation in the Steubenville high school youth conferences in the mid-to-late 1990s—and his involvement with our parish youth group.

Now those of you who know his story will recall that he went to his very first youth conference in a state of anger (some would say “rage”!) and with a very bad attitude.  Steubenville, Ohio was the last place on earth he wanted to be that weekend in mid-July.  But, as has happened for so many others, on Saturday night he opened his heart to Christ, and had a powerful, spiritual experience that transformed his life!  Last year he wrote about it on his blog.  He said this:

One of my Christology professors at the Gregorian [University] says that all faith begins in an encounter, and he is right, of course. If faith begins with an encounter, then, in a real sense, my faith began that night. I am not sure if I can explain or describe what happened that night under that tent. There is a famous story that one day St. Augustine was walking along the shore taking a break from writing a book on the Trinity, and he saw a young boy using a shell to pour water from the Mediterranean into a little hole that he had dug in the sand. When Augustine asked the young boy what he was doing, the boy responded, “Trying to empty the sea into this hole.” Augustine smiled and told the boy gently that that was impossible. The boy responded, “So is trying to understand the Trinity.” That Saturday night is much like what this story describes. It would be impossible to really say what happened, other than that for the first time in my life I had an encounter with God. There was Eucharistic adoration and singing, but somehow I just became aware that God was alive, real, and wanted to love me, if I would let him. That moment was a turning point in my life, without which I would not be here [studying for the priesthood].  I knew in my heart who the living God was, and, at 15, I wanted to follow Him, whatever the cost.

And the rest, as they say, is history.

Prior to this experience at the conference, the plans that young Michael Rogers, Jr., had for his life did not include the events of the last two days!  They did not include many of the events of the last 11 years, for that matter!

But God’s plan did!  And for that we rejoice and thank the Lord this weekend.

How appropriate it is that we have this text from Galatians 1 as our second reading today, since St. Paul makes it very clear in this passage that, before his encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus, his personal plans for his life did not include becoming the great Christian apostle to the Gentiles!  The great persecutor of Christians—yes!  The great apostle and evangelizer—definitely not!

God’s plan; our plans—those two realities don’t always align themselves perfectly, do they?  Sometimes they do—and we usually rejoice in those rare moments when the alignment occurs; but, more often than not—as was the case for Fr. Mike and St. Paul—our personal plans do not fit neatly into the Lord’s plan for our life.

And sometimes they don’t fit at all.

The challenge of living as a disciple of Jesus Christ is the challenge to say yes to the plan of God, even when it doesn’t include the plans we’ve made for ourselves. 

Now it’s easy to say yes to the plan of the Lord when the plan involves something pleasant, something that we like.  It’s much more difficult when it involves some kind of suffering.  That I know from my own experience!  Believe me, my personal plans for my own life and priestly ministry did NOT include dealing with Parkinson’s Disease!

But obviously God’s plan did.

I tell people all the time, “When I used to pray the prayer, ‘Dear Lord, make me a priest like John Paul II,’ I did not mean, “Lord, give me Parkinson’s!”  I meant, “Lord, make me a good and holy priest like John Paul II.”   

If I didn’t know any better, I would think that the Lord misheard me on that one!

Of course, I know he didn’t.

The cross, in some form, is always a part of the heavenly Father’s “plan” for us, just as it was part of his plan for his divine Son!  Jesus, as we all know, accepted his cross, and he used it to save the world.  And the good news is, if we accept ours and use ours, we become very effective instruments of Jesus for the salvation of souls, and also for the betterment of our families and our world!

Think, parents, of how many acts of service you have to perform for your children each and every day.  Many of those acts of service are crosses—you’d much rather be doing other things—but when you accept them as part of God’s plan for your life as a mother or a father, your children are greatly blessed! 

The founder of the Jesuit order, St. Ignatius Loyola, wrote a beautiful prayer about accepting God’s will—God’s plan—in life.  It reads as follows:

Take, Lord, and receive all my liberty, my memory, my understanding and my entire will.

All I have and call my own.

You have given all to me.

To you, Lord, I return it.

Everything is yours; do with it what you will.

Give me only your love and your grace.

That is enough for me.

That prayer, like so many others, is really easy to say but very hard to live!  And yet, it is possible to live it, by the grace of God—as Ignatius Loyola and the other great saints of the Church have shown us.

My prayer today for Fr. Mike Rogers is that he will always “live it” in his priesthood by accepting God’s plan, and by being the Lord’s effective instrument in this world.

And may all of us do the same in our lives.