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| 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.
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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.
