16th Sunday Ordinary Time (yr B)

"Come away by yourselves to an out-of-the way place and rest awhile." These words were first spoken by Our Divine Lord to the 12 Apostles; kind of like the first apostolic retreat for these 12 men whom the Lord intended to make shepherds of His Church.after His own heart.and in his own Person, He who is the Good Shepherd.

The bishop/priests/shepherds, however, would always be very.human. Even one of the 12 would betray Him, and the shepherds would scatter. In our day, the media and our anti-Catholic brethren, and some of the sheep within the flock itself, remind us just how human and sinful we priests can be. We need to pray for priests, as I know many of you do. They are the shepherds who make present the Body of Christ, and who, in His person, absolve us of our sins. That alone is so sublime, that the devil must find priests very despicable.

Some people may be thinking.why do priests need prayers; they should be praying for us! That's true--we should and we do; we should all be praying for one another. Like the nuns. You know the nuns pray for you; they get pray requests all day long, but who prays for them? Did you ever think what it must be like to be locked in with 25 woman; without television, radio, or a private phone?

I don't know about the nuns, but priests, you know, struggle with pretty much the same temptations most people do.sins against purity in a pornographic society that exposes itself on television, in films and books, and in the latest fashions. Priests struggle with temptations against worldly ambition, a seeking after creature comforts; vanity; pride, dissipating ourselves on booze, or food, or television.or gambling, gossiping, or the great American compulsion to buy things. (When my novice master got depressed he went to the mall and bought stuff for us that we never used or needed.little round trampolines and throw pillows.)

Priests are distracted and discombobulated by the noise, the frustrations of daily life; the soap-opera-whirlwind of busy-ness that proves we're still valuable, as if what we do is more valuable than who we are. We trip over the limitations and imperfections of others, highlighted by our own pride, self-righteousness, intolerance, and prejudices. We suffer from spiritual mediocrity, and terrible bouts of dryness-deserts of loneliness and irrational fears.We often (and I guess I can only speak for myself here) feel discouraged and dismayed because of the lack of faith-we find this in ourselves and in other people.especially in a parish setting. Often times, our priorities may be all messed up; we can lose our focus on why we're priests; what we are called to be; and get bamboozled by unpaid bills, health problems, problems rising from our own dysfunctional families-both blood and religious-and get side tracked over things that would matter very little if I knew I was going to die this afternoon. So you see, we're not much different from the rest of today's people trying to be faithful to the gospel.

Hopefully, the pity in the heart of Jesus aches in the heart of every priest when we experience a lack of reverence for the Eucharist, or when we see good people knocking themselves out without any care or reference to Eternal Life, the sacredness of human life, and the mortal state of their souls.

We struggle with you over the almost rapid demonic eroding away of the teachings of the Church, or the blatant hostility against them. We suffer from the self-centered contraceptive spirit of the times and withstand, perhaps poorly, the verbal abuse, ridicule, and blasphemy of the world. And we make mistakes-we say the wrong thing at the wrong time, to the wrong person. We hurt people we don't intend to hurt. And God forbid, we drive people away even when we speak the truth or act in tough love. We should tremble at Jeremiah's words today: "Woe to the shepherd who mislead and scatter the flock of my pasture." Some of us have sinned quite seriously and publicly-and the whole priesthood, the whole Church suffers the consequences of that.

But, the Lord knew what He was doing. Perhaps He gave us His Priesthood this way-using poor, weak, human beings to act in His Person, so we'd do it with compassion and humility and love. How can we ever begin to comprehend the Heart of Christ.the Good Shepherd?

The Lord himself gives us all one way to do that-today. "Come away by yourselves and rest." This can mean a retreat, but really, every time you enter into real prayer-you leave the world and enter into His presence. We need more quiet time to do that. It's such a noisy, addictive world that most of us go through withdrawal symptoms in the presence of silence or aloneness.

We need to rest-frequently-everyday in the Lord's presence, but especially on Sunday. This is the Sabbath. God's Day. A day to stop the madness and rat race of the week and Rest. For each of us that will differ, but for all of us, it means to come together with the Lord.to be nourished here by God's word and His real Presence in the Eucharist; and perhaps to be together with each other as a family, in a way we can't be the rest of the week. This coming together was marvelously experienced recently by our nuns from all the U.S. monasteries who spent a week with the Master of the Order, the successor of St. Dominic, on retreat. This coming together was experienced by our Dominican laity last month on our weekend retreat; and each month by coming together as a chapter, first here, with the nuns around the altar.

The commandment from the Lord is to keep holy the Sabbath. Today should be different from every other day-to consecrate it to the Lord, and thus the whole new week.

Archbishop Cajetan Kelly, O.P. ordaining prelate for the Dominicans some years ago concluded his homily with an exhortation adapted from Alcuin of York, who died in 804.addressing it to the newly ordained: "Be an honor to your people, clear in your tasks and careful in your speech. Be yours open hands and merry hearts. Carry the Spirit of Christ always in your words and works, that all may see in you virtue and compassion. Hope of the poor and solace to the sad and weary. God among the people of the earth, signs of God's Ampler Day.Sow living seeds, words that are quick with life, that others may harvest fuller, wider, truer lives, and even through the darksome ways of this earth, may they find their way to the starts.

Shine all of you in the black dark like the Morning Star. Let not the wealth of this world, nor its dominion flatter you into silence as to truth. May no power of the earth separate you from kindness, truth, fidelity, justice, simplicity, or wit. And now, on this most specially happy and privileged day, I say to you go forth in joy.

There's something to pray for as we pray the Lord will send more good shepherds into his sheepfold. This homily was prepared before the Holy Father last Thursday requested that Catholics the world over devote this Sunday to Prayer and Penance for the situation in the mideast.

That was awesome. What province is he in?

Province of St. Joseph- the Eastern province.
He is currently the chaplain to the Dominican Nuns and religious promoter for the Dominican Laity in Buffalo, NY- where I live and regularly attend Mass and Office... hearing lots of his homilies

That rules, I have my interview with St. Joseph Province on the 19th! Say some prayers that i'll be given an application!

Definite prayers! You and I might be brothers someday...

are you thinking about joining the Eastern Province? If you have AIM my screen name is JeffCR07 - feel free to drop me an IM! I'll keep you in my prayers as well!

When I finally get my debt situation in order. I will be your sister in the same province. My destination will be Buffalo. So I will be obliged to pray for you both

Thanks Brendan for posting Fr. Jacob's homilies. When I did my aspirancy at the monastery in Buffalo, his homilies were something to look forward to everyday.

Thats fantastic! I'll keep you both in my prayers!