WE commemorated three principal mysteries in our liturgy last Holy Week during Holy Thursday Mass: the institution of the Eucharist, the institution of the priesthood; and Christ’s commandment of fraternal love.
These three mysteries reminded me of a testimony of a fellow priest last Holy Monday before Chrism Mass during a clergy’s afternoon of reflection and prayer. He shared honestly that for a long time as a priest, he was a man of the mind, not of the heart. That every time that he ministered to his people, it was always about the law of the Church, about what is right.
Consequently, he would always challenge people, and at times, was hard of many of them.
For example, once a couple wanted to marry in the Church. Instead of listening to their concerns and sentiments, he immediately reprimanded them and insisted that they do the right thing. The couple left and never returned again.
Later on in his life, he realized that his ministry was always about the mind and not about the heart. It was always about the law, and not about the foundation of the law, which is love.
He always thought about the couple who wanted to get married in the church but never came back. He realized that he could have listened to them, showed them some compassion and understanding.
Instead of using his mind, he could have used his heart to reach out to them. He could have showed them love — not rule, not law.
This is what the Eucharist is all about.
It is Jesus who wants to show his profound love to his Father through this Eternal Sacrifice; it’s Jesus who wants to be eternally present to us in his body and blood.
“Take this all of you and eat of it. This is my body. Take this all of you and drink from it. This is my blood.”
This is what priesthood is all about.
It is about Jesus, who wants to continually serve us through the eyes and ears, the hands of feet, the minds and hearts of his disciples, his priests.
Priesthood is acting by serving, loving, and forgiving in the person of Christ.
The Eucharist and the priesthood are both revelations and manifestations of God’s love for all of us. I hope that we all get this right, that we discover the depth of these two beautiful sacraments.
These two sacraments, however, are in the service of the Church: to make her grow in brotherly and sisterly love, to deepen our relationship as a family of God. They are not mere rituals and cults. Their purpose is to enrich and to deepen our lives, to unite us in mind and heart, to serve one another.
As we celebrate Divine Mercy Sunday, let us remember what our Church is all about.
It’s a ministry of mercy, compassion, and love. It is about God, who reaches out to us, wanting to fill our lives with his divine graces and to touch our human hearts so that we can realize his unbeatable, incomparable, and overwhelming love for all of us –sinners and saints!
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Reverend Rodel G. Balagtas attended St. John Seminary in Camarillo, California and earned his Doctor of Ministry in Preaching from Aquinas Institute of Theology in St. Louis, Missouri. For twenty years, he has been in the parish ministry of large multi-cultural communities. Since 2002, he has been the pastor of Immaculate Heart of Mary Church in Los Angeles. Please email Fr. Rodel at [email protected].
