January 16, 2019

WE HAVE SUCH

 A HIGH PRIEST

INTRODUCTION

The title and the theme of my homily for this First Wednesday in Ordinary Time is: “We Have Such a High Priest.”

It’s the first thought that hit me when I read today’s first reading from Hebrews 2: 14-18.

JOYFUL EXPERIENCE

One of the experiences that I have had at various times has been someone bragging about their priest or about a Redemptorist. 

Having had 14 years of retreat work, I have often had the experience of hearing someone brag about their parish priest. And it’s nice then to meet that person.

“We Have Such a High Priest.”

DICK FRANK

I think of Father Dick Frank. He used to be the pastor of Honesdale, Pa. He was a big, tall, fat, happy, joyful, very well loved priest. He was a nice guy. Great smile. I can still picture his face.

He was a nice guy. A man of prayer. He was gifted especially with the gift of the human touch. To meet him was to love him.

Various retreatants at Tobyhanna, Pennsylvania,  where I was stationed told me about him. Then I met him a few times at priests’ meetings. Then I gave a 40 Hours in his parish, then a mission.

I remember him telling me about a little boy coming into the sacristy after Mass with a Christmas present for him. Dick was absorbed in a conversation with someone, so he took the present from the kid, thanked him, and put it  on the sacristy vestment case and went back to his conversation with whomever he was talking to.

The little boy stood there waiting. Finally Dick noticed him and the kid said, “Well, aren’t you going to open it.”

“Oh, the present. You’re waiting for me to open it.” 

So Father Dick took the present and opened it then and there. 

The kid stood there waiting full of anticipation. 

The wrapping came off. The box was opened. It was a monk—a cookie jar monk—you might have seen them—a big fat monk. The kids parents were off to the side waiting. And his mom said, “Tommy saw that cookie jar, Father, in the store, and immediately said, `That’s Father Frank. We gotta get that for him for Christmas.’”

Then the boy giggled.

And it was Father Frank—a big fat monk—a big fat cookie jar—that people could come to for nourishment and life.

After Hurricane Agnes, he was chosen to be the one to bring money to people in Wyoming Valley who were devastated by the flood. He told me he had hundreds and hundreds of hundred dollar bills. “I felt like Santa Claus.”

The priests of the diocese elected him head of the Parish Priests’ Senate. He was well loved by all. Meeting him I understood what people meant when they said, “You gotta meet, Father Frank. He’s a beautiful guy.”

That was my experience too: a warm, real, honest, funny, giving priest, human being.

“We Have Such a High Priest.”

LIST GOES ON

I could list lots of priests that I have met that I luck to have me: Father Louie Grippi, Father Charlie Muholland, Father Pete Gavigan, Father Neil Graham.

And it has been great to hear Redemptorists bragged about by others: Chippy Majewski, Paul Bryan, Frank Skelly, Brother Andy Coronoto, etc.

“We Have Such a High Priest.”

LETTER TO THE HEBREWS

Well, this Letter to the Hebrews is a sermon telling people that we have Jesus. He is a great high priest. Go to him.

“We Have Such a High Priest.”

William Lane has a book on Hebrews, Call To Commitment (Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1985). He says that Hebrews is a neglected book of the bible. He likes Hebrews, so he spent 6 years working on his major commentary on Hebrews. He says that it’s not a letter but a sermon. He says that it’s “A Sermon In Search of a Setting.” He says that the audience is a group of people who are experiencing the pressure of persecution, perhaps by the Romans.

And the author of Hebrews is saying that we have a great high priest, who is aware of our plight, who is in solidarity with us, who identifies with us.

And then the author develops what the human situation is at that times:

•         fear of death,

•         fear of suffering,

•         fear of the felt absence of God,

•         fear of meaninglessness.

Well if you feel any of those things, go to Jesus. And if you do, you will discover, you will experience the felt presence of God—Jesus.

He became one of us. He knows what it is to live. He knows what it is to die. He knows what it is to suffer. He did all that.

Christ was born. Christ has lived. Christ has died. Christ has risen. Christ will come again. 

We are born. We live. We die. In Christ we can trust that we will live again. In him, we don’t have to be wiped out in our fear of death and suffering. Christ is the one who is always with us. Christ is the one who gives meaning to life.

GOSPEL

If we go to today’s gospel [Mark 1: 29-39], we will experience a real human Christ in a real human scene—healing Peter’s mother-in-law. Mentioning, "mother-in-law" often gets a laugh. 

Well, people were coming to Jesus because they wanted  food and healing. What Jesus needed was  to escape and get a break. 

We see Jesus in these opening scenes in Mark doing things and having feelings and experiences we have over and over and over again. We want people to get better, because we need their service. We discover people needing us. We look for hiding places, to get a break. We have that feeling of, “Get me out of here.” “Give me a break.” Jesus escapes to a place of prayer. Yet they find him and he goes and helps and heals others.

CONCLUSION

“We have such a High Priest.”

He is with us in our humanity and he lifts us up to into divinity.

Amen Come Lord Jesus.