Just recently my niece and her husband and seven-year-old daughter and
three-year-old twins visited and spent a couple of days with me my residence will
never look the same again but it was a great joy to be with them and I was so
inspired to see my niece and her husband like so many of you dear parents have
done and continue to do taking such good care of their children from morning,
tonight and throughout the night requiring great energy and they did so
without complaint so I turned to my niece and somewhat humorously said so
how do you do this what motivates you and she smiled and said somewhat
humorously or I can assure you it's not the pay and then she gave the one and
only true answer it's love monetary rewards human titles recognitions they
can never sustain us love can in fact it is what sustains us and motivates us in
our marriages our friendships in our service to the Lord and His Church and
on this solemn night that's what we celebrate love God's great love for us
perfectly revealed in His Son Jesus Christ who was ever faithful and
obedient to his Father even to the point of death and out of love for us
on the night before he died he gave us three precious gifts the gifts of the
Holy Eucharist the priesthood and an example a model to follow on this solemn
night in which the Eucharist was instituted we were invited to ponder
anew the truth that Jesus gives us His very self body blood soul and divinity
not because we earned it or deserve it not because we're without sin but purely
out of love and so every time we come down the aisle to receive Holy Communion
we're reconciled we're nourished we're strengthened we find the source of our
consolation and comfort to carry our crosses and endure our trials pray dear
friends that you never take this precious gift for granted pray to be
filled with what Saint John Paul called Eucharistic wonder and awe
Eucharistic wonder and all leading us to profound gratitude for the perfect
sacrifice of His only begotten Son and out of love and so that the Eucharist
could be perpetuated Jesus gives us tonight the gift of the priesthood
tonight today earlier today in this Cathedral what a privilege what a joy as
I gathered with my brother priests for the Chrism Mass and part of that liturgy
the priests are asked to renew their commitment to priestly service and upon
doing so the liturgy instructs the to speak to the people of God and to say
these words please pray for your priests and so tonight dear friends I
respectfully renew that request please pray daily for the wonderful priests
serving this Diocese that they will be known for their holiness and
faithfulness and service but that they will be especially known for their love
the love of God in his Church and his people and on this sacred night has just
proclaimed in the Gospel of John Jesus teaches us how to love and we will
commemorate what he taught us in just a few moments with the assistance of our
seminarians the Lord took off his cloak he knew he was Lord of all but he bowed
in humble service and he washed the feet of his disciples and said to us as I
have done so you must do we washed the feet of one another every time we place
their needs ahead of ours and sharing with them the precious gift of our time
we wash the feet of one another when we go out to meet and to serve the poor and
the needy the lonely the sick those who feel abandoned we wash the feet of one
another when we show respect in word and deeds to all people even those who
disagree with us and we wash the feet of one another
when from our heart we forgive even those who have heard us and offended us
what motivates us to do so only love and so tonight as we celebrate God's great
love for us perfectly revealed in Jesus Christ we offer great thanks the one
whose body and blood we are about to receive the one who washed the feet of
his disciples and said what I have just done for you is to give you an example a
model to follow and as I have done for you so you also must do may our love for
God and one another be reflected in the yes we offer to that call on this sacred
night and every day of our lives. Amen.