Set Apart
Homily on Saturday, 1st Week of Lent; 24 Feb 2024, DBPH Chapel, Talamban
Someone posted on social media something for us priests to think about. It was an excerpt from an article that reiterates Pope Francis’ call to overcome institutionalized clericalism. What is clericalism? It is a term referring to a disordered attitude among those who consider priests or anyone in the clerical state to have an increasing power over the laity, often leading to a strong sense of entitlement.
The article affirms the Pope in pointing out that “clericalism is ingrained in the very institution of the Church. It is a deeply-rooted mentality and ethos that is, without a doubt, most often identified in ecclesiastical ambition, certain forms of dress, and the language clerics and even many lay people tend to use. But these are only symptoms, perhaps, of a much deeper and more fundamental problem. It is this: the idea, drilled into the heads of seminarians and priests over the centuries, that they are special. They are chosen ones. They are men ‘set apart’, as some of the classic Catholic literature and manuals define those men who feel they have a vocation to the ‘holy priesthood’.”
Now, isn’t this really thought provoking?
In our liturgy today, God tells us, what he once told the Israelites of the Old Testament, that we are his people set apart, chosen and beloved. In one word it means we had been “consecrated” to God. But this consecration does not mean empowerment and entitlement alone according to the standards of this world. It actually means responsibility. In the same way that God has made an agreement and, more than that, a covenant with the Israelites, he has also made a covenant with us, Christians, in the precious blood of Christ when we received the sacraments of baptism and confirmation.
As the new people of God, therefore, this new covenant demands that we are to observe faithfully not only the statutes, ordinances, decrees and commands he gave in the Old Testament but above all the Gospel that Jesus Christ, his only begotten Son, had proclaimed. In the simplest of terms, our being set apart today and chosen from the rest of unbelieving humanity is intended for greater SERVICE, that is, to SERVE GOD alone in the person of Jesus Christ and his Body the Church.
We priests and those who belong to the clerical state, by virtue of our ordination, have also been set apart and chosen from the rest of the faithful. But we believe this took place not in order to make us feel “special”. On the contrary our being chosen comes with a commission to make the rest of Christ’s faithful people feel SPECIALLY CHOSEN and LOVED by GOD and to BE HOLY like Him. Concretely speaking this means that we who have received the sacrament of Holy Orders have been set apart to SERVE you who have been gifted with the common priesthood of the faithful. And the noblest service we can offer you is to make you holy, one body and one spirit in Christ, by ministering to you God’s living Word and his transforming Sacraments.
But that is not all. In the Gospel we have heard today Jesus said that not all people will show their respect towards us, whether we are ordained or non-ordained. On the contrary, we will even be hated and persecuted by others for what we believe and stand for. Nevertheless Jesus tells us to be careful not to lose sight of our true identity and mission. Having been set apart to serve God, we are also called and challenged to continue to serving him even in the most trying times, that is, we are to be at the service even of our enemies particularly by forgiving them and praying for them. And finally when the ultimate challenge arises, we should be ready to offer ourselves as a sacrifice in union with Jesus on the cross, by laying down our lives as martyrs.
In this Mass let us pray for one another, the clergy for the lay and the lay for the clergy, that we may understand better, appreciate more and live out more radically our being consecrated by God through the sacraments. And let us keep in mind the five S’s of our consecration: Set-apart, Sanctified, Sent, Service and Sacrifice. We Catholics have all been SET apart, SANCTIFIED (configured to Christ and empowered by his Spirit) and SENT for no other purpose than to be at the SERVICE of others and offered as a SACRIFICE for the glory of God. GiGsss!
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