Where and What

Returning and rediscovering our early loves

01/06/2022

Lk 4:14-22 Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news of him spread throughout the whole region. He taught in their synagogues and was praised by all. He came to Nazareth, where he had grown up, and went according to his custom into the synagogue on the sabbath day. He stood up to read and was handed a scroll of the prophet Isaiah. He unrolled the scroll and found the passage where it was written: The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord. Rolling up the scroll, he handed it back to the attendant and sat down, and the eyes of all in the synagogue looked intently at him. He said to them, “Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing.” And all spoke highly of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth.

Next week I will be returning to my old seminary to give their annual retreat. Would like to know where I am going and what I am going to talk about? I attended Mt. St. Mary’s Seminary in Emmitsburg, Maryland. I am the first seminarian from our diocese to ever go there, and I am the last seminarian who has ever gone there. Apparently, I did not turn out so good. The reason I chose to go there is because it was one of the three “conservative” or “traditional” seminaries back in those days. The other two were St. Charles Borromeo in Philadelphia and St. Joseph in Yonkers, New York.

But a friend of mine once said that seminaries have a 5 to 10 year "shelf-life." He meant that seminaries change, and what you might remember is probably not the way it is today. In fact, today’s seminarians are far more conservative than I was. In comparison to many of them I would be considered a “flaming liberal.” So, I am going to dust off my old cassock and wear it during the retreat. The cassock is the long black robe a priest used to wear, and some priests still wear today. I’m not sure what to expect when I return to my old seminary, except it probably will not be what I remember.

That is where I am going. Now, what I intend to share with the seminarians during the five days of retreat is to hang on to the Scriptures and the sacraments because they are the only two things in the Church (and in the world) that never change. Everything else in our faith has changed in the past two thousand years, and much will change in the coming millennia. But two things will never change: the 73 books of the Bible and the 7 sacraments.

From the very beginning we have had the Bible, as a sacred family heirloom. And all the saints and scholars up and down the ages have reflected on those 73 books and found our faith in those pages. And all the saints and scholars who have yet to appear on the stage of salvation history will also reflect on those 73 books and again find their faith there. However, brilliant their insights, they will always be based on the Bible. Everything else will fade away, but not the Sacred Scriptures.

The other thing that lasts are the seven sacraments: baptism, Eucharist, confirmation, confession, anointing of the sick, marriage and holy orders. From the beginning of the Church we have enjoyed the grace of the seven sacraments, and until the second coming of Christ, we will have the graces of the seven sacraments to sustain us. Everything else will change, and ultimately disappear, but not the sacraments. And that is what I am going to urge those seminarians to hang on to.

Sometimes seminarians – and all Catholics – can get caught up in the small things of our faith; things that will not last. There is an old joke: What is the difference between a liturgist and a terrorist? You can negotiate with a terrorist. In other words, sometimes people who deal with the details of the liturgy (the Mass) can get so caught up in the nitty-gritty – Latin or English, Communion on the tongue or on the hand, should we hold hand during the Our Father, etc. – that we forget all these things have changed and will change again.

They take their eyes off the big picture – the basic structure of the sacrament of the Mass – the liturgy of the Word at the pulpit and the liturgy of the Eucharist at the altar. A lot has changed in the Mass in two thousand years, and a lot more will change in the next two thousand years, so hang on to what will not change. Fr. Benedict Groeschel said memorably: “It is good to die for your faith. Just don’t die for the pennies and nickels of the faith.” Some liturgists die for the pennies and nickels.

It is always spiritually invigorating to return to the seminary where you fell in love with Jesus and felt the first fire for your vocation. Maybe it's like married couples returning to the site of their honeymoon after many years of marriage. Why? Well, you might rediscover your early love. That is what I hope might happen for me when I return to Mt. St. Mary’s Seminary. Sometimes when you have been doing something for so many years, the daily grind and the hustle and bustle of it all, make you forget your early love.

In Rv 2:4 Jesus has a complaint against the Church of Ephesus, the first of the seven letters to the seven churches. He says they have forgotten their “early love.” Please pray for me next week as I return in my cassock and try to be conservative enough for these seminarians. Maybe I will rediscover my early love, and help them fall more in love with Jesus, too.

Praised be Jesus Christ!