Bishop Leo O’Reilly’s Homily
At the Ordination of Reverend Seán Maguire
Cathedral of Saints Patrick and Felim, Cavan, 24th June 2012
There was already a buzz of excitement and anticipation when I was out in Laragh last week for the opening of the new school. The ordination of Deacon Sean Maguire was already in the air. Some of the bunting was already up and the celebration was beginning. Laragh is a parish that has given more priests to the diocese of Kilmore than any other in the diocese, and it has also given a few bishops and of course a Cardinal as well. Cardinal Seán, we are delighted that you are able to be with us today to celebrate this happy occasion for Sean Maguire, his family, for his parish and our diocese.
We are just fresh from celebrating the 50th International Eucharistic Congress. I think anyone who was there, or who followed it on television or otherwise, couldn’t help being encouraged and inspired by the experience. The presence of Christians from all over the country and the world mingling with each other in friendship, witnessing to their faith and celebrating it together, gave our own faith and confidence a much needed boost. The number of smiling, happy young people praying and singing and sharing their experiences of faith did the heart good and restored our hope for the future of our Church.
The ordination today of Sean Maguire, a young man in the prime of life, is a strong sign of hope for the Church here in the diocese of Kilmore as well. He will be the first priest to be ordained in eight years. Fr Ultan here is the last priest ordained for the diocese and I’m sure he will be glad to have someone coming after him to keep the draught off him. I hope Seán will not have to endure the draught for so long. I pray that the Eucharistic Congress will mark the beginning of a new spring of faith and renewal in our Church, and I hope that this ordination today will unlock a new stream of vocations to the priesthood to serve the people of our diocese.
We celebrate on the Feast of the Birth of St John the Baptist. The Baptist was the last of the prophets before Christ. At his birth his father Zechariah was healed of his dumbness and spoke the canticle that we priests pray every morning, the Benedictus. In it Zechariah speaks directly to his newborn child:
That’s a good job description for any priest. He is first of all a prophet of God the Most High. A prophet is someone who speaks the word of God. And the primary duty of the priest, according to the Second Vatican Council, is to preach the word of God, to proclaim the Gospel, the Good News of Jesus Christ. A priest proclaims God’s word when he preaches and teaches. He proclaims it by the witness of his life and his pastoral care for his people. Nowhere does a priest proclaim the word of God more powerfully than when he speaks the words of Jesus at Mass: This is my Body which is given for you; this is my Blood which is poured out for you. And that will be the heart and soul of your ministry, Seán, for the rest of your life.
“You shall go before the Lord to prepare his ways before him”. So much of a priest’s life is going before the Lord, preparing the way for him: preparing parents for the coming of Christ to their children in baptism; preparing parents and children for Christ’s coming in Communion and Confirmation; preparing couples for Christ’s coming to them in the sacrament of matrimony; and preparing the sick and the dying for the coming of Christ to them in the sacrament of the sick. The whole of our pastoral ministry is there.
And finally, “to make known to his people their salvation for the forgiveness of all their sins”. The priest has the unbelievable privilege of ministering God’s forgiveness and healing through the sacrament of Penance. We priests have just returned from a retreat together during the week. We had a wonderful preacher, Fr Jim McManus, a Redemptorist who is based in London, but is a native of Kinawley. I think he opened our eyes again to the wonder of the sacrament of penance and to the healing power of forgiveness. He reminded us that this sacrament is not only a sacrament of forgiveness, but a sacrament of healing too. It heals the wounds of sins which often rob us of peace of mind and heart. Fr Jim gave us a whole new understanding of the healing power of forgiveness itself. He helped us to realise once again the treasure we have in this sacrament, in our ministry to make known to God’s people their salvation for the forgiveness of all their sins, to give light to those in darkness, and guide us into the way of peace. You have a privileged ministry, Seán.
John the Baptist’s vocation as a prophet was a call from God, but it was nourished in a family that was steeped in faith and in a community steeped in faith. Seán call from God also came to him through his family and community. Today I was to thank God for Sean’s family, for their faith, for their example and support which has enabled him to follow God’s call to the priesthood. I thank God for the faith of the communities and the priests of Laragh and Knockbride and elsewhere who supported him in his vocation, for the schools where he learned about the faith and grew in faith, for the staff of St Patrick’s College, Maynooth where he grew in knowledge and wisdom and, in the words of today’s gospel, where his spirit matured.
I welcome you, Sean, among the priests of Kilmore. We admire your courage and faith in offering yourself for the priesthood at this very difficult time for the Church in Ireland. We rejoice that, while the harvest is great and the labourers are few, there is one more staunch labourer joining the great meitheal of the priesthood in Kilmore to continue the mission and ministry of Christ today. I look forward to your contribution to that great work and I wish you every blessing and happiness in your ministry.
