Homily at the ordination to the priesthood
of Nkosingiphile Cyprian Ngwenya
of Nkosingiphile Cyprian Ngwenya
Deacon Nkosingiphile has not been “lucky” with the dates I chose for his ordinations. In both cases it fell on important Church feast days: he was ordained deacon on the feast of the Exaltation of the cross and he is being ordained priest today on the feast of the apostles Phillip and James. Being so, he was not able to choose special readings for his ordinations but were given to him by the Church.
On the other side this has opened him and me – who does the preaching – to listen to what God wants to tell him and us through these readings.
In today's Gospel passage, as Jesus teaches the apostles that he is the way, the truth and the life and that no one can go to the Father except through him, the apostle Phillip spontaneously tells Jesus: ‘Lord, let us see the Father and then we shall be satisfied.’ (as if they or us would ever be satisfied!)
I feel we should be grateful to Phillip for saying so because it brought a brief statement from Jesus that I think you – Nkosingiphile – and us, should treasure.
Jesus replies saying: ‘To have seen me is to have seen the Father’. Through the Gospel of John we constantly hear about this being one of Jesus and the Father. Jesus regularly talks about “my Father” and in 10:30 Jesus even says: “the Father and I are one”.
Priests sometimes choose a biblical passage to share on ordination cards. You could not do it but if you were to choose a motto for the journey that starts today I would suggest exactly these words from Jesus: “to have seen me is to have seen the Father”.
I believe this is what the people expects from you and from any priest. Seeing you, they want to see and experience Jesus’ presence among them; this Jesus that was raised to life on the third day as we read in today’s first reading.
Through you they want to experience:
I imagine this is not new to you. You are not just Nkosingiphile but you are many times known by your other name: Cyprian and it was, in fact, Cyprian who first used the expression: “the priest, another Christ”
You will be another Christ and people will be able to meet the Risen Lord through you – only – if you are one with Jesus and you can only be one with Jesus if you spend time with him.
In the Gospel of Mark, when Jesus appoints the 12 we read that: “they were to be his companions and to be sent out to proclaim the message” (3:14). In other words, he called them to be with him and to be sent. Not just to be sent. They had to spend time with him, to listen to his Word, to understand it, they had to learn from him the way they would relate to the people…
Many years’ ago I stayed in the community with another missionary from another continent. We were very close, so close that the day I met his parents at his home the mother said: “it seems as if I am seeing my son”.
This happens when you stay with someone, spending time together, quality time as we like to say.
Not just anyone, but someone you love. Two people can stay in the same house and never talk to each other. This applies to families, couples, religious and priests. To all of us.
Through you they want to experience:
- Jesus’ Word addressing them
- Jesus’ mercy through the sacrament of reconciliation making them stand again, being given not just a second chance but a tenth or hundredth chance
- Jesus coming to them in his Body and Blood
- Jesus’ listening to them in their struggles
- Jesus’ healing in their brokenness
- Jesus’ washing of their feet
I imagine this is not new to you. You are not just Nkosingiphile but you are many times known by your other name: Cyprian and it was, in fact, Cyprian who first used the expression: “the priest, another Christ”
You will be another Christ and people will be able to meet the Risen Lord through you – only – if you are one with Jesus and you can only be one with Jesus if you spend time with him.
In the Gospel of Mark, when Jesus appoints the 12 we read that: “they were to be his companions and to be sent out to proclaim the message” (3:14). In other words, he called them to be with him and to be sent. Not just to be sent. They had to spend time with him, to listen to his Word, to understand it, they had to learn from him the way they would relate to the people…
Many years’ ago I stayed in the community with another missionary from another continent. We were very close, so close that the day I met his parents at his home the mother said: “it seems as if I am seeing my son”.
This happens when you stay with someone, spending time together, quality time as we like to say.
Not just anyone, but someone you love. Two people can stay in the same house and never talk to each other. This applies to families, couples, religious and priests. To all of us.
There is a beautiful passage from Pope Benedict XVI I always quote:
Being Christian is not the result of an ethical choice or a lofty idea, but the encounter with an event, a person, which gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction.
I love the way the teaching of one Pope if followed by another. At the beginning of his ministry Pope Francis wrote.
I invite all Christians, everywhere, at this very moment, to a renewed personal encounter with Jesus Christ... I ask all of you to do this unfailingly each day. No one should think that this invitation is not meant for him or her” (The joy of the Gospel, 3)
Note the words: a personal encounter with Jesus Christ – constantly
renewed – done each single day – and no one should feel excluded. There
is always a risk in us – priests and bishops – to ignore it thinking
that it is said for others but not for us. It is, in fact, essential in our lives.
It is this encounter with the person of Jesus Christ that is giving your life a decisive direction having been called to be a priest.
Without that daily encounter, people won’t be able to see you being one with Jesus. Without it, you, me and any of the priests, might become “professionals of religious matters" but not really priests.
I don’t think we have been called to be preachers. Our call is to be witnesses. This is what the apostles repeated all the time after the resurrection: “we are his witnesses”. You and me cannot witness something we have never experience.
You will reside at a place where the blessed sacrament will always be present; being a chapel or a church. It could well happen that you never spend time, quality time with the Risen Lord present in the Eucharist. Decades’ ago I remember an old priest telling me that the best gift I could offer the people would be to see me praying in front of the Blessed Sacrament.
It is this encounter with the person of Jesus Christ that is giving your life a decisive direction having been called to be a priest.
Without that daily encounter, people won’t be able to see you being one with Jesus. Without it, you, me and any of the priests, might become “professionals of religious matters" but not really priests.
I don’t think we have been called to be preachers. Our call is to be witnesses. This is what the apostles repeated all the time after the resurrection: “we are his witnesses”. You and me cannot witness something we have never experience.
You will reside at a place where the blessed sacrament will always be present; being a chapel or a church. It could well happen that you never spend time, quality time with the Risen Lord present in the Eucharist. Decades’ ago I remember an old priest telling me that the best gift I could offer the people would be to see me praying in front of the Blessed Sacrament.
You have spent many years at St John Vianney seminary in Pretoria so I suppose you have many times heard the same story.
When St. John Maria Vianney asked an old farmer what he did in the church looking at the tabernacle, the humble man responded, "Nothing, I look at Him, and He looks at me."Make sure you follow the example of the old farmer.
Make sure that the Word you read always addresses you first and later the ones entrusted to you; so that it does not happen what we hear Jesus telling Phillip today: “Have I been with you all this time and you do not know me?” It is more than an intellectual knowledge of Jesus, it is about knowing his heart.
Allow Jesus to transform your mind as Paul tells the Romans (12:2) so that every time you celebrate the Eucharist and say: “this is my body given up for you” it is not just Jesus’ words but also yours, your whole life with Jesus being given up for the life of the people.
You will be able to know if this is happening or not in a very easy way: whenever you feel tempted to complain about something, check if it is linked to the Gospel or not. Check in your heart if – in any way – Jesus would share the way you see it.
I cannot recall times in which a priest felt frustrated because he was stopped or unable to live the Gospel fully. Normally, the complains have been about personal expectations, personalities, which had little or nothing to do with the Gospel entrusted to us.
It will be easy for everyone to know if you are one with Jesus or not. They will see you in the way you relate to everyone: the way you will relate to the laity, to the religious sisters, the way you will work in communion with your brother priests. They will know it through your readiness or not to find new ways to wash their feet.
They will see if it if you are able to create spaces for them: to trust them and entrust them with responsibilities like Jesus did with the apostles and the whole church.
If you would close doors instead of opening them… something might be wrong.
I cannot recall times in which a priest felt frustrated because he was stopped or unable to live the Gospel fully. Normally, the complains have been about personal expectations, personalities, which had little or nothing to do with the Gospel entrusted to us.
It will be easy for everyone to know if you are one with Jesus or not. They will see you in the way you relate to everyone: the way you will relate to the laity, to the religious sisters, the way you will work in communion with your brother priests. They will know it through your readiness or not to find new ways to wash their feet.
They will see if it if you are able to create spaces for them: to trust them and entrust them with responsibilities like Jesus did with the apostles and the whole church.
If you would close doors instead of opening them… something might be wrong.
If Jesus entrusted me with being a bishop and is entrusting you with his priesthood, why would you not entrust other with different services and responsibilities? You and me are not better than anyone else...
"To have seen me is to have seen the Father". We pray today as a diocese that more and more you become a clear sign of the Risen Jesus among us. We pray that day by day you become one with Jesus.
May the One who started this good work in you, bring it to completion.
