Sunday 8 November 2020

Sermon: The Seminarian's Bride



Mt 25:1-13

I want to speak to you today about your future wife, your bride, waiting out there for you.

 

In the parable we just heard, the Lord spoke of the bridegroom, and of the ten virgins waiting for him.

Whenever we meditate on the parables, we automatically apply one of the roles in the parable to ourselves.

e.g. I consider myself as the prodigal son (Lk 15:11-31), and what his behaviour teaches me;

Or, I consider myself as the lost sheep who is found (Lk 15:3);

etc

When you became a priest,

it becomes important to apply the role of the Lord Jesus in the parable to yourself:

For example: yes, I remain a lost sheep needing to be found,

But, as a priest, I need to take my inspiration from the behaviour of the shepherd who goes looking for lost sheep.

 

Let’s take that interpretation to today’s parable:

The bridegroom - is the Lord.

The wedding that is coming - is between Himself and the Church, His bride.

And there are wise and foolish virgins – members of His Church.

They are WAITING for His coming.

 

Where are YOU in the parable?

You will one day be a priest.

You, therefore, will be the bridegroom.

You, by ordination, sealed on your soul with a sacramental character,

Will be conformed to the image of Christ.

-you will be the bridegroom.

 

Much priestly writing in recent years has focused on this image:

John Paul the Great articulated it in Pastores dabo vobis

and, much like Benedict’s rearticulation of patristic interpretations

The notion of the priest as spouse of the Church, 

as bridegroom of the Church, 

is ancient and patristic.

Why am I celibate?

Because I have a wife: 

the Church

I am, to apply St Paul’s words spiritually:

I am “a man of one wife” (1 Tim 2:3), the Church 

This isn’t just practical necessity to free my time for service

Rather, it’s a spiritually symbolic

its ontologically grounded

-by my union with Christ THE Bridegroom

 

 

This will be you:

You will have a wife

She is now your bride, waiting for you.

In our seminary context, 

I want to present to you the image of your future parish WAITING for you,

Just as the Church universal waits for the coming of the Lord.

 

Your congregation will have a mixture of wise and foolish,

Just like the wise and foolish virgins

-both are waiting for you

 

When you get to your parish, 

You will meet those who already wise and good

You will hear, in all likelihood, tales of problems they have endured:

Lack of good catechesis

Lack of leadership

Lack of formation

Horrible scandals

And, probably, you will wonder why they endured it all

You’ll wonder why they didn’t walk away

Why?

Because THEY WERE WAITING FOR YOU

In your diocese there are tens of thousands of Catholics who are waiting for you

And, in all likelihood, 

You will have a moment, when THEY TELL YOU exactly this:

They were waiting for you.

Waiting for you to teach to sanctify, to govern

to guide, to lead

to shepherd, to care

They’re already wise and good, but they still NEED you

they’re waiting for you.

 

(pause)

In your future parish,

You will also meet the foolish

They are waiting for you too,

But they lack ‘oil in their lamps’

They often don’t know they lack oil

And applying that image differently, 

it’s YOUR job to bring them oil for their lamps

it’s your job to GET them ready

Even though, in many ways, they don’t know it,

the fools need you

the fools are waiting for you

 

In our parable,

The focus was on the virgins needing to be ready for the Bridegroom.

Let me be bold enough to reverse that:

In our seminary context:

You are training to become the Bridegroom

You are training to get READY

Your bride is out there

some wise, some foolish

-she is often not ready

-she needs your help to get herself ready.

-she needs YOU to be ready, yourself

Seminary is long

Seminary can be hard

But your bride needs you to be ready

 

(Pause)

Some of you, perhaps,

Are on the edge of giving up

The COVID context is hard

The seminary regulations are hard

And maybe you’re thinking of dropping out 

You’re thinking of spending a year or two doing something else

Flipping burgers 

PCJ life now is hard

This might be harder than anything in your future priesthood

But,

Your bride is waiting for you

Your bride is needing you

 

 

A final twist in our symbolism here:

Your bride 

She is only your bride in a secondary sense

we only love her in a secondary sense

Primarily, she is CHRIST’s bride

Primarily, we love HIM, 

and we love her for sake of our union with Him

by reason of our configuration to Him

When Peter was asked to shepherd the Church,

He wasn’t asked if he loved the Church

Rather, he was asked if he loved HIM

“Simon, son of John, Do you love me?”(Jn 21:17)

What, most essentially, gets you ready to love your future bride?

Your love of Him.

 

Let’s sum that up:

Your future wife, your bride is out there, waiting for you.

The Church waits for Christ;

The people of your parish wait for you

Readiness:

There will be both wise and foolish in your parish

Some ready, some not

Some knowing they are waiting for you, some not

You, however, are to get ready for them

Get ready to be the bridegroom

by being conformed to the ONE Bridegroom: Christ, the Lord.