MASS FOR 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF ORDINATION

SAN MARCELLO, ROME, 26 OCTOBER 2008

My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, carissimi fratelli e sorelle

Come ho detto all’inizio della Santa Messa sono qui per celebrare i miei 50 anni di sacerdozio. Fu il venti sei ottobre del millenovecento cinquantotto che ricevetti l’ordinazione sacerdotale qui in questa chiesa da Monsignor, poi Cardinale Luigi Traglia.   Ero l’unico studente del Pontificio Collegio Scozzese ordinato quel giorno, anche se fui ordinato in compagnia di molto studenti da altri paesi

Era un periodo di numerose vocazioni. Tra quelli qui’ presenti oggi per festeggiare con me, ci sono gli attuali studenti del Pontificio Collegio Scozzese.  Nei miei giorni il Collegio si trovava sulla Via Quattro Fontane, ma adesso e’ situata sulla Via Cassia.  Ci sono anche qui presenti parenti ed amici da Barga nella provincia di Lucca, da dove emigrarono  i miei nonni, come pure parenti ed amici dalla Scozia e dall’Inghliterra.

It was 50 years ago to the day that I came here to the Church of S Marcello on the Corso to be ordained a priest.  From that moment on, this church has had a very special place in my heart, and I am delighted to be able to return here today, with you, to thank God for these 50 years of priesthood.

I thank God, not only that I have survived these 50 years in the priesthood, 31 and a half as bishop, but that I have been able to return here with you my friends and relatives to mark the occasion.

Among my relatives here today are my brother-in-law Noel Minihan and nephews and nieces, grand nephews and grand nieces from England. Among those who have travelled to Rome from Scotland are clerical colleagues including Mgr Robert Provost McDonald of the Diocese of Aberdeen and Mgr Peter Smith, Chancellor of the Archdiocese of Glasgow, and many dear friends.

Also here, from northern Italy, from Barga in the Province of Lucca, are my cousins, one of whom was here 50 years ago on my ordination day, Signora Wanda Caproni – a cousin by marriage.

Due sono le persone presenti qui oggi, che erano presenti anche 50 anni fa – la signora Wanda Caproni – una mia cara parente, e c’e’ anche un mio grande amico di collegio, che ha vissuto molti anni qui a Roma al servizio della Santa Sede, Monsignor Charles Burns.  (Ho il piacere e l’onore di accogliere anche l’Ambasciatore di Sua Altezza la Regina Elisabetta di Inghilterra alla Santa Sede, il dottor Francis Campbell).

Mgr Charles Burns who is here today was with me all those years ago on that ordination morning. He and I were boys together at the junior seminary at Blairs and students together at the Pontifical Scots College, the students of which college are also, to my very great pleasure, here today along with the rector and staff.

Mgr Burns was on that occasion accompanied by his dear mother; my own mother was here too. Both of them have since been called to the Lord, and I remember them both in a particular way in the course of this Mass.

50 years ago this was the feast of Christ the King, at that time observed on the last Sunday of October. I recall a very beautiful passage from Pope St Leo the Great in which he refers both to our kingly and priestly character as baptised members of the Church.  The occasion of his remarks was somewhat similar to my own in that it was the anniversary of his ordination in his case to the episcopate…

He wrote: “In baptism the sign of the cross makes kings of all who are reborn in Christ, and the anointing of the Holy Spirit consecrates them priests.  So, apart from the particular obligations of our ministry, any Christian who has the gift of rational and spiritual understanding knows he is a member of a kingly race and shares in the priestly office - what more priestly than when he consecrates a pure conscience to God and offers on the altar of his heart the spotless sacrifice of his devotion? 

“By the grace of God this is common to all but it is also gracious and a religious thing in you that on the day of my consecration you rejoice as for an honour that is your own.  Thus the one sacrament which confers the high priesthood is celebrated in the whole body of the Church.  When the oil of consecration is poured, the grace flows more abundantly over the Higher Orders indeed, but it flows unsparingly too over the lower ”.

Cinquant’anni fa, era la solennita’ di Cristo Re, ultima domenica di ottobre.

Ho citato in inglese alcune parole molto belle di San Leone Magno che, in occasione del suo anniversario di ordinazione episcopale, dimostro’ come, grazie al battesimo, siamo tutti membri di un popolo sacerdotale e reale. Anche se, per mezzo del sacramento dell’Ordine c’e’ una grazia particolare conferita sui sacerdoti, noi tutti riceviamo la grazia di essere un popolo sacerdotale. 

Questa realta’ si manifesta in ogni celebrazione della Santa Messa, quando – per mezzo del sacerdote ministeriale - le offerte del popolo vengono consecrate a Dio, un’offerta di ringraziamento; un offerta di pane e di vino che Dio ci restituisce come suo prezioso corpo e sangue.

St Gregory’s words show how, through baptism, we are all members of a priestly people. Though priestly ordination brings with it the special grace of orders, nevertheless we all share in the dignity of the priesthood of all believers.  This is made manifest in a beautiful way at every celebration of Mass when the ordained priest presents to the Father the offerings of the priestly people. Such offerings of gratitude, expressed in bread and wine, are marvellously returned to us by God as the precious body and blood of his son.

At every Mass we are nourished also by the Word of God in Sacred Scripture. Indeed at this very moment, across the city in St Peter’s Basilica, the Holy Father and the participants of the Synod of Bishops are celebrating Mass following a month of discussion and dialogue on the important role of the scriptures in the life of the Church.

Today’s Gospel reminds us of the fundamental law of Christian life as it did for those who were faithful in the Old Testament, for it is from that source that Jesus quotes in his answer to the Pharisee who asked him “Which is the greatest commandment of the law?”

In answer Jesus said: “You must love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second resembles it … you must love your neighbour as yourself.”

Though our vocations take different forms they must always be motivated and be expressive of our love for God and for one another. St Augustine points out that in the order of importance the love of God comes first, nonetheless very often in the temporal order it is expressed first in the love of our neighbour.

Anche se le vocazioni del laico e del sacerdote sono diverse, tutte e due le vocazioni devono essere ispirate dall’amore di Dio e l’amore per il prossimo. Sant’Agostino dice che nell’ordine di importanza, prima viene l’amore di Dio, ma molto spesso nella vita quotidiana, questo amore per il Signore si manifesta prima per mezzo di atti di carita’ verso il prossimo. 

Quelli che veramente amano il fratello e esprimono questo amore in concreti atti di generosita’ e di solidarieta’ non sono lontani dal regno dei cieli. 

Anzi, come abbiamo sentito nella prima lettura dal libro della Genesi, il signore si schiera sempre con i poveri ed i bisognosi e ci ricompensa per il nostro amore fraterno nel loro riguardo o ci condanna per la mancanza di carita’ verso i diseredati. 

It would not be appropriate for me at this Mass to give an account of my priesthood throughout the years, but it would be right to recognise in your presence the goodness of God towards me which I can express in the words of the psalm from this Mass: “My God is a rock where I take refuge; my shield, my stronghold. The Lord is worthy of all praise.”

The Lord stands by us in all our endeavours on his behalf, and never, as St Paul testifies, allows us to be tempted beyond our strength.

Non occorre, in questo momento, rivisitare tutte le tappe della mia vita di prete, ma e’ giusto riconoscere davanti a Dio e davanti a voi cari fratelli e sorelle, la bonta’ di Dio nel moi riguardo. Voglio esprimere la mia gratitudine in queste parole dal salmo: “Signore … mio Dio, mia rupe in cui trovo riparo; mio scudo e baluardo, mia potente salvezza. Invoco il Signore, degno di lode.”

The expression … “my shield” carries a particular significance for me since I had engraved upon the chalice which my mother and her family gave me on my ordination day, a verse from psalm 83 which, in Latin, says: “Clipeus noster aspice Deus et respice faciem uncti tui...” which translates as “Turn your eyes O God, our shield. Look on the face of your anointed one.”

The shield on my chalice is that of the city of Inverness where my father was born, a shield which carried the figure of the crucified. The prayers which that short verse carries are two fold: that our heavenly father may look upon the son, whose sacrifice the priest is offering sacramentally, and at the same time, look upon the priest himself who is the Lord’s anointed, and acts “in persona Christi” literally in the person of Christ.

L’espressione del salmista “Mio scudo e baluardo,” mi e’ particolarmente cara, perche ho fatto incidere sul mio calice - un dono da mia madre e della sua famiglia - un versetto dal salmo ottanta tre che dice in Latino: “Vedi, Dio, nostro scudo, guarda il volto del tuo consacrato.”

The privileges attached to the priesthood are immense, and the service we render the people of God over whom we are placed as shepherds is reciprocated with an affection that sustains us, as it has sustained me, throughout these 50 years of priesthood and I hope that your very presence here today is an assurance that it will continue throughout the years that remain to me in which I hope to continue in one mode or another to be of service to God’s people. And may the Lord continue to look with kindness on the face of His annointed.

La grazia di Dio e l’amicizia  e l’affetto del popolo di Dio mi hanno sostenuto in questi cinquant’anni di sacerdozio, e spero che la vostra presenza qui oggi sia un segno che questi legami di affetto dureranno per gli anni di vita che mi rimangono. Spero di passare questi anni al servizio di Dio e del suo popolo, e prego il Signore che continui a “guardare con amore il volto del suo consacrato.”

Amen