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LET YOUR PEACE DESCEND
FR. DANIEL MAHLER TO THE HOLY PRIESTHOOD
St. John the Baptist Church, Bridgeport, CT
Sunday October 22, 2006
Newly-ordained priest, Reverend and Father Daniel I welcome you to the ranks of the Holy Orthodox priesthood!
With joy, I recognize you as a member of the great assembly of holy men, who surround the bishop in the sanctuary ...who assist him in the great and divine liturgy of eternal life.
With paternal love, and an assurance of my constant prayer for you, Pani Joan, and your family, I acknowledge you as reverend priest this day, in the sight of all the faithful here in our midst, and of all the saints and the angels, the Mother of God, and even of your Own departed and beloved Father and Mother and in their midst, and in the midst of this great Eucharistic assembly, I proclaim you as Axios!
In the witness of this majestic convocation, I call you "worthy" in the sight of God to bear the Gospel of His beloved Son, our Lord, God and Saviour Jesus Christ.
By virtue of the descent of the Holy. Spirit upon you at the moment of the Mystery of Ordination, I call you "worthy" to hold in your hand the Body of Christ, and to lift up the Cup of Salvation so that the faithful might commune in the mighty grace and divine immortality of our Saviour.
But now, we reflect, and we enter into a still moment of reflection. Let us reason together, and consider how this moment of ordination and how this profound mystery will be revealed in the days and years to come.
Now that you are ordained, what will you do? What is expected of you? Where do you go from here?
You have come to the Temple, and you have seen the Lord in the beauty of His Holiness.
You havc perceived, like the Prophet Isaias, that His garment fills the Temple (Isaiah 6.1).
You have heard the intonations of the Seraphim, calling out to one another, saying "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Hosts" (Isaiah 6.3). You have recognized that Heaven and Earth are full of His glory.
And you have said, like Isaias, "Woe is me, for I am undone, for I am an unclean man from an unclean nation" (Isaiah 6.5). You have been given, to touch your lips, the bright, fiery coal that is the burning, purifying Uncreated Light surrounding the Eucharist...and you have heard it spoken to you, "Behold, this has touched your lips, and shall take away your iniquities, and shall purify you of your every stain" (Isaiah 6.7).
And then, also like the Prophet, you have heard the voice of the Lord saying this day, whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?"
Today, Daniel, as you have heard this Vocation, the Call from God in your heart, in the day and in the night - today you have knelt before His awesome majesty, and you have said -like the Prophet and all the Apostles and every Priest of the Great and Eternal Holy Orthodox Church - You have said, "Here am I! Send me!" (Isaiah 6.8)
And so He does exactly that -He is sending you today into the Holy Vineyard, the harvest field of this God-saved Diocese.
Just how, is He sending you, Fr. Daniel - what is expected of you now that you are following in the path of the Prophets and Apostles?
In the tenth chapter of the Gospel according to St. Luke, it becomes clear that Apostles and priests are not sent out a way that one would expect. There are none of the customary assurances and guarantees. There are no worldly and institutional safety nets. That is why theLord tells His disciples, against all common sense, that He is sending them out "as lambs in the midst of wolves" (Luke 10.3). That is why the Lord directs them to "carry no purse, no bag, and no sandals" (10.4).
There is a reason for this surprising demand: He wants, for His Apostles and His priests, a complete and open trust Upon Him. He wants for you, and all His priests, a radical dependence upon His grace, and the mysterious power of the Sacrament of Ordination.
He also directs His Disciples to not get waylaid or distracted by the diversions of this world. Here, the Ordination command of the Lord becomes even more demanding. The Apostle or the priest is to transcend the normal customs of relationships. He is no longer"one of the guys." He is no longer a "buddy ," a "pal" or just a "regular joe."
More than just a colleague, an acquaintance or an everyday friend, you are now -to everyone that you meet -a representative of the Lord Himself. You have become an icon of Jesus Christ, the Great High Priest
This is the meaning behind the Lord's strange command in Luke chapter ten: "Greet no one along the road" (Luke 10.4). In this short phrase, the Lord tells His disciples that they are always His priest. ..they are always "on the clock" ...they are always representing Him and manifesting His grace. Never again can they interact and relate with others like "normal."
Consider deeply Fr. Daniel, the very real fact that in every relationship, you are one of the priests of Jesus Christ. Consider that whether you are wearing your vestments, your riassa, your collar or your work clothes, you are His priest, laboring in the Vineyard of Christ, and you can never simply lay aside your priesthood as you could a cassock.
There is a reason why the Lord calls His priests to go beyond the level of "normal" interaction. There is a reason why the Lord commands us) who follow in the way of the Prophets and Apostles, to rise above everyday conversation and the customary ways of the world.
The reason is simply this; you are called, Fr. Daniel, " to give something better than the "usual" to everyone you meet. From this day onward Fr. Daniel, you are called to give every person the gift of peace. You are called by virtue of this Ordination, to reveal the beauty of holiness -in your words and actions, your thoughts and prayers. In every passing year of this Priesthood, which the Lord has inaugurated in your life this day, you should become a more beautiful Icon of Jesus Christ.
Our Lord gave such a direction to His disciples, before He sent them on their way: "Greet no one along the road, but whatever house you enter, first say, 'Peace be to this house,' And if a Son of peace is there, your peace will rest upon it" (:uke 10:5b-6).
As you become older, and wiser, and more practiced as a priest, the world should see in you a greater and more clarified difference in your face, and in your life, it should see not the usual striving for power and security, ... rather, it should recognize a prophet of peace, an apostle of life, an image of Christ, and a beacon of light and life in the valley of the shadow of death.
God has fashioned you into an instrument of His peace. This is what is expected of you, Fr. Daniel, in...simple and radical dependence upon the Lord, you are to enter the Vineyard of this ministry and you are to bringg to every man the Peace of God. This is why the
High Priest, Jesus Christ, was sacrificed upon the Cross. This is why He is risen from the dead. This is why He gives His Body and Blood into your hands at the Liturgy. And this is why He sends His Holy Spirit into your ministry, at the beckoning of your prayers.
Do your best, Fr. Daniel, to let nothing stand in the way of the peace that God wants to radiate through your priesthood. Resist the temptations of every distraction. Fight manfully against the passions of pride, anger, depression and entertainment.
Do your best, Fr. Daniel, to let nothing interfere with your prayers. Your prayers as priest become the life of grace to the faithful in your parish. Your faithfulness in prayer will lead your parish to become a house of prayer.
Do your best, Fr. Daniel to attend to the service of the Holy Altar to whjch you have been called. The Altar is now your home, and no where else. The priesthood is now your vocation, and there can be no other calling. Every other priority, interest, or activity must now take second place to the place of the Altar.
Do your best to follow the Lord Jesus in His holy Vinyard- to follow Him intimately with trust and a child-like faith. Do aIl of this, Fr.Daniel, and you will see many wonders, as did the Seventy Apostles of the tenth chapter of Luke. They came back from their priesthood, rejoicing in the power of the Gospel of Peace. You, too, will see men and women grow into the likeness of Christ. You will see the works and strongholds of Satan crumble into dust. You will see addiction evaporate, and alienation converted into reconciliation. You will see the mere things of this earth, the bread and the wine, transfigured into the Eucharist of our Risen Lord.
And after all is said and done in your priesthood, Fr. Daniel, you too will come back and rejoice in the power of the Lord. But the Lord will tell you then, as H e did to the Seventy, what you really should rejoice in - even more than for all these wonders of the priesthood; "Rejoice most of all," He told them, "that your names are written in Heaven'" (Luke 10.20).
So rejoice, Fr. Daniel, that you have been made a priest. Rejoice that you will administer the Holy Sacraments of Our Lord. Rejoice that you will baptize and commune, reconcile: and confirm, sign and seal and minister in the Name of Jesus Christ. Rejoice that the powers of darkness,"will tremble in the presence of your priesthood."
But more than all of this, Fr. Daniel, rejoice that you have been given salvation, and that the Lord has written down your name in His book of life. Rejoice most of all that "you have been given His Peace - the peace of Christ. That passes all understanding
(Philippians 4:7)
And as you have been given the Peace of Christ, Fr. Daniel, you are to give it away. Freely you have received, the Lord says unto you, so you should now and forevermore, freely give. Amen.
+METROPOLITAN NICHOLAS