HIS NAME IS JOHN. Today, as Father Gerard celebrates his first mass, it is altogether fitting that we should dwell on the meaning of a new name, given at his birth to the greatest of Old Testament prophets and a member of the priestly clan of Israel. In antiquity there was a strong conviction that there is something sacred about a name, so that the naming of a new born infant was itself an expression of a divine destiny and providence. Even today in some societies, such as the Ibo in Nigeria, when a male child is old enough to understand, his father confers on him his true name, one known only to the father and the child who is told to keep it secret. It is considered too intimately bound to his person to be divulged with impunity to others. He is to share with his father a knowledge of himself that remains hidden to outsiders.

The name, John (Yochanan), came from heaven; it was revealed by an angel, and when Zachary and Elizabeth imposed it on their son they were conscious of carrying out a prophetic act. For the name "John" means "The Lord gives grace." The birth of John the Baptist was the pledge of a grace that was to mark a new beginning in salvation history, not only of the Jewish people, but of the whole the human race for all ages to come. John was to be the herald of the Savior of the world, the Word made flesh. His name was truly prophetic in that it designated the meaning, deeper than even he ever realized, that his life was to assume. In him prophecy determined his whole development; his very person was, from the womb, consecrated to the preparation of the coming of One greater than he. He was destined to point out to men whom he himself had trained as disciples the anointed of the Lord. By his manner of death, he united sacrifice with prophecy, in this too foretelling the anointed priest-prophet who was to take away the sins of the world.

The priesthood Jesus established at the Last Supper is the continuation of his mission of preaching and of offering the life-giving sacrifice of his own body and blood.. Accordingly, the name,(Yochanan), John "The Lord gives grace", aptly characterizes the event we mark today at this first mass, offered in honor of John the Forerunner, and friend of the Lord. For the priest is ordained to be a minister of grace both by preaching and, in a more special way, by the sacraments. Vatican II , in its teaching on priests, reaffirmed the ancient conviction of the Church that

It is in the Eucharistic cult or in the Eucharistic assembly of the faithful (synaxis) that they exercise in a supreme degree their sacred office; there, acting in the person of Christ and proclaiming his mystery, they unite the votive offerings of the faithful to the sacrifice of Christ their head, and in the sacrifice of the Mass they make present again and apply, until the coming of the Lord, the unique sacrifice of the New Testament, that namely of Christ offering himself once for all a spotless victim to the Father (Lumen Gentium, 28).

The sacrament of ordination confers on priests, by the action of the Holy Spirit, a special and permanent character. Through this grace "they are configured to Christ the priest in such a way that they are able to act in the person of Christ the head." (Presbyterium Ordinis, 2). The exercise of this high role is a ministerium, a service, to the faithful. While it calls for dispositions of selfless love and courageous dedication that unite the priest with the Lord, yet the fruits of this ministry depend, not on the worthiness of the priest, but are assured by the promises of Christ, as St. Augustine affirmed so emphatically in speaking of the priest unworthy of his ministry:

Christ's gift is not thereby profaned: what flows through him keeps it purity, and what passes through him remains clear and reaches the fertile earth.... The spiritual power of the sacrament is indeed comparable to light: those to be enlightened receive it in its purity, and if it should pass through defiled beings, it is not itself defiled. (In Jo. Ev. 5, 15 cited in Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1584)

At the same time, the fact remains that the preaching and Eucharistic sacrifice offered by a holy priest confer additional grace proper to those who are more closely conformed to the Lord Jesus. Accordingly, our first duty as priests is to make ourselves as worthy as possible of this high calling. Gregory of Nazianzus, as a newly ordained priest, keenly felt the obligation to undertake this work of personal conversion.

We must begin by purifying ourselves before purifying others; we must be instructed to be able to instruct, become light to illuminate, draw close to God to bring him close to others, be sanctified to sanctify, lead by the hand and counsel prudently (Oratio 2, 71 in Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1589).

At the same time he added, with confidence, that "I know God's greatness and man's weakness, but also his potential." The measure of our potential is nothing less than the God himself who calls us to this service in his love. For the priesthood is indeed a gift of God's love for his Church and for each of his faithful- a love which confers on his priest the power to share in the great work of sanctification proper to the Holy Spirit. Your life, my brother priest, is henceforth dedicated to this exacting and noble collaboration with the Lord himself so that, having been divinized by grace, you might contribute to the divinization of those who are destined to be children of God and heirs of his eternal kingdom. May the Spirit who has begun this work in you preserve you in joy and bring your ministry to completion unto the day of the coming of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Abbot John Eudes Bamberger

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