June 24, 2018

Solemnity of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist        

“The Baptist and the Priest: A Voice and a Door”

Mass of Thanksgiving for the Ministry of Fr. Jean Felicien

Today the 12th Sunday in Ordinary Time defers to the Solemnity of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist. It seems like a bit Advent in the summer. The Baptist’s importance is seen in the fact that he is the only Saint whose birth is celebrated besides that of Our Lord and His mother. St. John is the bridge between the Old and New Testaments, the last and greatest of the Prophets; the Precursor; the Herald of the Messiah. Our Lord said, “Among those born of women there had been none greater than John the Baptist.” So we can hardly overlook him!
 
How appropriate that we celebrate this feast as we thank Fr. Jean for his priestly ministry among us. We do not actually bid him goodbye, since he is not exactly taking his leave of us. Today is his last official Sunday as our parochial vicar. Even as he goes off with our prayers and good wishes for graduate studies in Canon Law this August, he retains his diocesan residence here.
 
I see an interesting connection between the ministry of the Baptist and Fr. Jean’s ministry—a ministry, I might add that he has carried out so well and so generously since his ordination four years ago. Yes…he is with us…four years…feels like forty (for him—that is!)
 
So what is this connection between John the Baptist and Fr. Jean…the Haitian Sensation? Fr. Jean is a man of fine sartorial and culinary taste so he would certainly reject the Baptist’s preferences for camel hair clothing and locusts and wild honey! And the link goes beyond sharing a common name. The connection is given to us by none other than the great St. Augustine.
 
St. Augustine tried to make clear, for himself and his people, the nature of priestly service and it came to him from meditating on the figure of John the Baptist, who he found to pre-figure the role of the priest.  
 
The Gospels, borrowing from the prophet Isaiah, describes the Baptist as a voice while describing Christ as the Word. Here St. Augustine understood that ultimately the task of the priest is quite simply to be a voice for the Word, that is, for Christ. The voice carries the word which passes from person to person and then passes away…the Word remains. The voice steps aside. The Baptist said, “He must increase, I must decrease.” The priest, like the Baptist is a servant of the Word.
 
We might see yet another comparison. Just as the mission of the Baptist was to open the door for God so that Israel would be ready to welcome him, so through his ministry, a priest opens the door for God.
 
My mom once said to me, “The priest opens doors that the President of the United States cannot open.” How often the priest opens the door of our souls to the graces the Lord imparts through the sacraments. How often the priest, through his preaching of God’s word opens our minds and hearts, so that we might turn to God, to be converted, to change our thinking, to adjust our outlook so that we perceive God’s presence in the world, so that He become present and alive within us.
 
Today our parish family thanks Fr. Jean for doing precisely this among us and to do this with his characteristic joy, enthusiasm and generosity.
 
Fr. Jean will not go out, like the Baptist, into the desert, into the wilderness (although he is going to Washington!) but he goes to the classroom. He will not lose his head like the Baptist, but he will use his head that he might serve the Church.
 
How beautiful are the prophet’s words which mark Fr. Jean's final “official” Sunday: “The Lord called me from birth, from my mother’s womb his gave me my name. You are my servant…through whom I show my glory. I will make you a light to the nations that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth!”
 
Fr. Jean—Continue to open the door to the Lord’s glory; continue to be a clear far-reaching voice to draw all people to the Lord! Ad multos annos!