A letter to the Priests of the Diocese of Broken Bay
Thursday 14 April 2022
Holy Thursday
My dear brothers in the Priesthood,
As we gathered in the Cathedral for the Chrism Mass this year, my thoughts and prayers were filled with deep gratitude to God for you. This evening as we celebrate Thursday of the Lord’s Supper, my mind and heart are once more lifted in thanksgiving, for the priesthood of Christ to which we have been called. In devotion, humility, and service, each of us lives the ministerial priesthood, not for prestige nor power nor position, but because Christ desires to use us for the guidance, well-being, and sanctification of His holy people.
As disciples of Jesus Christ, we are men on a mission to understand more deeply the crucified one who calls us from the Church for the Church – to be priests.
For over 35 years, men from our local Church have generously responded to the invitation to seek Christ crucified. To seek Christ is not to take flight from our families and friends. Nor is it to flee the world in which we live. After all, a vocation must be discerned within the particular situation of one’s own life, in one’s character and by the grace which has been given.
To quote an old Irish priest on mission in Australia, “the priest does not exist in isolation from the human society of which he is part; his life and his activity – that is, his actual nature as a priest – are real only in actual men who change with the changing conditions of human society”.
Saint Paul knew this when he wrote to the Christian community at Corinth. He gave remarkable testimony to his vocation by preaching the Gospel, which he saw as a duty which was laid on him (1Cor 9:16-19.22-23). He did not need to be asked or told to preach the Good News; it was a commission that he undertook with commitment, passion and above all, generosity.
Prayer and worship rest at the very heart of our spiritual life as priests. Indeed, without a heart aroused by prayer and worship, it is almost impossible to hope for a priestly life enriched by the gift of the Father’s love through Christ in the Holy Spirit.
The man who gives himself daily to the priesthood is not caught up in nostalgia for the past nor is he dizzy for glimpses of the future. He is a man of hope, of faithfulness, of love.
With these few thoughts in mind, my dear brothers, I urge you once more to give thanks to God for the great gift of the priesthood. My deepest desire as your bishop is that you will continue to grow in holiness; that you will be near to the people entrusted into your care; and that you will be men who willingly offer your lives, as Christ crucified, for the sake of others and for their salvation.
My deepest gratitude and blessing for all that you do,
Fraternally yours in Christ,
Most Rev Anthony Randazzo DD JCL
Bishop of Broken Bay