The mystery of the priesthood gives us so much food for thought, it’s almost too much. We can wonder how a mere man becomes an instrument to save sinners like himself. We can reflect on how God seems to pursue the priest as much as (if not more than) the priest pursues God. We can simply marvel at the sight of a priest offering the sacrifice of the Mass. However, we can easily overlook another aspect of this mystery. I experienced something of it after the ordination Mass of one of my Dominican confreres, as I stood in line to receive his priestly blessing.

Looking ahead over the people in line, I saw this newly ordained friar as he greeted loved ones who piously knelt before him. Then it was my turn and, after a congratulatory embrace, I knelt to receive his blessing. Father began to speak words of benediction, but then he suddenly stopped. He was choked up with emotion. He eventually muscled through it, but I was left wondering what exactly overwhelmed him. Later, I realized what it was: I was the first of his fellow Dominican friars whom he had blessed.

I can see why it was so touching for him to realize this. He realized that he had become a father even for me, his brother.

Today, by the sheer gift of God, six of my Dominican confreres and I will be ordained priests of Jesus Christ. Just as I knelt before that newly ordained Dominican priest, I am now brought to my knees by the reality of becoming a father. And I am struck by the same realization: I am not only a father for the world, but also for other friars in the Order of Preachers. As a fellow friar, I am their brother. But today, I have become their father, a father even for my brothers.

I am profoundly grateful to God for the Dominican friars he has placed in my life, for the men I love so dearly that I call them “brothers.” Beginning today, much of the world will call me “father.” And, of course, I will spend my priesthood being a spiritual father to the world. But I will still look at my Dominican confreres with the same love I always have for them, with the love of a brother. Yet, that fraternal bond is now enflamed with a new kind of love: the love of a priest, the love of Christ our Great High Priest.

From now on, I can do something for my brothers that I could not do before. I can be their spiritual father. I can be God’s instrument for their sake and a dispenser of the eternal life they all seek, the life of that same God to whom they have consecrated themselves. When I say, “Take this, all of you, and eat of it, for this is my body,” and “Take this, all of you, and drink from it, for this is the chalice of my blood,” it is given up and poured out for them too.

With Christ, dear brothers, I give myself also for you.

Nearly a month ago, on the day he was elected Roman Pontiff, Pope Leo XIV shared a similar sentiment with the world. He said, “I am an Augustinian, a son of Saint Augustine, who once said, ‘With you I am a Christian, and for you I am a bishop.’” Today, with unspeakable joy, I repeat something of that same sentiment to my fellow Dominican friars:

With you, I am a brother, and for you, I am a father.

✠

Photo by George Goss (used with permission)