Sermons

Sermon, The Rev. Brian C. Taylor, December 12, 2008, Ordination of Daniel Gutierrez

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Daniel Gutierrez’ ordination to the Priesthood The Feast of the Virgin of Guadalupe, December 12, 2008 The Rev. Brian C. Taylor

On December 9-12, 1531, the Blessed Virgin Mary visited a poor indigenous man named Juan Diego on a hill outside of what is now Mexico City. She told Juan Diego to ask the bishop to build her a basilica there. As proof of her presence she miraculously provided Castilian roses in the midst of winter, and as Juan Diego presented them to the bishop, a beautiful image of the Virgin of Guadalupe appeared on his cloak.

Ever since, she has been a powerful symbol of identity and hope for the indigenous and Hispanic people of this hemisphere. She tells them that God loves and honors them, hears their suffering, and offers them healing and inspiration.

When Juan Diego was receiving this visitation, Daniel Gutierrez’ ancestors were among the conquistadors in the same region. They went on to become among the earliest settlers in Nuevo Mexico, and have been here ever since. Just as they have offered their devotions to Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe in this land all through these 400 years, so has Daniel. As a child, he was always one of many little Juan Diegos in the annual procession on this festival in the South Valley. His devotions to La Virgen continue. And here we are tonight on her feast day, asking God to make Daniel a priest. We ask that Blessed Mary will join us in our prayers.

It is both a cause for embarrassment and a great joy to note that, according to the diocesan archivist, Daniel is the very first native-born New Mexican Hispanic to be raised up out of a parish in this diocese and ordained a priest. This is an historic night. Daniel will go on to develop ministry among Hispanic people, building a community around a new bilingual Mass at St. Michael’s on Saturday or Sunday afternoons. But Daniel will not just be stereotyped as a “Hispanic priest.” He will be a priest to the whole church, called upon to minister to all sorts and conditions of people: as the bishop will say in a few moments, caring alike for young and old, strong and weak, rich and poor.

Tonight I would like to look at this broad and wonderful priesthood that Daniel enters through the lens of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

In this holy season of Advent and Christmas, Mary’s whole purpose comes into focus. It is here that we understand that she had the courage and faith to say “yes” to God. Let it be done to me according to your word. And what was it that she was saying “yes” to? She said “yes” to a mystery, for she had no idea what she was getting into. She said “yes” becoming pregnant with divine possibility. And she said “yes” to birthing Christ himself into the world.

Like Mary, Daniel, you as a priest are saying “yes” to mysteries, to things about which you have no idea what you’re getting into. When I was in your position, I was terrified. I was convinced that the last thing I would do was remain in parish ministry. I thought that if I did, I would become a company man and it would kill me; I’d lose my soul. I desperately hoped that God would use me in something more edgy, like music. I had no idea what I was talking about. And yet I said “yes.”

Right now this parish is, once again, with my encouragement, saying “yes” to mysteries. In the worst recession since the Great Depression, we’re not retreating safely inside ourselves in fear; we’re asking one another to fund new construction so that we can expand our ministries. And tonight we’re raising up one of our members as a priest, someone we think we know pretty well. But in reality, we have absolutely no idea what God will generate through him and what his ministry will consist of over the years.

Like Mary, Daniel, you are also saying “yes” to spiritual pregnancy, that you might always hold within yourself the divine possibility. In the struggles you face as a priest - and there will be many - you will be asked to be patient and trust that even in the most confusing or the most lifeless times, God is working secretly within you, deep inside the hidden places, knitting together something that will surprise you when it is birthed. Learning to do this for yourself will help you to do it for others.

Because when a man comes to you, grieving the loss of his wife and soul-mate of 50 years, feeling flat and hopeless, it will be your ministry to gently point to the divine possibility that lies within this dark time for him. When a church group struggles through conflicted and uncreative times, it will be your ministry to encourage them to patiently watch and pray and discern during this gestation, until together you sense the stirrings of new life, and then nurture them into fruition.

But the most important thing is that like Mary, Daniel, you as a priest are saying “yes” to birthing Christ into the world. This is something that always takes my breath away, because it isn’t something I’m doing, or even capable of doing. It is something that God does through us. Every priest knows about this.

A woman tells you, years after the fact, that one day when you approached her to share the Peace on an ordinary Sunday, you seemed bathed in the light of Christ and she was healed of a crippling disease; at the time, you had no idea what was happening.

Christ is birthed when you wash candidates in the waters of baptism, for in that moment, they are marked as Christ’s own forever. Christ is birthed in a man whose life is turned around when he tearfully confesses his sin to you and God reaches out in compassion and accepts him. Christ is birthed in innocent and expectant children who come to the altar to receive Christ’s precious Body.

It is Christ that is birthed through your ministry, not some vague positive energy. It is Christ that Mary birthed into the world. And who was this Christ? Who will he be, as he is birthed through your ministry?

He is the One who brought loving attention and mercy to those whom everyone else ignored or scorned. He stood up to the powerful and told them that if they did not humble themselves, they would be last in the kingdom of God. He said that the way of the cross is the way of life, that in self-emptying and in service we find ourselves. He brought healing and reconciliation where there was brokenness and hatred. He showed us that if we will but open our eyes, we might join in the feast that is always laid before us, for every moment is filled with the wonder of God.

This is the life that Jesus Christ revealed to us. This is the life that he gives today to everyone who places their trust in him. This is the life that God will birth through you, Daniel, as a priest, in the lives of others. This is an unspeakably high privilege and responsibility.

But don’t be afraid. You don’t have to measure up. For this isn’t about you. This night is not about how wonderful you are, how faithfully you are able to show the Christly life to others. This night is about being willing, like Mary, to be used as a vehicle for something you will never even be able to understand, let alone make happen on your own. It is about the grace of God made manifest through your humanity.

You will fail as a priest from time to time, as I have, as every priest has. You will say “no” to God; you will disappoint and hurt others, revealing something quite other than Christ to them. It is in these times that perhaps the most important aspect of your priesthood has the potential to show forth.

Because when you are vulnerable, when you know your need for God, when you admit your limitations and seek God’s help to grow in spiritual maturity, you will reveal to others the grace of God. They don’t need you to be perfect. They need to know that they, like you, can depend upon God to help them move through their struggles. They need to know that whatever faults they have today, transformation is possible tomorrow. If they see you, like Mary, doing your best to submit to the grace of God in your life, if they see you growing in faith and spiritual maturity, they will have hope that they can, too.

Daniel George Policarpio Gutierrez: it is with a full and grateful heart that I call you my friend and a fellow priest. Do your best to say “yes” to the mysteries that God places in your life and in the lives of those you serve. Always carry within you, within each moment, the hope of divine possibility, like a woman who secretly knows she is pregnant. Know that God will use you to birth Christ into the world again and again. And never forget that you are only human, and that God will use your struggle to be transformed by grace as a sign of great hope to others. Amen.