5th Sunday of Lent
Installation of Fr. Jim Kiesel
St. Isaac Jogues Parish
March 17, 2024
“The Hour”
On May 10, 1940, as the flames of war were engulfing Europe, Winston Churchill became Prime Minister of England. Churchill had already held many high government positions. Along the way, he had experienced success, failure, and controversy. Taking the helm as Hitler was invading the Low Countries, Churchill later wrote: “I felt as if I were walking with Destiny, and that all my past life had been but a preparation for this hour and for this trial.” In his “hour” of leadership, Churchill would lead England through “its finest hour”.
Momentous as Winston Churchill’s hour of decision was, the Gospel of John shows us today the most decisive hour of all: the “hour” when Jesus would lay down his life for the salvation of the world. In John’s Gospel, the word “hour”, or Kairos, does not mean an interval of 60 minutes. Rather, it means God’s appointed time for the fulfillment of his purposes. So, when Mary asked Jesus to work a miracle at the Wedding Feast of Cana, Jesus hesitated, telling his Mother that ‘his hour had not yet come.’ Today’s Gospel makes it clear that, now, the hour had arrived for Jesus to accomplish the mission for which he was sent: the world’s redemption.
What Precipitated the Arrival of Jesus’ Hour?
That Jesus’ hour had arrived is made clear by the request of some Greek converts to Judaism to see Jesus. The prophets who preceded Jesus foretold that the hour of salvation would arrive when the Gentiles would also seek to be converted and to worship the living God. Although Jesus did not respond directly to the Greeks’ request to see him, he spoke to the true meaning of their request when he said: “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified” – glorified by laying down his life on the Cross for the world’s salvation, Jews and Gentiles alike. For Jesus, those Gentile converts symbolized the universality of his mission, a mission that includes St. Isaac Jogues Parish in the year 2024.
How Does the “Hour” of Jesus Unfold?
But how will Jesus be glorified in the “hour” of suffering about to take place? The Gospel attests that hour of Christ’s glory is the hour of his suffering and death. For Jesus himself tells us that only the grain of wheat that falls on the ground and dies reproduces itself and bears much fruit. In fact, Jesus is that grain of wheat. Carrying the cross, fell to the ground. Hanging on the cross, he died. Buried in the garden, he rose from the dead . . . thus was Jesus glorified!
Listening to Jesus speak about the grain of wheat that dies, we readily think about the Eucharist, “the gift of finest wheat”. In the Eucharist, we enter into the hour of Jesus’ suffering and death, the decisive moment when grace triumphed over sin, and life triumphed over death. Receiving the Eucharist, we share more and more deeply in his imperishable life. Sharing our Eucharistic Lord’s life should shape our way of life – how we pray, how we relate to one another, how we conduct ourselves at home and at work, how we reach out to those in need, especially the poor. Sharing in the hour of Jesus’ death enables us to follow Jesus to glory by taking up our cross and laying down our life for others.
In today’s Gospel, as the hour of his Cross drew near, Jesus was deeply troubled, anticipating the anguish he would suffer in the Garden of Gethsemane. So too, the Letter to the Hebrews says that, “In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears to [God the Father] who was able to save him from death . . . .” When the Eucharist is celebrated, we encounter the Lamb of Sacrifice, Jesus, the Lamb of God, who took upon himself the sins of the world.
But how are we to understand what the Letter to the Hebrews means where it says, “Although he was a Son, he learned obedience through what he suffered, and being made perfect became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him.” How was Jesus, who was sinless, “made perfect” by his heavenly Father? The answer is this: the words “made perfect” actually mean that God the Father “ordained” Jesus for his mission to redeem the world. This is ratified in today’s Gospel where Jesus prays, “Father, glorify you name”, and the Father responds, “I have glorified it and will glorify it again”. Thus, God the Father “ordained” his Son for his mission of Cross and Glory. Lifted high on the cross, Jesus would glorify the Father by saving us from our sins. This is the mysterious event, the ‘hour’ that we share in when Holy Mass is celebrated.
Following in the Footsteps of Jesus
So far, I’ve spoken about the readings but not about Father Kiesel’s installation. Yet I hope you see how today’s Scriptures help us to understand better the true nature of the responsibility that Fr. Kiesel has assumed as your Pastor, a mission he shares with the parish deacons and lay leadership, and indeed all of you. Not unlike Winston Churchill, and certainly like the Lord himself, Fr. Kiesel’s long experience as priest and pastor has prepared him for this hour when he gives himself anew, to a new community, to each of you and all of you. The heart of his mission is to lead you into the “hour” of Jesus’ Death and Resurrection, by preaching the Word of God with fidelity and love, by reverently celebrating the Mass and the Sacraments, by exemplifying what it means to follow Christ in the messiness of daily life, and by setting the standard for charity, love of God and neighbor, especially the poor.
In fulfilling this mission, your pastor and his co-workers must die to themselves, like the grain of wheat that falls to the ground and dies so as to produce much fruit. Often, they will find themselves adjusting their plans and preferences, doing whatever is necessary to build up this parish as a vital part of the Body of Christ. And it is the pastor who sets the direction and tone when it comes to the sacrificial love that is so necessary for a parish to grow and to thrive. Even as the Lord himself experienced anxiety and anguish as the Cross loomed large, so too your pastor and his co-workers are no strangers to the “cup of suffering”, for ministry by its very nature, brings us face to face with human frailty and suffering. And just as Jesus was “ordained” by the Father to accomplish his saving mission, so too your Pastor was sacramentally ordained to re-enact Jesus’ “hour”, to present it again, in a living way: the hour when Jesus died and rose to save us… thus gathering us in and forming us as a community of faith, worship, and service.
So with parishioners at here at St. Isaac Jogues and other parishes where you’ve served, I truly do thank you, Fr. Jim, for your dedicated and loving priestly service and for bringing to this wonderful parish a wealth of pastoral experience. As we head into Holy Week and hasten toward the celebration of Easter, I pray that the Lord will bless abundantly you and your parish family and enable you to continue growing and flourishing now and for years to come. And may God bless us and keep us always in his love! St. Isaac Jogues, pray for us!