Where Do Great Priests Come From?

Today's readings are taken from Is 5:1-7; Ps 80:9, 12, 13-14, 15-16, 19-20; Phil 4:6-9; and Mt 21:33-43

There's a series of ads on TV for California dairy products. They each feature some goofy situation with talking cows enjoying the sun and the fun of the California environment. Then, at the end of each commercial, is the slogan, "Great cheese comes from happy cows. Happy cows come from California." This Sunday's readings provide us seminarians with the answer to a similar, though infinitely more relevant question, "Where do great priests come from?"

Beginning with the selection from Isaiah, we see the image of Landowner and vineyard extended and developed, sometimes subtly and at other times bluntly. It occurs to me that priests, in many ways, are called to be the 'new tenants' the scribes and Pharisees predict in the gospel. However, I don't think we can make that jump without first recognizing that the entire People of God is the vineyard itself. When we see that this is true, we have to recognize that we all start out as little grapes on the vine being tended by other vinedressers.

This image is particularly important for us as seminarians; we must reflect on how it has come about that we are here. We must ask questions like, "From what exactly did God uproot me, and from what is he still trying to uproot me, so that he could plant me here in this 'seed-bed' we call Mundelein?" As we look around us, do we notice and appreciate the soil of the seminary system the Lord has tilled for us? the hedges, and the watchtower, the seminary faculty, that he has built up for our protection? Finally, and most importantly, do we recognize ordination as the wine-press that it truly is?

What we hear from St. Paul today makes it very clear that nothing is too good for the vineyard of the Lord. After all, its mission is to produce a choice wine. And herein lies the poignant mystery of our years here: having no anxiety at all, we must learn to see, appreciate, and emulate the goodness into which God has transplanted us, knowing all the while that our purpose is "the press" of the laying on of hands. In a sense then, the goal of all the care showered upon us here is our very destruction. Yet, in the paschal mystery of Christ, we have resurrection. Where do great priests, humble and responsible tenant vinedressers come from? In God's design, they come from the sweetest, plumpest, and most thoroughly crushed grapes.

Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory Forever!

~J