Ordination to the Priesthood
May 24, 2025
St. James Cathedral
Homily of Bishop John Noonan
Welcome to St James Cathedral on this joy-filled day for by the work of God’s hand, two of our brothers will be ordained to the priesthood. I welcome Deacon John Troilo and Deacon William Burns. Deacon John, I welcome your parents, sister, and friends. Deacon William, I welcome your daughter, family, and friends. The priests and deacons of the Diocese of Orlando and priests from other Dioceses, welcome. Deacons John and William, we welcome your classmates ̶ ordained priests and deacons soon to ordained. To the seminarians and young people who are here to witness this Sacrament of Holy Orders, I welcome you. Welcome parishioners from Corpus Christi Catholic Church, St. Timothy Catholic Church, and other parishes. I thank you for your presence as we begin in prayer for our new priests. We also welcome those joining us by live stream.
A special word of thanks to the faculty and staff of St. John Vianney Minor Seminary, Miami; St. Vincent de Paul Regional Seminary, Boynton Beach; and Pope Saint John XXIII Seminary, Boston. We welcome priests and faculty from the seminaries and your vocation directors, Fr. Josh Swallows and Sr. Gianna Grace, and Darcey Dinh from the Vocations Office. A special word of thanks to Fr. Josh. Since June 1st, 2018, you have served as vocations director. For seven years you led and guided our seminarians to become good and holy priests. You also had the responsibility of the parish of Most Precious Blood. Thank you, Fr. Josh, for your dedication and love for the priesthood and the people of God. Thank you Sr. Gianna and Darcey Dinh for your care and work with the seminarians.
John and William, you will begin your priestly ministry at the same time as our new Pope, Leo XIV begins his ministry. For you John and William, it is an honor. But for me, it difficult to prepare a homily with no quote from Pope Leo! Because Pope Leo will not ordain any priests until mid-June, he hasn’t officially spoken about the priesthood as our Holy Father.
I relied on Popes Benedict XVI and Francis for my quotes on priesthood. My summary of Pope Leo; he has the heart of Francis and the mind of Benedict.
Jesus’ public ministry began by preaching the Gospel and calling people to follow Him. God’s calling is an intimate and mysterious experience. God called the prophet, Jeremiah, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I dedicated you, a prophet to the nations I appointed you” (Jeremiah 1:5).
John and William you have responded to God’s call. You are about to be ordained priests. The late Pope Benedict XVI said to young people at World Youth Day 2007, “desire anything less for your life than a love that is strong and beautiful and that is capable of making the whole of your existence a joyful understanding of giving yourself as a gift to God and your brothers and sisters, in imitation of the One who vanquished hatred and death forever through love.” John and William, you are giving your lives as gifts to God as priests. May the Lord bless you and guide you.
Pope Benedict XVI’s wrote in his encyclical, CARITAS IN VERITATE, “Charity in truth, to which Jesus Christ bore witness by His earthly life and especially by His Death and Resurrection, is the principal driving force behind the authentic development of every person and of all humanity. Love — caritas — is an extraordinary force which leads people to opt for courageous and generous engagement in the field of justice and peace. It is a force that has its origin in God, Eternal Love and Absolute Truth.” John and William may God’s love strengthen you and help you to preach and teach the Gospel.
In Deus Caritas Est, Pope Benedict XVI reminds us that faith, hope, and love go together. Hope is practiced through the virtue of patience, which continues to do good even in the face of apparent failure, and through the virtue of humility, which accepts God’s mystery and trusts Him even at times of darkness. The priesthood can be challenging but the message of the Gospel is hope. Faith tells us that God has given us His Son for our sake and God is love! It thus transforms our impatience and our doubts into sure hope. Faith, which sees the love of God revealed in the pierced heart of Jesus on the Cross, gives rise to love. Love is the light—and in the end, the only light—that can always illuminate a world grown dim and give us the courage needed to keep living and working. Love is possible, and we can practice it because we are created in the image and likeness of God. To experience love and in this way to cause the light of God to enter the world—this is the invitation Jesus offers you both. God wants you, John and William, to reflect the light of Christ.
Jesus read the passage we heard from Isaiah 61: 1-3 when He returned to Nazareth and was invited to read in the Synagogue. As Jesus finished the reading He said, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me” and the people were in awe. John and Willam, the Spirit of the Lord will also be upon you.
Pope Francis’ last encyclical “Dilexit Nos,” He Loved Us, calls on us to rediscover the importance of the heart. It is to the human heart that Divine Love will speak. In today’s Gospel, Jesus questions Peter three times, asking “Do you love me?” In Scripture there are three different words for love. All reflect the understanding and depth of love. Erotica involves a simple attraction but no depth of knowing the person. The second is filia, a family relationship, like brothers and sisters. The third word is agape, a love of sacrifice, a total commitment of one who would sacrifice his/her life for you. John and William, this is the love God has for you. He was willing to sacrifice His Son Jesus for you and the world.
Pope Francis recalls how the Bible speaks of the heart as “the locus of sincerity, where deceit and disguise have no place.” The heart of Christ is ‘ecstasy,’ openness, gift, and encounter. In that heart, we learn to relate to one another in wholesome and happy ways, and to build up in this world God’s kingdom of love and justice. Our hearts, united with the heart of Christ, are capable of working this social miracle. Pope Francis reminds us that “it is only by starting from the heart that our communities will succeed in uniting and reconciling differing minds and wills, Christ call is one of service, a summons to do good, Wherever you may be, you can hear his call and realize that he is sending you forth to carry out that mission.” Let the heart of Christ be the source of everything you say and do.
John and William, God who knows your heart’s desire will give you nothing less if you allow His love to help you and show you the Way, teach the Truth and give you the Life.
A church in Cincinnati, Ohio burned down and all that was left was the Corpus of Jesus; hands and feet were burned off, and the parishioners did not know what to do. The Corpus of Jesus could not be repaired. They seemed embarrassed to hang the Corpus of Jesus without hands or feet. Then they decided to put a sign below the Corpus of Jesus on the Cross which simply said, “Now you must become My hands and feet.”
The spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me,
because the LORD has anointed me;
He has sent me to bring good news to the afflicted,
to bind up the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to the captives,
release to the prisoners,
To announce a year of favor from the LORD
and a day of vindication by our God;
To comfort all who mourn.