Most Reverend Jerome E. Listecki
Archbishop of Milwaukee
 

There is a film called “Field of Dreams” which highlights the actions of a man, Ray Kinsella (played by Kevin Costner), who responds to an internal call, “If you build it, he will come.” It leads him to a wild – and sometimes crazy – response to follow the call to a resolution involving his personal life. There is one moment in the film that occurs towards the end when Ray Kinsella believes he has been left out. He is not receiving the answer that he believed he deserved. Suddenly, Shoeless Joe Jackson says to Ray, “If you build it, he will come.” Looking at home plate, the catcher removes his mask.  Walking towards him, his wife and daughter, Ray realizes it is his father.  But, his father did not look like the man he knew – a man worn with sacrifice and time – but as a young man filled with dreams.  He notices his eyes, as they look forward, filled with the dreams of the young man who looked to the future with hope and expectations.

Last Saturday, six young men – Nicholas Baumgardner, Jordan Berghouse, Stephen Buting, Alexander Nwosu, Sergio Rodriguez and Jonathan Schmeckel – answered an internal call that demanded a response.  The world would see their actions as a wild and crazy response to the call, “If you follow, He will come,” as the sacrament transformed these men into priests of God.  There is an action in the ceremony which occurs immediately after the imposition of hands by the bishop, and that is the imposition of hands by the priests who are present.  I had a bird’s eye view of the action of imposing hands, as priests from our youngest to our oldest, religious and visiting priests, received these six new priests in a gesture of affirmation.  After their imposition, the priests stood facing me, behind the newly ordained. Looking at them, I was able to see their eyes. Like the newly ordained, they had that same glow of hope and expectation but, now fulfilled through their love and sacrifice.  They knew that the call, “If you follow, He will come,” was fulfilled. Like the newly ordained, each filled with the richness of individual talents and gifts, they willingly spend their lives inviting others to follow so that He will come.

The same glow of hope and expectation for the future is seen in the eyes of newlyweds. I have seen the eyes of those celebrating their 25-, 50- and 60-year anniversaries present that same look of hope and expectation, knowing that through their response to the call to live together as one, He will come.

Our newly ordained begin their lives as priests, and they are joined in solidarity with their brothers in the priesthood of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee. Filled with hope and expectation, they will collaborate with the people of God to offer sacred moments in response to the call to follow Him, so that He will come to those who LOVE ONE ANOTHER.
 

Note: This blog originally appeared as the May 21, 2019 "Love One Another" email sent to Catholics throughout the Archdiocese of Milwaukee by Archbishop Jerome E. Listecki. If you are interested in signing up for these email messages, please click here.