​Solemn Vespers Homily On the Evening Preceding the Ordination of Bishop-Elect Michael Boulette

Solemn Vespers Homily On the Evening Preceding the Ordination of Bishop-Elect Michael Boulette

Our Lady’s Chapel at Assumption Seminary

March 19, 2017

Una vez mas, sean bienvenidos todos ustedes esta noche.Me siento mas que honrado por su presencia aqui.In truth, I am comforted and encouraged to know that I am accompanied by you on this prayerful journey para aceptar otra llamada al servicio en la Iglesia y para ella.

Estimado Nuncio Apostolico, Arzobispo Christophe Pierre, al representar la presencia orante de nuestro Santo Padre Francisco en nuestro pais, nos recuerda la naturaleza catolica de nuestra fe, and of our call and desire to stay united to the Christ, to His Vicar on earth, and to the entire Church that announces and lives in Christ Jesus.Your cheerful, welcoming voice on the phone as your communicated the Holy Father’s appointment of myself as auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of San Antonio seemed to make incarnate the person of the Holy Father, a quien hemos llegado a conocer y amar a traves de sus homilias y exhortaciones, asi como de su testimonio personal de amor a los pobres y migrantes.

Archbishop Gustavo, even as you preside over us at this evening prayer, we are aware of the Spirit that you have breathed upon the Archdiocese:un Espiritu de unidad y servicio en la proclamacion de Verbo hecho carne, a Spirit of joy in love of His Church, and an energizing Spirit that calls us to action on behalf of the weakest among us.Ruego que Dios me de suficiente gracia para servirle a usted and our people with a similar deep faith and hearty courage.

Brother bishops, I am so grateful for the manner in which you have welcomed me in this new role of service.Gracias por estar aqui y ser testigos de mi promesa de fe en el Senor y en su Iglesia.

My dear brother priests, your support this evening is hardly the first time you have lifted me up in prayer.Tonight is my 41^st anniversary as a priest of this archdiocese.Throughout this time I have tried to honor your faithfulness and work with the presbyterate in the service of the Church.Sera una alegria continuar esa colaboracion.No dejemos nunca de orar y colaborar unos con otros para anunciar que la Buena Nueva es nuestra alegria and that our love of His flock is our very reason for being.

And welcome to you seminarians of Assumption Seminary.I joined your number in August of 1964—ancient ages ago—and was a member of the faculty from 1983-1992.I can say that I know your journey quite well.We pray for YOU tonight, too, in a most fervent way.Look around at the faith, hope, and love of the clergy joining you tonight.Todos hemos conocido la alegria y la lucha del proceso dicernimiento, pero tambien prodremos dar testimonio de que la vida de un sacerdote es hermosa and abundantly satisfying.And if you will notice the grey hair here, or even the lack of hair at all, you will see only part of what announces that you are truly needed!

The Archbishop’s senior staff is also present.Please know that I am blessed by your welcome and assistance during these days.Indeed, God will surely bless our future together.

Esta tarde comenzamos la celebracion sagrada de la Solemnidad de Jose, esposo de Maria.Another feast celebrates Joseph as worker, but this day we focus on Joseph as a family man, as a husband and father who loves, protects, guides, and provides for those entrusted to him in God’s gracious plan of salvation.Esta fiesta enciende los corazones de aquellos de nosotros a los que otros han llamado “padre,” “father,” with a love and respect similar to that shown to the father of a family, sometimes even more so.

Paul’s letter to the Colossians warns followers of the Christ that missionary discipleship requires the commitment of our “whole being,” as it does for any earthly father who wishes to be faithful in his responsibility to his family.Paul even calls us to see ourselves as “slaves” to our Master Jesus—a radical self-giving to our task “as to the Lord.”When I first introduced this concept to the seminarians years ago as Director of Spiritual Formation, it was met with great skepticism.Being “servants” was one thing, but the history of the world and our own country made it extremely uncomfortable being called a “slave,” even in hyperbole.A radical commitment indeed!

Todos aqui presente, que han sido llamados por el bautismo y algunos ademas por el Orden sagrado, y han abrazado la “vocacion” de la paternidad en la fe, incluyendome a mi mismo, pueden encontrar gran Consuelo de el Oficio de Lecturas de manana por la manana, donde encontramos un fragmento del texto de un Sermon de San Bernadino de Siena que compartio nuestro llamado como sacerdotes:“There is a general rule concerning all special graces granted to any human being.Whenever the divine favor chooses someone to receive a special grace, or to accept a lofty vocation, God adorns the person chosen with all the gifts of the Spirit needed to fulfill the task at hand.”He claimed that this general rule is verified in the life of Joseph, foster-father of our Lord and husband of the Queen of our world, enthroned above the angels.Estamos aqui para orar para que esta regla tambien se verifique en nuestras vidas.

To that end, what graces are we, especially priests and bishops, seeking from our God, from our prayer this evening?First we are seeking the grace to be more faithful fathers.The word “father” does not mean primarily “male parent,” but “Author of Life.”Por lo tanto, nadie es mas digno del titulo de “Padre” que Dios, que no necesito ayuda para dar existencia a la vida, both in the creation that surrounds us and in all peoples, whom He loves completely.We seek to grace to honor His love by accepting our role to imitate and make present each day God’s Fatherly Presence in and for the community of faith.En esto tambien honramos a Jose, esposo de Maria, que vivio una obediencia fiel en cuidado de su familia como buen padre.

Like Joseph who without fully understanding accepted the angel’s instruction to wed Mary and bring to maturity the Christ, we commit ourselves to follow our Lord wherever He may lead.Like Joseph who guarded the Holy Family by fleeing to Egypt, we protect our flocks from the threat of disobedience and error; we stand by and speak up for our faith family when the culture denies the dignity of each life, or when a nation’s laws fail to protect their God-given rights. Al igual que Jose, el Trabajador que atiende las necesidades humanas de su familia, llevamos el alimento de la Eucaristia a nuestro pueblo y cuidamos de los enfermos, de los pobres y los desvalidos.Y como Jose, que con su ejemplo enseno a su Hijo a vivir como un judio piadoso, predicamos homilias, oimos confesiones y caminamos compassivamente junto a los debiles.

We seek to author God’s life in the Church and in the world by announcing His love and mercy available at every moment and by creating positive memories of His Presence in the Sacred Liturgy and in the events of parish and archdiocesan life.We author life with the Church by pouring out the oil and wine of healing grace to the broken-hearted and those left on the side of the road by life’s events and cruel hatred.We author life as true fathers by standing alert (like the watchman who waits for the dawn), pursuing every opportunity to seek out the lost, the lonely, and the un-loved son or daughter.Como buenos padres miramos hacia atras con gratitud hacia nuestra herencia de fe por la cual somos llamados hijos de Dios y esperamos con esperanza gozosa porque hay innumerables oportunidades para que recibamos y ofrezcamos gracia a aquellos que son nuestra familia.Como Jose, somos padres cuando ampliamos nuestras tiendas y hacemos sitio para los refugiados y migrantes, para los no nacidos, los prisioneros and the bullied.We are fathers when we gather all to the Eucharist, the table of the Lord Jesus, as we have first been welcomed.And like all struggling fathers, we, as priests and bishops, will need our Father’s bounteous grace as missionary disciples of His love.

It is our calling as spiritual fathers to continually seek the grace to husband the Church even as we are willing to be the Bride of Christ.The Scripture testifies that a husband’s first duty is to love his spouse as Christ loves the Church, “handing himself over for her.”This sacrificial love invites us to nourish and care for Christ’s Bride, the Church.It calls us to manage and conserve the resources of the Church even as we welcome the talent, time and treasure of each person in order to more vigorously evangelize the world and more intensely serve the needs of all people we encounter.Our love can never be merely an emotion, sino mas bien una decision de aceptar el amor de Cristo por Su Novia y de imitarlo con todo nuestro ser.

As priests and bishops let us be “among our people as those who serve.”May we find the grace to “be outstanding in our spirit of love and concern for all,” ser verdaderos padres a quienes otros seguiran con corazones gozosos.Unamos a toda la familia de la Iglesia para que todos vivan y tragajen en communion amorosa unos con otros.May we never cease to pray for each other so that each of us may one day enjoy the eternal life to which we give witness in each Liturgy at which we preside.

Tonight, with this profession of faith, I pledge to serve God, His Holy Church, our Holy Father Francis, Archbishop Gustavo, and the people of the Archdiocese of San Antonio to the best of my ability as a bishop.It is still a mystery to me that I have now been called to this, but I have embraced the mystery of God’s love for me since my youth, so Adelante!Viva San Jose, esposo de Maria! Viva Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe! Viva Christo Rey!