Homily for the week of June 21, 2009

Twelfth Sunday of Ordinary Time, 2009 (50th anniversary weekend)

Job 38:1, 8-11: Psalms 107:23-26, 28-31

2 Corinthians 5:14-17

Gospel: Mark 4:35-41

One time a parishioner by the name of Shirley told me that while in the family car, a huge thunderstorm arose and dropped sheets of torrential rain. The noise and amount of rain and thunder frightened her six-year-old son so badly he began screaming. His four-year-old sister was completely calm and unbothered by the storm. The four-year-old calmly said to her six-year-old brother, ''Luke, calm down, it's just like the car wash.'' When you have been a priest for 50 years you've had a lot of car washes. But even now I have a little claustrophobia when all of those gadgets bombard the car with water, soap, foam and wind. I can feel a little of the fear that the friends of Jesus had when they got caught in a terrible storm on the Lake of Galilee.

Generally water is a sign of good things. It quenches thirst, it makes crops and flowers grow, it cleans, and it can be a source of recreation. Some of us, however, have been victims of floods. Homes and farms have been completely lost. Many of those who experienced the flooding from hurricane Katrina in New Orleans now show a fear of rain and storms.

As usual, St. Mark wants us to see beyond a boat caught in a sudden storm. He wants us to see deeper realities about the person of Jesus and our relationship to Him. The fear of the disciples is more than just a fear of the water. It is the primal fear that chaos is once again rearing its head. Their very being is being threatened. But Jesus sleeps though it all because he has absolute faith that God will take care of him. Faith or lack of faith is one of the main concerns of all persons. Our faith in God has brought us here today. Persons get married because they believe in each other. And a man becomes a priest because he believes that God wants him to be a priest.

On the day that I became a priest 50 years ago Bishop Navagh told me that I was chosen from among others and ordained to bring them to God and to bring God to each of us. A priest's job is to speak for Catholics by offering his life in preaching God's word, by helping persons with their faith, and by presiding at the Holy Eucharist. That was the curriculum, but the Bishop gave me no lesson plans. He gave me no textbook. The textbook has been written with the help of my family, friends, all those who make up what is known as Catholic schools, Wadhams Hall seminarians and faculty, and parishioners over these 50 years.

I am thankful to Father Leo Legault, my pastor in West Chazy who in 1950 first introduced me to the possibility of becoming a priest, and to the Catholic priests of the Diocese of Ogdensburg,

I am thankful for parishioners like those of St.James, for being an integral part of their lives, sharing their hopes and dreams, their joys and sorrows, their fears and anxieties, their loves and desires-- being present at personalized moments like the Baptism of a child, the begging of their marriage, the death of a loved one,

I am thankful for having the privilege of celebrating the Eucharist, and making it possible for you to receive Holy Communion.

I am thankful for speaking to students and parishioners about some of their most personal concerns: about life and death, pain and suffering, mercy and forgiveness, the hope of human fulfilment and eternal life,

I am thankful for my two little rooms for 30 years at Wadhams Hall where I listened to and helped to guide young men who were trying to make the awesome decision as to whether they should or should not be Catholic priests,

I am thankful for the Catholic school teachers and principals and the thousand of students whose parents choose for them a Catholic school education. I am especially thankful for helping beginning teachers or administrators to get New York State certification, and congratulating thousands of Catholic high school graduates as I handed them their diploma. It is a blessing today to have Angelique as an altar server. Years ago I signed her mother's teaching contract when she began teaching at St. Mary's School in Canton.

I am thankful for the friendship and love of so many of you who have travelled to be here today,

and I am thankful for members of the Deno and Martin families and my French Canadian heritage. My grandfather Joseph Daigneault, his wife and 8 children came to the United States.

On Friday in Rome Pope Benedict XVI opened a special Year for Priests. He said it was to encourage greater spiritual perfection in the lives of priests. He placed it under the care of St. Jean Marie Vianney who was a parish pastor in Ars. France.

Like Jesus with his friends in the boat, we are here today because Jesus, our Teacher has called us to believe and not be afraid. Our faith in Him, in ourselves and in each other is renewed daily. Celebrations and anniversaries are not new but they are relevant. 50 years ago, when I began my ministry as a Catholic priest, I prayed the words that Jesus prayed as he began his own public ministry:: The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, therefore he has anointed me; he has sent me here to bring glad tidings to the poor, to proclaim liberty to captives, recovery of sight to the blind and release of prisoners, and to announce a year of favor from the Lord.