Christ's blood is the water of eternal life

June 28, 2007

My dear sisters and brothers in Christ,

ORDINATION

The Church of the Diocese of Sioux City rejoices over the ordination of two new priests.Father Andrew Bao Vo and Father Brent Lingle were ordained priests of Jesus Christ in a beautiful ceremony on Saturday June 16, 2007.It was a special joy for me to celebrate my first priestly ordinations.I hope many follow in the years to come.

Fathers Andrew and Brent now begin their priestly ministry among us.They join their brother priests here in the Diocese in a close fraternity of collaboration with me as Bishop. Please pray that those of us who have been given the responsibility to minister to you in the person of Jesus Christ, do so with love, faith and deep trust in God.As servant-leaders, we want to help you grow in holiness and attain the reward promised to us by Jesus himself, the Kingdom of Heaven.

TRINITY HEIGHTS

Sunday afternoon found a group of hearty pilgrims joining me for the blessings of the new Statue of Moses on the grounds of Trinity Heights.Please take time to pay a visit to see the beautiful rendition in bronze of Moses coming down the mountain carrying the Ten Commandments in one hand and his staff in the other.What a great reminder this can be to all of us of the "Law of God" that is written in our hearts.My prayer is that this image, joined with the others, may deepen our faith and appreciate all that God has given us.I express special thanks to the artist of the statue Dale Lamphere.This is his fifth piece of art that graces Trinity Heights.His talent shows forth his faith and we are benefactors of his gifts.The blessing was followed by a banquet at the Sioux City Convention Center. I was so pleased to hear a wonderful reflection on the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist given by Father LeRoy Seuntjens.He made a point of encouraging all of us who came to join him in Quebec City, Canada in June 2008 for the next International Eucharistic Congress.Please consider attending and watch the Globe for more details in the future issues.

BISHOPS' MEETING

Thank you for your prayers during my time away for the Bishop's Spring Meeting.Over 200 bishops gathered in hot (but not humid) New Mexico.We were privileged to have the Cardinal Archbishop of Quebec, Marc Ouellett share reflections and meditations with us everyday.He is a truly holy man and all of us were impressed with his deep faith.As the Archbishop of Quebec, he too invited all of us to attend the Eucharistic Congress.I hope to be able to attend myself. Although, not a strictly business meeting, we did discuss four very important topics for the Church today.Each day had a different theme: Faith Formation, Marriage and Family, Vocations and Human Life Issues.Presentations were made and discussed. I continue to be impressed with the care my brother bishops give to their responsibilities to lead and govern the Church.We all realize the huge task that is before us and as always, count on your support.I hope to share more thoughts about the issues we discussed in my future columns.

SOLEMNITY OF STS. PETER AND PAUL

I'd like to share with you some reflections on these two great saints of the Church as we anticipate their feast day on Friday, June 29th.The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church.The local Church of Rome is founded on the blood of many martyrs through the early centuries of our faith, but especially of the two great evangelists, Saints Peter and Paul.These two are the principle patrons of the whole Roman Catholic Church throughout the world, along with the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Christ chose Peter to be the head of His Church (see Jn 21:15-19, Mt 16:18-19).Christ gave the Holy Spirit of Pentecost, which is today still given for the sacred powers of Holy Orders, to all the Apostles and to their successors (see Jn 20:23, Mt 18:18), but to Peter alone he gave the additional responsibility to "Feed my lambs."Christ also chose Paul as an apostle after His death and Resurrection, to show His mercy and salvation for all, and to build up His Church also among the Gentiles, (those who are not Jewish).

Both Peter and Paul preached ceaselessly in Rome and elsewhere, converting many to the new faith in Jesus Christ and building up His Church.Both were martyred by the Emperor Nero in 67 A.D.Their lives and their death laid the foundation for this local Church, which has endured all the vicissitudes of history down to the present day.From the earliest days of the Church, June 29 has marked the feast of Saints Peter and Paul, founders of the Church of Rome.

The Bishop of Rome is the successor to Saint Peter as the head of the Church, the Vicar of Christ in the world.Every bishop is a successor to the apostles, in communion with the Pope.When I was ordained for you last year, the hands laid on my head by Archbishop Jerome Hanus, (Dubuque) Archbishop Charles Chaput, (Denver) and Bishop Thomas Tobin (Providence) gave me the gift of the Spirit of Pentecost, so that I could, like Peter and Paul and all the apostles, lead you to Christ.In another sense, the priests of our diocese also receive the same Holy Spirit in their ordinations.When I ordained Fr. Brent and Fr. Andrew last weekend, they became one with me in the apostolic ministry the Lord has entrusted to my hands: namely, the salvation of all your souls.

Christ has chosen me, weak as I am, to be the head of this local Church here and now, and to lead you, through my preaching and sacrifice, and especially through the ministry of all the priests of the diocese who serve Christ in communion with me, to eternal life in Christ."The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church."How are we, your priests and your bishop, to be for you today witnesses ("martus" is the Greek word for "witness") for Christ?How are we the successors of the apostles, who died bloody deaths for refusing to betray Christ?What will be our seed for the Church in the generations to come?

Our sacrifice is first of all the sacrifice of Christ in the Holy Mass.Our life must be the life of the Eucharist, so that your life in the world can become Eucharistic as well, transforming you in your stations in life and spilling over from your Christ-filled minds and hearts into the world, so starved for meaning and love.This is what the "sacerdos," the priest (literally the "holy-giver"), is supposed to be: a conduit for others' holiness.But then, to truly be that sacerdos, we priests must make sure that all the natural goods of the world - family, career, ambition - never distract us from giving ourselves totally to Christ.For this reason, the Church still requires of us the apostolic discipline of celibate chastity, and a spirit of poverty, and obedience. Our sacrifice is also, then, everything that is done by us and through us, to allow Christ to make His People holy in the Church.This means especially the other sacraments and sacramentals of the Church, including the disciplines of a solid prayer life and moral, pastoral leadership.Whether we want to be or not, whether we are worthy or not, priests are the most obvious models of holy living in the Church.We are not holier or more privileged than any other baptized Christian; our ordination does not alter our sinful nature or make it any easier for us to resist temptation.True holiness, for every person, comes only through disciplined living out of vocation, putting in the daily effort to die for Christ here, now, in this instance, over and over again.But our vocation as Christ's sacerdotes, "holy-givers," makes us more visible to everyone.We cannot hide our faults, and so we must strive all the harder to overcome them.

Our sacrifice is, lastly but most importantly, the sacrifice of self for Christ.Saint Benedict said that "humility is the root of all virtue."Humility is not weakness or lack of passion or indecisiveness.True humility is accurate self-knowledge: to know myself as God knows me, thoroughly and without self-deception, to the very foundations of my being.To be humble in this way requires that all priests, indeed all Christ's followers, "die to self," allow to perish all the false selves we bury ourselves in constantly.The only way to do this is to live the life of Christ, with daily prayer and contemplation, frequent confession, commitment to Truth and simplicity, every single day.

Truly humble people, by allowing Christ to live in them totally, shine with holiness, with joy, with grace.They are happy to do God's will, to accept their vocation, not because it is easy or profitable or rewarding, but because it is who they were created to be.Our Blessed Mother Mary gives us the greatest possible example of this humility and joy in the Annunciation, and in the Magnificat.Martyrs like Saints Peter and Paul showed the same humility, accepting their deaths for Christ with joy, not because dying is good, but because following Christ is good.

The Second Vatican Council called the Eucharist the "source and summit" of the Church.This has always been true.Ever since the Passion of our Lord, His Church has been built on the transformation of heart, mind, and life, which begin from the Eucharist, for which we are baptized, and brings us constantly back to the Eucharist.Christ gave His Church leaders in Saint Peter, His Vicar, and in the Apostles; their successors, the Pope and the bishops of the whole world, continue that work, and associate to themselves many helpers for that priestly ministry.Christ makes His priests holy, so that we can serve Him in making holy the whole People of God, so that you can serve Him in making holy the whole world, transforming it by your transformed presence.

This is the great and flourishing tree, which has grown from the seed of the first martyrs, indeed from Christ Himself, whose blood on the Cross-bleeds from the wounds of every martyr.Christ is the vine; we are the branches.His blood is our sap, the water of eternal life.

On this feast of Saints Peter and Paul, let us pray together with the whole Church of all times and all places, that our Lord Jesus Christ will be merciful with our failings, generous with His gracious blessings, and constant in His calling, so that we may always return to Him in His greatest act of love, the Passion renewed on the altar daily in Holy Mass, and be restored and strengthened in our love for Him.May Saints Peter and Paul, and all the holy martyrs of God, intercede for us before the throne of the Almighty Father.

Your brother in Christ,

Most Reverend R. Walker Nickless
Bishop of Sioux City