It has been a weekend of ordinations and First Masses. Our diocese has three new priests, praise God. The first Mass of a newly ordained priest is always a joyful occasion, but especially in an age like our own, which has a phobia of commitment and sees a lifetime choice first in terms of what one gives up, rather than as an exercise of freedom which comes only when I have discovered how and to whom I must give my heart irrevocably.
Just as everyone loves to see a bride and groom on their wedding day, so there is a joy in a first Mass which is bound up with something intimate and personal. This is, after all, the first Mass of Father X, whom we have seen grow in our family, our parish, our seminary, and something much more than the merely personal.
