Bishop Jaime Soto's remarks at the priestly ordination of Fr. Ryan Mahar

On Saturday, June 6, at St. Clare Church in Roseville, Ryan Patrick Mahar was ordained to the priesthood by Bishop Jaime Soto. Follows are Bishop Soto's remarks to the newly ordained Fr. Ryan Mahar:

Fr. Ryan, you will celebrate your first Mass on the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity. We have the delight of contemplating this mystery because the Lord Jesus has revealed himself to us. By our relationship with Jesus we come to know God as our Father and share in life of the Holy Spirit. Your priesthood must do the same. Be an epiphany of the divine communion of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. May you so serve Christ that the Father is always glorified in you and the Holy Spirit is always poured out from your ministry. Strive to live the communion we adore in the Most Holy Trinity.

The communion of the Church is not just a practical institutional necessity; it is a share in the divine communion of the Trinity. Your inclusion into the fraternity of the priesthood of Jesus is not an organizational function; you are joined to Christ who by his death broke down the walls of enmities that divide all people. Our fraternity must always serve the greater communion of the Church reconciled by the one blood of Christ. As a baptized member of the Church, you share in this divine communion. In your priesthood you must now be a minister of this divine communion. St. Paul eloquently illustrates this in the Letter to the Ephesians (Eph. 2.13-22). The path to divine communion is the way of Christ’s cross, so that those who are far off may be brought near by the blood of Christ. A priest is an effective minister of reconciliation in the measure that he shares in the Lord’s sacrifice, when he makes his own the Lord’s sacrifice of reconciliation.

The racial turmoil that surrounds us is not a distraction from the sacred rituals we have conducted here. The national unrest makes us understand all the more humanity’s poverty when we do not share in the merciful communion of the Blessed Trinity. To this frayed and fragmented world, the priest presides at the table of mercy that gathers all, offers the sacrifice that reconciles all, and nourishes all with the bread of life and the cup of salvation.

Fr. Ryan: May these sacred sacramental rituals be extended by your ministry into the communities where you will serve.

In the gospel this morning, Jesus told his dear friend, Simon Peter, “Feed my lambs.” “Tend my sheep.” (Jn. 21.15-17) As these words echo in your heart, listen carefully to the pain and anguish in the world today. Join me and your brother priests in humbly heeding the Lord’s command, “Feed my lambs.” “Tend my sheep.”