Homily

Yesterday I was up in Portland for the ordination of a young man to the priesthood. He is a monk of a very small, little monastery taking root there as a part of the Maronite rite Catholic Church. His name is Anthony Alles, and his family used to attend the Divine Liturgy when we would go up to Portland once a month, so many years ago.

I had never been to a Maronite service, so I found it very interesting. In the Byzantine rite, men are ordained by the bishop at the place in the Liturgy where they are most active. So a Lector-Cantor is ordained just before the reading of the Epistle, a sub deacon just before bringing the water and towel to the bishop at the Great Entrance, a deacon is ordained just before the reading of the Gospel and a priest just before praying the Anaphora. But in the Maronite Church, a priest is ordained right after the bishop and clergy receive Holy Communion, but before the people receive. And at one point, the bishop puts his left hand on the chalice and his right hand on the head of the man he is ordaining as if to show that it is Jesus Christ, present in the Holy Eucharist, who blesses men to be priests through the office of the bishop. I thought that was a wonderful symbol to use.

I stayed at a hotel in the Lloyd district just a few blocks from Holy Rosary Church where the ordination Liturgy was going to be held, because I didn't want to drive up early Saturday morning and drive back just a few hours later. Looking out my hotel window, it was interesting watching people walking by on the sidewalks below. After a while I noticed that about 1/3 of them were texting while they were walking, and not just for a few seconds, but the whole time I could see them. And most of them have what I call the texting shuffle, because it's hard to use your thumbs accurately if you're walking too fast. But I was amazed at how many people were texting while walking down the street. I began to think about what people used to do while walking down the street before smart phones came on the scene. For a few decades since the arrival of the Walkman, remember?—the little device that played cassette tapes (and if you don't know what cassette tapes are, ask your grandparents.) So you might have seen people walking down the street with headphones or ear plugs in, and you can still see that today as well. But before 1980, when people walked down the street, they just walked down the street. Maybe they spoke with the people walking with them, and once in a while maybe they were eating or drinking, but for countless centuries, back to the dawn of humanity, when people walked down the street, they just walked down the street. Now as often as not they may be texting (and with ear buds in as well!) I see it on Aspen St. very often. Last fall, I was driving down Coburg Rd. at night and I could see ahead a guy on a bicycle weaving back and forth into my lane. What is wrong with him? When I carefully passed him by, I saw what he was doing—and yes, you guessed correctly.

Now back to the Maronite ordination: After the priest is ordained, the bishop takes a host (Maronites use unleavened bread the same as the Latin rite) and he dips the host into the Precious Blood, and places it in another chalice, covering it with a cloth. He then places the chalice on top of the head of the new priest who holds it there with his hands. Then another priest puts a stole around his neck. The cross-bearer and servers with candles lead the procession very slowly around the church inside, while the older priest guides the new priest following him by pulling on the stole around his neck. (Symbolism) The Maronite parish is very small so there were not a lot of them in this large Roman church, where the service was held. Most of the congregation were Latin rite friends and relatives and associates of the priest or the monastery, or just curious faithful. (I could tell the congregation was mostly Latin because of how many people said, "Amen" when they came up for Communion.)

I would say there were three groups of people doing three different things when the procession with Fr. Anthony carrying the Eucharist on his head passed by them. The first group, and most of them looked Lebanese, bowed deeply as the Eucharist passed by them. The second group simply watched. The third group had their camera out to take photos and videos. And there were a lot of them.

Now I certainly am not against people taking pictures or videos at an ordination but at this moment it struck me as very sad. Jesus Christ, in the Holy Eucharist, is passing you by in this procession. Do you bow in worship and reverence to Him, or do you take a photo, which means, of course, that you can't bow to Him? Which action has a greater impact on your life, the bow or the photo? Which action should be more important to you?

I suggest the photo or video taking at this moment is a sign of our self-centeredness. It is not intentional. Nobody thinks, "I don't care about the Lord, I just want this video." But wanting to photograph as the first or most important action for me to take here at this time, means that I do neglect paying reverence to Christ. And, pardon me, because I'm not trying to condemn people here, just make a point, I think it also comes from the desire to get something for myself: "I have this photo. It's mine. I can do whatever I want with it." Again that's not a huge conscious choice, it's rather a subtle thing, but isn't photo making a kind of acquisition, a way of taking images that now belong to me? That's not necessarily a bad thing, but does that mean all photography is a great thing at any moment in life? Again, I'm not against taking photos, but I think lots of people can be tempted in a wrong way, to acquire and possess images, instead of actually taking part in what is going on right in front of them. There are people who only see some events through the view they get from their iPhone. Isn't it strange that we would want to watch our video of an event rather than the event itself?

Now please bear with me. I don't want people to say later, "Father told us taking pictures during church is a big sin and modern technology is greasing the road to hell for all of us." But I think it's always a good question to ask ourselves—"Are we using technology well? Or are we rather thoughtless at times?" Bow to Christ, snap a photo, which one comes more naturally to me? Hmmm. We own the video. It is ours. We can take it away and use it however we want to. Do you see the acquisition element? We can input it on You Tube or Facebook and everybody can click on "Like." You can't do that with a reverential bow. Unless, of course, you get someone else to take a video of you bowing and then you can slap that onto You Tube. Sometimes, sometimes, we use technology to feed our ego, to give us a sense of bad pride. Sometimes we use technology in a way that points us to selfishness not virtue, self-importance rather than genuine humility. Sometimes we let technology take us whenever it wants to, the moral equivalent of texting while driving. What could possible go wrong?

Can it happen that technology can feed into self-centeredness, even in subtle ways? Well, have you ever seen a selfie on Facebook of someone going to confession? I think not. And that's a little indicator, I believe, of which side of our lives technology can take us to very easily unless we are using it wisely, thoughtfully and consciously as Christian people. If our technology was available 2,000 years ago, would people have watched the video on Facebook of clips of the young boys of Bethlehem being slaughtered, feeling badly about it, and then moving on to watch a funny cat video. Three or four times. The way we use technology has an effect on us.

Technology is neither good nor bad in and of itself, but it can be used for either good or bad when it is in our hands. It is a great mistake to think, to assume, to presume we're always using it well; and we should often examine what we are doing online or digitally. Remember that first recorded video of a man being beheaded by those ISIS terrorists? Millions of people watched it. Why? That's a very graphic example, but even in much smaller ways shouldn't we consider and really pay attention to how we use our technology?

Is it better, is it more life-giving for me to bow before Christ Who is hidden in the chalice, as He passes by, or is it better to take a photo of the priest carrying Him? It's not a question of good or bad intentions. It's a matter of being aware of what is going on in front of my eyes, and what the best way to respond to it is.

May the Lord always help us grow in wisdom.