Ordination of Mark O'Brien to the Priesthood
Ordination of Mark O’Brien to the Priesthood
St. Augustine’s, O’Connell Street, Limerick, 8 August, 2026
Homily Notes of Bishop Brendan Leahy
It is good for us to be here on this special day. A day to be lived in the faith the Gospel which we have just heard emphasises. Nothing is impossible to God. Mary heard those very words from the Angel at the Annunciation and she believed them. Let us hear them again today and believe them as we extend our congratulations and best wishes to Mark. And with Mary, the Mother of Jesus, and with Mark’s parents, Geraldine and Kevin and other dear relations who have left us for the next life, along with the Augustinian community, St. Munchin’s and St Lelia’s parish and the many people who have accompanied Mark up to this point, let us magnify the Lord, recognising the great thing God is doing here today among us in choosing Mark for the office of priesthood in the Church.
Mark, soon you will pronounce the various resolutions required of you before ordination and you will make your promise of obedience. I and the other priests will lay our hands over you. I will then pray the prayer of consecration and anoint your hands and present you with the chalice and paten. But it is good for us to pause for a brief moment and reflect on the priestly ministry you are about to begin. I propose we do so by referring to St. Augustine as you will exercise your ministry as a spiritual son of that great saint who has contributed so much to the Church over the centuries.
For all his many writings, priestly ministry itself was not a major theme in St. Augustine’s writings. But he did often refer to it, and he has left us writings as well as his own experience. Indeed, he has indicated in his ministry and life the priorities that guided him in the exercise of priestly ministry. So, let’s look at a few of them.
A first priority, for Augustine, is humility. The story goes that before becoming a priest, Augustine was prone to be somewhat judgemental of priests and bishops. He was confident he would certainly do a better job himself, but he wasn’t interested in priesthood. He wanted to live a quiet life of prayer, study, and community living. Then, the unforeseen happened, one day he was visiting Hippo, a town in modern day Algeria and arrived just as the bishop Valerius was lamenting how few clergy they had. People recognised Augustine and had heard of him. They surrounded him and insisted he become a priest. They brought him before the bishop saying: “ordain him!”. Such a process wasn’t unusual at that time because there was a strong sense that it is the Church that calls you; it’s not about you or your ambition or desire. Augustine started crying. People thought he was crying perhaps because he was disappointed that he was only going to be a priest and not a bishop! But that wasn’t it. He suddenly felt inadequate to the task and unworthy. But we know that Augustine went on to become a priest, a great priest. In a letter he wrote many years later, he said that God had laughed at his previous confidence. He had thought he understood all about pastoral leadership. But it was experience that taught him humility and revealed how demanding it is to be at the service of the Church, the People of God. It is the humility we learn by looking to Christ Crucified that St. Paul speaks about in the First Reading today. St. Augustine came to realise that he could not rely on his own power or ideas of pastoral leadership but rather what St. Paul says: “the only knowledge I claimed to have was about Jesus, and only about him as the crucified Christ”. It is in imitation of the humility of the Crucified Christ that we learn how to order charity according to the Wisdom of God and that is what matters. So, Mark, remember the great virtue of humility. Not me, God, as St. Carlo Acutis put it. On your ordination day, you can say in your heart: Not me, not the priesthood, God in the first place. Humility is the doorway that lets God in to do his work. Yes, always remember, priesthood is primarily Christ’s (and Augustine was strong on this), not yours. Your task is to let Christ the Good Shepherd do his work. So humility.
A second priority indicated to us by St. Augustine for priestly ministry is to focus on the Word of God. Going back to the story I’ve just told you, when Augustine found himself faced with the fact that he was going to become a priest, he asked the bishop Valerius for time. To do what? To immerse himself in the Word of God. And the Bishop, being a good bishop, gave him plenty of time. Augustine understood there are many things that God has revealed to us through the Spirit in the Word of God. The Word of God provides us with God’s logic. Not only that. The Word of God has the power to do what it says. Not only that. It is the Word of God that generates the new life of the Church. Augustine often said that when the apostles preached the Word of God, church communities came to life. It is sometimes my own regret that I don’t do enough to encourage pastoral pathways that start with the Word of God. It is the great indication given to us by the Holy Spirit at the Second Vatican Council that our Augustinian Pope, Pope Leo is so wonderfully re-proposing to us at the moment, week by week. We all need to engage with the Word of God more radically in our lives, personally and pastorally. As the Final Document on synodality puts it, “listening to the Word of God is the starting point and criterion for all ecclesial discernment.” Mark, always let the Word of God convert your thoughts, your affections and your actions, not just personally but also pastorally and socially. This a lifelong process requiring the daily therapy of immersion in the Word of God. Remember St. Augustine’s words: it must not happen that anyone becomes “an empty preacher of the word of God to others, not being a hearer of the word of God in his own heart”.
A third and final point even if there are sides to this point. Augustine certainly saw and appreciated the great dignity of the gift of priestly ministry. Through it, Christ builds up his own Body. Christ is the source of the unity of the Church and priestly ministry is very much an instrument of that mission of unity. This also means, as Augustine underlined that priests are to live in unity so that Christ The priest may be active among and in them. Let me quote Augustine: “Good pastors are all in unity, they are one. In those who feed, it is Christ who feeds. The friends of the bridegroom do not raise their own voices, they rejoice when they hear the voice of the bridegroom. When they feed the sheep, it is Christ who feeds and who can therefore say, “I feed,” for in them is his voice and his charity…. In pastors like this it is the one pastor who feeds, for all are in unity.” St. Augustine knew that for people to recognise that it is Christ, the source of unity, who is at work in priests, they should not see priestly ministry as an exalted status but rather as a call to serve. Service. This is Augustine’s third priority. We know his famous saying: “For you I am a bishop, but with you I am a Christian.” And immediately after saying that, he went on to say he put himself at the service of his sisters and brothers. Augustine saw priestly ministry as service in imitation of Christ the Good Shepherd who served. So many of our Gospel stories, like today’s, show us Jesus serving as he went about healing and reconciling, enlightening and laying down his life. So, Mark, remember this great priority: service. Remember Jesus’ words the night before he died: “No one has a greater love that this, that he lay down his life for his sisters and brothers” (Jn 15:13). Remember to always begin again to see Jesus in everyone and serve him in them.
For Augustine, these three priorities, humility, focus on the Word and a commitment to service that builds unity, lead to holiness. And it is the holiness of love that releases the fragrance of Christ that then spreads in the house that is the Church of God leading many to Christ. And that is our hope for you, Mark. That as you are gifted with holiness sacramentally through the sacrament of Holy Orders, you will pursue holiness in your life, not simply in an individual piety but striving to live a Church-community holiness with your sisters and brothers who journey with you.
By way of conclusion, I would like to pray a prayer attributed to St. Augustine that today we can adapt as a prayer for you, Mark.
Breathe in Mark, O Holy Spirit, that his thoughts may all be holy.
Push Mark, Holy Spirit, that he may do what is holy.
Draw Mark, Holy Spirit, that he may love what is holy.
Strengthen Mark, Holy Spirit, that he may preserve what is holy.
Guide Mark, Holy Spirit, that he may never lose what is holy. Amen.