Blessed Stanley Rother, pray for us

The first martyr of the United States was beatified yesterday.

I preached about him in a homily several months ago, on Holy Thursday, when I saluted the great gift of the priesthood:

Last December, 35 years after Father Stanley Rother’s murder, Pope Francis declared him officially a martyr of the faith—the first martyr born in the United States. In September, he will be beatified.

Tonight, I suggest, attention must be paid.

Here was a man who washed the feet of others. We need to remember great priests like Father Stanley Rother—ordinary figures of extraordinary commitment and generosity and faith. There are so many others who go unrecognized. I don’t want this night to pass without acknowledging the gift of the priesthood—and the tremendous gift of priests. Men who walk with us, struggle with us, sacrifice for us, live with us, listen to us.

Men who bring Christ to us.

Men like those who are in this sanctuary tonight.

It is often said: without priests, there is no Eucharist. But that only tells part of the story.

Looking out at this church tonight, I’d wager virtually every one of us is here, in some way, because of a priest—someone who baptized us, confirmed us, gave us First Communion.

Maybe a priest anointed you before surgery, or held the hand of your mother as she lay dying, or heard your confession and offered you mercy at a moment when you didn’t think mercy was possible.

Maybe he picked you up when you fell, or gave you direction when you were lost, or just listened when no one else would.

The fact is: Priests show us every day what it means to wash the feet of another.

Because that is what Christ did. The great High Priest showed us how it is done. And we are to do it as he did.

Indeed, tonight, we remember this more vividly than ever:

Our faith was begun by a savior who got down on his knees for us.

This has been our model.

As a result, this has been our story, across 20 centuries. We are people who wash one another’s feet—offering compassion, charity, tenderness and love.

We do it for the greater glory of God—following the example of his son.

This is our way.

We have done it in hospitals, in leper colonies, in prisons.

We have done it in deserts and in jungles and in palaces.

We Christians today wash the feet of those who have traveled the dusty roads of life, all who carry the dirt and grime of the journey.

We do it among our suffering brothers and sisters in India and China and Ukraine.

We do it tonight among those who grieve in Syria and Egypt.

We care for the forgotten, we accept those who are scorned, we give dignity to those on the margins.

We do it because we follow a savior who got down on his knees for us—and then stood up and died for us.

A new collect has just been approved to be said on the feast of Blessed Stanley Rother:

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Blessed Stanley Rother, pray for us!