Recently, I had the privilege of attending a funeral of a priest of my Diocese. At the end of the funeral of a priest, customarily the priests present sing together in Latin an antiphon entitled Ecce Quam Bonum. The antiphon draws its text from Psalm 132, “Behold how good and how pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity.”
In West Virginia, where I am from, there is presently a pressing shortage of priests, and thus a significant portion, over 50%, are priests from India and Africa who have generously come to America to serve the sacramental needs of God’s people. Thus, as one could easily imagine, any gathering of the presbyterate in my diocese is most certainly a diverse one. Indeed, it is not necessary to look far to see that presbyterates across the United States are diverse. Priests of many cultures and backgrounds, with different gifts and talents, and ideological leanings all make up a unique group of people. The culture is increasingly intent on drawing our identity from these elements, but for priests, indeed for all Christians, there is but one source of identity. Indeed, the great unifying factor or aspect of the priesthood seems to be the fact that identity does not rest for the priest in his background, talents, or thoughts, but it consists entirely of the possession of and continual conformance to the great pattern of the priesthood, Jesus Christ.
In no place is this unity felt most serenely than in the seminary. Each of us, because of the communal life that we live, is called to a radical exposure of all of our many differences, but it is in rejoicing in these differences that we come to know one another better, and that we might too rejoice in the unique gifts which our brothers possess. The biggest difference I think, in this respect, between the seminary and the secular world is that we do not look for a revelation of our identities based upon our own gifts, but we find our identities revealed in him whom we seek to model. Rejoicing then in that identity which we have all received from the Lord, we will be able to proclaim with our brothers, despite our differences, Ecce quam Bonum.
Joe Derico is a College IV Seminarian for the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston