Your Grace, My Lord Bishops, Dear Rev. Fathers, Brothers and Sisters, beloved brethren,

“ Every high priest has been taken out of mankind and is appointed to act for men in their relations with God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins and so he can sympathize with those who are ignorant or uncertain because he too lives in the limitations of weakness. That is why he has to make sin offerings for himself as well as for the people “ ( Heb. 4.1-3 ) Today we are gathered around you, Your Grace, to praise and thank the Lord for the great mission He entrusted to you with, as His Archbishop.

Every priest, as the writer of the Letter to the Hebrews states, is taken out of the humanity by God Himself. The choice is really not ours, but God’s own. That is why often we ourselves are unable to pin-point that  what really happened at our initial experience of that vocation. Was it just a feeling ? a fairy tale ?  Who inspired us ?  Was it someone’s encouraging word or life example that made us feel that way ? It is truly a mystery in it, no one can ever understand it.  In fact Pope John Paul II in his little booklet entitled “ Gift and Mystery “ published on the occasion of his 50th anniversary of priestly Ordination stated, “ the story  of my priestly vocation, it is known above all to God. In its deepest level every vocation to the priesthood is a great mystery “ [ P.3,Gift and Mystery, CTS.1997 ]. If we read the call narratives of the sacred scriptures, almost always they explain a sense of unexpected response among those who are called. One feels surprised and often unworthy – Moses asked the Lord, “ who am I to go to Pharaoh and bring the people of Israel out of Egypt ? “ [ Ex.3.11], Jeremiah called to be a prophet, exclaims, “ Lord, I do not know how to speak. I am a child “ [ Jer. 1.6 ]. Similarly Isaiah too exclaims his unworthiness “ what a wretched state I am in, I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips and I live among a people of unclean lips “ [ Is.6.5 ]. And the lord assures the, to Moses he says, “ I shall be with you “ (v.12) and to Jeremiah “ do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to protect you “ ( Jer.1.8 ). Our priestly vocation then is a totally gratuitous mystery. Often times we do not deserve it and so the greater we feel inadequate within ourselves, the  more grateful we should become. It is this sense of being fragile ourselves, which according to this priestly author, becomes the foundation of our commitment to help our brothers and sisters to find their way to God and to holiness of life. The greater the gift and the stronger our awareness of its total gratuity and our unworthiness to receive such a gift, the more determined should we become in our commitment to sanctity and to an even greater degree of loving concern for the salvation of our brothers and sisters. The Greek word used here is ‘metriopathein ‘. It means “ to be sympathetic “ while sin itself is to be condemned the sinner should be sympathetically helped to overcome his sinfulness. The priest then does not condemn rather helps the weak understandingly to rise up once again and walk along the path of righteousness. It is what Jesus himself, our High Priest par excellence, realized in his life most completely.

Your Grace, this I feel brings out in a nutshell your life and mission both as priest and more strikingly as the Chief Shepherd and High Priest of the Archdiocese of Colombo for well over a quarter century. And that mission spanned a rather turbulent period of history in the Church both at the International as well as the local levels, a period of modern history especially in the aftermath of the 68 resolution and the dominance of economic and political ideologies which tended to de-spiritualize human life. Our own motherland went through a rather difficult and painful conflict with its daily tragic and dramatic developments. The moving away from a more traditional Sri Lankan mindset to one of absorbing more of the secular mindset of the Western world brought in, new challenges and opportunities too. But with your great sense of humility and preference for silent but effective work, you carried out your mission most generously. I know that it meant many sacrifices for yourself. Your paternal concern and closeness towards the members of the Presbyterium, individually, was a source of great happiness. They found a loving father, brother and friend in you. You never sought glory and honour for yourself often wishing to do things quietly and somehow placing yourself in the background. Dignified in your personality, you were always ready to share the burdens of office with your subjects, consulting them before deciding, opening yourself even to criticism, ensuring absolute transparency in your work and above all impeccably exemplary. The Archdiocese was your first priority always. Above all your sense of kindness, sympathetic listening to your priests, your friendly ways and your commitment to the cause of the poor, the under-privileged and down trodden, were so powerfully visible. I still remember the bold initiative you took to speak out favourably for the rights of the July 80 strikers.

All of that made this Archdiocese become what it is today, in continuity of the great work done by your most eminent predecessor His Eminence Thomas Cardinal Cooray, an Archdiocese after the heart of Church. This Archdiocesan family is truly grateful to God, Your Grace, for the gift of you as its Chief Shepherd and High Priest at a crucial moment in its history. You truly are a shepherd after God’s heart ( if. Jer.3.15 ).