Solemn Mass of Thanksgiving
Fiftieth Anniversary of Ordination to the Sacred Priesthood of Reverend Nicola Bux
Chiesa della Santissima Trinità dei Pellegrini
Roma
December 27, 2025
Epistle: Sir 15, 1-6
Gospel: Lk 21, 19-24
Sermon
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Most fittingly, Father Nicola Bux is offering the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass on the Feast of Saint John the Evangelist to give thanks to almighty God for the fifty years of priestly life and ministry, which he completed, this year, on the Feast of Saint Nicholas of Bari, Bishop and Confessor. The life and death of Saint John the Evangelist illuminates for us the mystery of divine grace at work in the Holy Priesthood for which we give thanks to almighty God today, even as we count upon his intercession on behalf of priests and, in particular, on behalf of Father Nicola.
Blessed lldefonso Schuster, commenting on the Introit of today’s Holy Mass, writes:
The Introit of the Mass is an echo of the use of the Eastern Christians, who give to St John the title of Theologos, since he penetrated more deeply than any other mortal into the mysteries of the divine nature. John was the favourite disciple of Jesus, consequently the divine Master had no secrets from him. The ineffable inner life of the august Trinity, the beatings of the loving heart of the Incarnate Word, the future history of the Church and the ultimate destiny of the world, the Liturgy of the Church triumphant; all these things were pondered over in the divine light by the Eagle of Patmos, the true “son of thunder,” who in the brief pages of his Gospel and Apocalypse has left us a complete treatise on theology – the story of the eternal Godhead. Well may the Church repeat to-day in the Introit in praise of St John those words of Ecclesiasticus (xv, 5): “He opened his lips in the midst of the church, for the Lord had filled him with the spirit of wisdom and understanding, clothing him with a robe of glory.”[1]
In addition to his intimacy with Our Lord, Saint John the Evangelist likewise enjoyed the intimacy of the Mother of Our Lord, the Blessed Virgin Mary, whom he took into his home at the death of Our Lord, in accord with Our Lord’s words to His Mother and him as they stood at the foot of the Cross, words recorded in his Gospel:
When Jesus saw his mother, and the disciple whom he loved standing near, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son!” Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!” And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home.[2]
How blessed we are to enjoy the fruits of Saint John’s intimate knowledge of Our Lord and His Virgin Mother, which he has transmitted to us in fidelity to his priestly vocation!
Celebrating the Golden Jubilee of Father Nicola today, we reflect on how the ordained priest, consecrated through the Sacrament of Holy Orders, even as Saint John was consecrated a priest at the Last Supper, at the institution of the Sacraments of the Holy Eucharist and of the Holy Priesthood, is called to ponder daily and ever more profoundly the truths of the faith, especially of the Redemptive Incarnation, in order to transmit them to those for whom he is ordained. Don Nicola certainly merits the title of theologian for he has untiringly studied the Tradition of the Faith throughout his priestly life for the end of teaching the faith as a true pastor of souls. He also merits, in his own way, to be in the company of the “sons of thunder,”[3] for he has never hesitated to announce the truth firmly and lovingly. His teaching of the truths of the faith has been rightly marked by holy zeal and courage.
Don Nicola has totally relied upon Divine Wisdom, God the Son Incarnate, exalted in the Epistle of today’s Holy Mass. The Divine Master, in turn, will not permit him to be put to shame, even as He has certainly opened “the mouth” of Don Nicola “in the assembly” for the spiritual benefit of us all.[4]
Blessed Ildefonso Schuster, commenting on the Gospel of today’s Holy Mass, reflects upon a second aspect of Saint John the Evangelist’s priestly life and ministry, namely, his relationship with Saint Peter Prince of the Apostles:
Peter and John are linked together by a special affection, and, notwithstanding the difference of their characters, they have many traits in common. Hence the Gospel narrative nearly always speaks of them together, whether on apostolic journeyings, preparing the Paschal supper, in the house of the High Priest, fishing in the Sea of Tiberias, or at evening prayer in the Temple, etc.
On the present occasion, after the meal on the shores of the Lake of Genesareth, Jesus takes Peter apart in order to tell him his ultimate fate, while John stands aside, tactfully refraining from any importunate disturbance of their colloquy. His companion, however, who knows his desire, now repays the good service rendered to him at the Last Supper by the beloved disciple, when the latter asked for him of the Lord who should betray him. So Peter asks: “Lord, and what shall this man do?” The divine Master, alluding to the diversity of vocations, offices and graces in the Church, replies: “So I will have him to remain till I come, what is it to thee? Follow thou me.” He would thus teach us that the calling and the merit of others ought not to distract us from giving due attention to the claims of our own work and station. This it is which our Lord requires of us, and not to concern ourselves with that which others may or may not accomplish.[5]
Thus, Don Nicola has always exercised his priestly ministry in communion with the Successor of Peter, “the perpetual and visible source and foundation of the unity both of the bishops and of the whole company of the faithful.”[6] He has served with distinction both Pope Saint John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI as a consultor of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints and of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. In times of confusion, division, and error in the Church, he has faithfully called her pastors to fidelity to the deposit of faith[7] “once for all delivered to the saints.“[8] In a most laudable way, he has labored to teach the truth about divine worship and about the divine right to be worshipped “in spirit and truth.”[9]
Encouraged by the Roman Pontiff, Father Nicola, together with the late Father Antonio Garuti, O.F.M., founded the Scuola “Ecclesia Mater,” which has been and continues to be a most worthy instrument for the clear and integral teaching of the faith in times of pervasive confusion, division, and error. The Scuola “Ecclesia Mater” places the many excellent aspects of the social media at the service of Our Lord and His Mystical Body, the Church, thereby enabling Father Nicola to bring the truths of the faith to an ever larger audience.
Reflecting upon the priestly life and ministry of Saint John the Evangelist, as we celebrate fifty years of priestly life and ministry of Father Nicola, we are filled with wonder and gratitude. Pope Saint John Paul II, in his last Encyclical Letter Ecclesia de Eucharistia, “On the Eucharist and Its Relationship to the Church”, wrote about the wonder which should “always fill the Church assembled for the celebration of the Eucharist” and which, above all, “should fill the minister of the Holy Eucharist.”[10] Regarding the priest, the minister of the Holy Eucharist, he wrote:
For it is he who, by the authority given him in the Sacrament of priestly ordination, effects the consecration. It is he who says with the power coming to him from Christ in the Upper Room: “This is my Body which will be given up for you. This is the cup of my blood poured out for you…”. The priest says these words, or rather he puts his voice at the disposal of the One Who spoke these words in the Upper Room and who desires that they should be repeated in every generation by all those who in the Church ministerially share in His priesthood.[11]
The Holy Priesthood is not an idea or a function, as today’s celebration so eloquently testifies. It is the glorious Christ alive in the Church, dwelling with us through the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, exercising His pastoral charity, saving us from sin and animating us with His truth and love. It is, in the words of Saint John Mary Vianney, the beloved Curé of Ars, “the love of the Heart of Jesus.”[12]
As we thank God today for the gift of the ordained priesthood in the life and ministry of Father Nicola, we ask Our Lord, through the intercession of His Virgin Mother, Saint John the Evangelist, and Saint Nicholas, to grant him many more and fruitful years. May the offering of the Holy Mass in thanksgiving for Father Nicola’s fifty years of priestly life and ministry bring him renewed joy and strength as he serves us in the person of Christ our Good Shepherd, most especially in the offering of the Holy Mass.
In thanking God for the priestly vocation of Father Nicola, we offer grateful prayers for his parents, for his family, and for the priests and faithful who have assisted him to know Our Lord’s call and to respond to it with an undivided heart. May God abundantly reward them.
We also pray for the young men to whom Our Lord is presently addressing His call: “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.”[13] May today’s joyous celebration give them the courage to respond to Our Lord with a full and undivided heart. May we never fail to assist them with our love and prayers.
Let us now, through the priestly ministry of Father Nicola, offer our hearts, one with the Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary, to the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus. Filled with grateful love of our priests, let us pray for Father Nicola and for all priests that they may be faithful, generous, and pure ministers of the pastoral charity of Jesus Christ, Eternal High Priest.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Raymond Leo Cardinal BURKE
[1] “L’introito della messa riflette l’uso degli orientali, che attribuiscono a Giovanni il titolo di « Teologo », perché più profondamente d’ogni altro mortale egli penetrò gli arcani della Divinità. Giovanni fu il discepolo prediletto di Gesù, e in conseguenza il Maestro divino non ebbe per lui alcun secreto: l’intima ed ineffabile vita dell’augusta Triade, i palpiti d’amore del Verbo Incarnato, la storia futura della Chiesa e gli ultimi destini del mondo, la liturgia della Chiesa trionfante, tutto contemplò nel lume divino quest’Aquila di Patmos, questo vero « figlio della folgore », che nelle brevi pagine del suo Vangelo e dell’Apocalisse ci ha lasciato così un compiuto trattato teologico, o la storia dell’eterna Divinità. Bene a ragione perciò la Chiesa ripete oggi nell’introito in lode di Giovanni quelle parole dell’Ecclesiastico (xv, 5): « Dischiuse il suo labbro innanzi all’assemblea, perché il Signore l’aveva ripieno di spirito di sapienza e d’intelligenza, adornandolo di gloria come d’un ammanto ».” A. I. Schuster, Liber Sacramentorum. Note storiche e liturgiche sul Messale Romano, Vol. II (Torino-Roma: Casa Editrice Marietti, 1933), pp. 173-174. [Hereafter: Schuster]. English translation: Ildefonso Schuster, The Sacramentary (Liber Sacramentorum): Historical & Liturgical Notes on the Roman Missal, Vol. I (Parts 1 and 2), tr. Arthur Levelis-Marke (Waterloo, ON: Arouca Press, 2020), p. 382. [Hereafter: SchusterEng].
[2] Jn 19, 26-27.
[3] Mk 3, 17.
[4] Sir 15, 4-5.
[5] “Pietro e Giovanni sono legati fra loro di particolare affetto, e, non ostante la diversità dei loro caratteri, hanno molti punti di rassomiglianza. Onde il Vangelo ce li descrive quasi sempre insieme, nei viaggi apostolici, a preparare il banchetto pasquale, in casa del Pontefice, alla pesca nel mare di Tiberiade, alla preghiera vespertina nel tempio, ecc. Ora Gesù, dopo la refezione sulle rive del lago di Genesaret, prende Pietro in disparte per annunciargli i suoi estremi destini; Giovanni, delicato, non ardisce di disturbare importunamente i loro colloqui, e si teine in disparte; ma il compagno, che ne intende il desiderio, gli rende ora il cambio del buon servigio prestatogli all’ultima cena, quando per mezzo del discepolo prediletto interrogò il Signore chi fosse il traditore. – Signore, – dice Pietro – e di costui che ne sarà? Rispose il divin Maestro, accennando alla diversità delle vocazioni, degli uffici e delle grazie nella Chiesa: « Se io voglio che egli rimanga così sino al mio arrivo, che t’importa? Tu seguimi ». E voleva dire che l’altrui officio e virtù non deve distoglierci dall’attendere ai doveri del nostro compito e del nostro stato. Questo vuole da noi il Signore, e non quello che possano compiere altri.” Schuster, p. 175. English translation: SchusterEng, p. 384.
[6] “… unitatis, tum Episcoporum tum fidelium multitudinis, perpetuum ac visibile principium et fundamentum.” “Sacrosanctum Concilium Oecumenicum Vaticanum II, Constitutio Dogmatica de Ecclesia, 21 Novembris 1964,” Acta Apostolicae Sedis 57 (1965) 27. English translation: Vatican Council II: The Conciliar and Post Conciliar Documents, new rev. ed., ed. Austin Flannery (Northport, NY: Costello Publishing Company, 1992), p. 376, no. 23.
[7] Cf. 1 Tim 6, 20; 2 Tim 1, 14.
[8] Jude 1, 3.
[9] Jn 4, 23.
[10] “Semper … Ecclesiam pervadat in eucharistica Celebratione congregatam”. “… comitari debet … Eucharistiae ministrum.” Ioannes Paulus PP. II, Litterae Encyclicae Ecclesia de Eucharistia, “de Eucharistiae eiusque necessitudine cum Ecclesia,” Acta Apostolicae Sedis 95 (2003), 436, n. 5. [Hereafter: EdeE]. English translation: Pope John Paul II, Encyclical Letter on the Eucharist in Its Relationship to the Church, Ecclesia de Eucharistia (Boston: Pauline Books & Media, 2003), p. 11, no. 5. [Hereafter: EdeEEng].
[11] “Ipse enim, propter facultatem ipsi in sacramento Ordinationis sacerdotalis concessam, peragit consecrationem. Ex potestate, quae a Christo in Cenaculo ei obtingit, ipse pronuntiat voces: «Hoc est enim Corpus meum quod pro vobis tradetur… Hic est enim calix Sanguinis mei novi et aeterni testamenti qui pro vobis et pro multis effundetur…». Enuntiat haec verba sacerdos vel potius os suum suamque vocem praestat Illi qui Cenaculo haec vocabula exprompsit, et qui voluit ut per aetates ab omnibus illis eadem iterarentur qui in Ecclesia ministeriale illius communicant sacerdotium.” EdeE, 436, n. 5. English translation: EdeEEng, p. 11, no. 5.
[12] “… l’amour du Cœur de Jésus.” A. Monnin, Esprit du Curé d’Ars, Saint J.-B.-M. Vianney dans ses Catéchismes, ses Homélies et sa Conversation (Paris: Pierre Téqui, 2007), p. 90. English translation by author.
[13] Mt 4, 19.