“There Be Dragons”: On the Eucharist, the Priesthood, and St. Josemaria Escriva

The St. Josemaria Institute is pleased to share with permission the following transcript of the Holy Thursday homily (2026) given by Fr. Dominic Clemente of St. Edward’s Church in Chicago, Illinois. (Click here for the video.)

There are a few movies about the priesthood that are good. I think the first movie I saw that had a priest in it was ‘The Bells of St. Mary’s.’ I don’t remember how young I was when I first saw it, but I remember thinking Bing Crosby is a cool priest. My top three favorite priest movies are and in order: ‘Father Stu’, ‘Calvary’, and ‘There Be Dragons.’ I highly recommend you watch all of them; they’re all great movies.

But the third movie, ‘There Be Dragons,’ isn’t really so much a priest movie as it is a love story, but it includes in it the life of one of my patrons, St. Josemaria Escriva. St. Josemaria is the founder of Opus Dei, an ecclesial movement in the Church that he began in Spain during the Spanish Civil War, which that’s the main backdrop of the movie, ‘There be Dragons.’

One of my favorite scenes in the movie is a scene where the rebels break into the church where St. Josemaria is living and they begin to desecrate the church and even set it on fire. And St. Josemaria runs in coming from the sacristy retrieving the Blessed Sacrament from the tabernacle and runs out. And some of the rebels do chase him, but he’s able to get away, hiding the ciborium in his coat.

Sacrifice: The Center of Priesthood

Sacrifice is at the center of priesthood. And not just my priesthood, but all of our priesthood. All of us here who are baptized share in the priesthood of Christ as we were all baptized, priests, prophets, and king. Baptism gives us power as members of God’s kingdom. Baptism sends us out as prophets to evangelize to the world. And baptism calls us to the responsibility of the priesthood, which is a responsibility to offer sacrifices to the Lord. We are all responsible for offering God sacrifices and serving others.

With you as a baptized priest, I too have to be of service. But for you, I’ve been ordained a priest of Jesus Christ to offer the holy sacrifice of the Mass and the other sacraments for your salvation.  Now, as baptized priests, we’re given this model tonight of servant leadership—washing the feet of others, including our persecutors. Remember, Jesus washed Judas’s feet knowing he was going to betray him. Priests don’t just serve those who like us. Believe it or not, I have persecutors and haters like everyone else. Yet, I’m called to serve them with the same love that I have for my biggest fan.

It’s not hard to find enemies, persecutors, or haters, or people we don’t like or that we know don’t like us. But it is hard to serve them. And we all know that. It’s hard to smile and hold the door open for someone who just stole your parking spot. It’s hard to like a post or comment something supportive to a friend on social media that you know has different political views than your own.  It’s hard not to share our opinion or correct someone that we disagree with. It’s hard to sacrifice our time, talent, treasure, and pride for Judas’s in our own lives. But that’s what we’re called to do. That’s the mandate that we’re given tonight.

Priesthood of the Baptized

You and I share in the priesthood of the baptized and we have the same responsibility to sacrifice and serve others no matter what. And Father Ha and myself, and someday soon Patrick, Deacon Simon, Evan, and hopefully some young men here in this church, if not in the sanctuary, will have the responsibility as ordained priests to love the Eucharist and the people of God with that same devotion as St. Josemaria, St. John Vianney, Venerable Augustus Tolton, St. Dominic, and the first priests ordained at the Last Supper, Jesus’s Apostles.

My friends, we can’t let our pride get in the way of our mandate to wash the feet of others. We also can’t let our pride or our false humility get in the way of our vocation. If Jesus can wash the feet of Judas, we can serve our enemies and persecutors. If Jesus can ordain Judas as one of the first priests, then God can call you to the priesthood with your own sins and baggage. Hopefully, the seminary will turn you from a Judas into a Peter or a John. But those sins we’ve committed do not take away from the vocation God is calling us to be, whether that’s an ordained priest, husbands and wives in the sacrament of holy matrimony, or men and women called to religious life.

And so tonight, let’s accept in our hearts the mandate to be people of service and sacrifice. Let’s accept the mandate to love without limit. Let’s accept the mandate to do for others what Jesus has done for us.

Cover Image: Scene from the film There Be Dragons with Charlie Cox as Father Josemaria Escriva.