Throughout this year dedicated to the priesthood, we are exhorted and encouraged to pray daily for our priests. In this short article let us try to understand in more depth the total commitment to Christ and His Church that these men have embraced.
Jesus himself is our High priest and a reading of the letter to the Hebrews will help us to understand in greater depth the roll of the priest; as all priests receive their priesthood through Jesus Christ who himself instituted the priesthood at the Last Supper.
Just as Jesus gave His life for us in total commitment, so the priest lays down his life as Christ did for his bride the Church. Christ himself chooses from amongst us those whom he desires to follow him in this vocation of total self sacrifice and love for the Church.
In the wisdom of the Holy Spirit the Church tests the vocation of these men desiring to embrace the priesthood. They must undergo many years of study and discernment and for some religious orders this can take twelve years or more before ordination. The priesthood is not a career that can be changed at will but is a lifelong vocation, as once ordained he is a priest forever. Like Baptism, Holy orders changes the person ontologically. That is it can never be repeated or removed. There are occasions where a priest has his faculties suspended or he is formally laicized but he remains an ordained priest. In fact in an emergency he can hear the confession of a person in danger of death and administer the last rites.
The ordained priest through his ordination acts literally in the person of Christ as he is empowered to bring heaven to earth as he speaks the words of Consecration at the Mass. The bread and wine becoming the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ. In the Sacrament of Confession it is Christ through him giving us absolution forgiving us even the most grave sins that we have committed against the awesome holiness of God.
We see the wisdom of Holy Mother Church throughout the centuries in that she imposed the discipline of celibacy on those who embraced the priesthood. This entails a total commitment to Christ and his spiritual children in the Church. To be married would entail a division of commitment as he would have to place his wife and family first and would not be free to go wherever his Bishop decides or to serve in remote regions of the world, and often in very harsh and dangerous environments.
Admittedly under special dispensation from Rome we now see men who were formally ministers in other denominations who have embraced the Catholic faith and are married and have been validly ordained as Catholic priests retaining their married status.
But there is wisdom in celibacy for the priesthood and Jesus himself tells us this in Matthew 19:12.
I recently visited a priest in Kenya who is not only caring for a parish with many outstations, but has also gathered up children who have been orphaned by the aids epidemic losing both parents. He is striving to provide for 27 children aged from 5 months to fifteen years. Assisted by a Moslem lady and volunteers , he goes begging in the market place for these children to provide food and support.
In S. Korea in June I visited the Kkottongnae community ( Flower village) founded by a Fr Oh some thirty years ago and now cares for over 4000 children and adults who were orphaned, discarded due to mental or physical disabilities and also the destitute and dying. Here again we see the total commitment of priests who are serving the body of Christ in remarkable ways.
We need to pray for our priests as they have sacrificed the joys and consolations of married life in order to serve totally the needs of a much larger family. Let us ask God to shower them with great joy and consolations in their vocation as priests and servants to us all.
Jesus and Mary, protect and bless our priests.
Peter Thompson.