THIS should be
a no-brainer. It should come much like an
instinct. When one is vested with power, with better
endowments than
those of others, he must remember that such privilege
will always
attract temptations of abusing it. It is like a magnet
for
temptations. Thus, we have to be prepared for this
condition in our
life.
That power,
therefore, has to be handled most delicately,
with great humility. In other words, it always has to be
related to
God from whom all power and authority on earth comes.
(cfr. Rom 13,1)
It should be exercised always with God in mind and in
heart.
Otherwise, there is no way for it to go other than to be
abused. Let’s
remember that the only thing we are capable of doing
without God is to
sin.
To know how to
exercise whatever power and authority we
have according to God’s will and mind, all we have to do
is to look at
Christ, imitate him and unite ourselves to him.
Christ, who is
the origin and seat of all power, exercises
that power with great humility, with justice, charity and
mercy. His
attitude toward his power is expressed in these words of
his: “The Son
of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to
give his life
as a ransom for many.” (Mt 20,28) That is the attitude we
ought to
have toward any power we have. Only then can we exercise
our power
properly.
The damage that
the abuse of power would inflict on us is
deep and grave. Remember Lord Acton’s warning: “Power
tends to corrupt
and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are
almost always
bad men…” And there’s that Latin adage, “corruptio optimi
pessima,”
the corruption of the best is the worst, that reiterates
more or less
the same point.
These thoughts
came to me recently as I received again
another piece of bad news that a priest is accused of an
anomaly. This
kind of news has become more common these days, sad to
say. And I am
afraid that priests are figuring in these cases much like
the way many
politicians and big, privileged people are. Let’s hope
that the image
of priests does not get the same notoriety.
Obviously, my
reaction to all this is to listen to these
complaints and laments and to reassure those affected and
scandalized
that justice, of course, will be served, without
forgetting the more
important value of charity and mercy.
But let’s not
forget that these disturbing developments
are always a call for all of us to make a deeper, more
thorough
examination of conscience, and have another conversion.
Actually,
conversion is and should be a continuing affair for us in
this life.
We are always in need of conversion, no matter how good
and holy we
think we already are.
We cannot deny
that we priests hold tremendous power and
authority. It is a power and authority that is even
greater than that
of the civil and world leaders, since ours links us with
Christ as
head of the Church, with power to forgive sins, renew
Christ’s supreme
act of redemption by celebrating the Holy Mass, etc. It
is a power
that concerns itself to man’s eternal destiny, and not
just to his
temporal welfare.
As such, that
power will always be buffeted by all sorts
of temptations. And many of these temptations can be so
subtly vicious
that they can assume an appearance of goodness. We really
have to be
most guarded against this danger.
Priests should
be the first ones to avail of spiritual
direction and confession. No matter how mature and tested
a priest
feels he is, he will always be in need of guidance. Of
course, he
should see to it that his spiritual life is truly
healthy, immersed in
constant prayer and sacrifice, recourse to the
sacraments, continuing
ascetical struggle, etc.
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