The priesthood

AUGUST 4 being a Memorial of St. John Mary Vianney, patron saint of priests, is a good occasion to review who a priest is and how he should be. St. John Mary Vianney (1786-1859), also known as the Cure of Ars, can provide us with a good idea about this since he was well known for his heroic priestly and pastoral work in a parish in France that resulted in a radical spiritual transformation of the community and its surroundings. 

 To be a priest is actually a profound calling to serve Christ and the Church that necessarily involves a deep relationship with God, a commitment to holiness, and a dedication to lead others to Christ. It is a ministry of sacrifice, love and availability to the people entrusted to his care. 

 With the sacrament of Holy Orders, the priest shares in the priesthood of Christ himself, that is, Christ as Head of the Church and not just a member of it. This is another proof that God shares his power with us since, in the end, we are meant to be his image and likeness, sharers precisely of his life and nature. 

 The priest, so ordained, should realize more deeply that he should transform himself into Christ, and to love and suffer as Christ did for everybody, and to see the things of the world through the eyes of Christ. His lifestyle should be that of total self-giving, unafraid of the effort and costs it involves. This, of course, would require a special vocation. 

 As such, a priest is expected to be a model individual, a living example of faith, love and holiness that should effectively inspire others to follow Christ. He has to see to it that people see and hear Christ through him. He is not just a good orator, an amusing comedian, a creative artist. Of course, it would be good he could integrate all these good traits but seeing to it that it is Christ that is seen and heard by the people. 

 This is, of course, a very overwhelming ideal for a priest to pursue. Thus, a priest should be so deeply rooted in prayer and to spend time with God that he can fairly say he is acting “in persona Christi capitis” (in the person of Christ as head of the Church). He has to realize that his formation—human, doctrinal, spiritual, pastoral, etc.—is a continuing affair, a till-death pursuit. 

 A priest should have a very deep love for souls, always making himself available to the people, offering guidance, comfort and support. He should give priority to the celebration of the sacraments, especially Confession which is a means of grace and healing. Of course, the daily celebration of the Holy Mass holds the most important duty for him. 

 If every person is supposed to be “alter Christus” (another Christ) since we are all created in God’s image and likeness which is what Christ is, the priest should be the first one to show it to the world, aware that he is called to be the very instrument of God’s love and grace. 

 To be a priest should be an all-time affair. Once a priest, he is a priest forever. He cannot say that he is a priest at certain moments of the day only when he celebrates the sacraments, or in certain situations and conditions in life. He is and should be a priest at every breath he makes.

The art of ending the day well

YES, we have to learn the art of how to end our day well. That’s because it is our way also of how to end our life well, ready to meet God in judgment. We just have to be realistic about the real purpose of our life here on earth, so that we avoid getting entangled in things that are not actually necessary for us even if they seem to us as indispensable at the moment. 

 We are reminded of this need in that gospel episode where someone asked Christ to mediate on the inheritance issue with that person’s brother. (cfr. Lk 12,13-21) Of course, Christ, knowing the motive of that fellow, refused to do so. Instead, he reminded the person to focus more on what truly matters in life, that is, to seek the real treasure. Rather than focusing on earthly treasures, he told him to be “rich in matters of God.” 

 In our daily life, we should have a running account, so to speak, of how our life is going in terms of achieving its real purpose. We are not here mainly for earthly gains, although they figure as a means to pursue our real goal. We are here to gain our own sanctification through all the events and circumstances of our life, whether ordinary or extraordinary. 

 Let us remember that every moment in our life, irrespective of how it affects us—whether good or bad according to some earthly or temporal criteria—is an occasion to interact with God who always intervenes in our life, testing us but also guiding us and giving us all the means that we need. Yes, we have to be aware that every moment is a moment for sanctification. 

 We need to train ourselves to think that way and to act accordingly. That’s why we need to have some running account of how we are faring in this ultimate concern of ours in this life. And so, at the end of the day, we should make some kind of accounting to see if we are progressing or not, if there are things to be improved or to be more focused on, if we are equipping ourselves adequately to pursue our real goal, etc. 

 The ideal thing to happen is that at the end of the day, before going to bed, we should make some kind of examination of conscience so we would have a good idea of how things are going in our life. This way, we would always be ready to face God in judgment. 

 We have to learn to leave our earthly and temporal concerns so that we can focus more on the definitive eternal life that is promised us. This is just to be realistic about our life, cutting away whatever fantastic and fictional ideas we have about our life here on earth. 

 To be sure, this will give us a lot of confidence and hope no matter how things go. We would know what to do, both in good times and in bad times. The only thing necessary is to do the will of God which, as Christ spelled out to us, can involve denying ourselves, carrying the cross and following Christ himself wherever he leads us. (cfr. Mt 16,24) 

 We avoid getting entangled in an unnecessary drama that would only complicate our life without leading us to where we should be in the end.

Our disbelief in the spiritual and supernatural

I SUPPOSE this condition is understandable. But we need to do something about it, because whether we like it or not, the reality that governs us goes far beyond the material and the sensible and even the intelligible. We have to deal with things spiritual and supernatural which, in fact, are far more important in our life. They have a much greater bearing in our life. 

 That gospel episode where some people of Christ’s hometown could not believe what they saw and heard from him dramatizes this point. (cfr. Mt 13,54-58) “Where did this man get such wisdom and mighty deeds?” they asked in astonishment. “Is he not the carpenter’s son? Is not his mother named Mary, and his brothers James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas? Are not his sisters all with us?” 

 We need to incorporate in our system the way we can overcome this disbelief and awkwardness. And the first thing to do is to acknowledge the reality that our life has a prominently spiritual dimension that requires us to nourish the way we think, judge, reason and ultimately to love. These are the functions of our spiritual soul. It’s in this dimension that the supernatural aspect of our life enters. 

 Our spiritual soul with all its faculties (our intelligence and will) enables us to go beyond our material and natural world. It is what connects and engages us with others, be they things or persons or a supernatural being. It is what enables us to enter into communion with others. 

 We just have to remember that our spiritual soul is not a self-generated being. It is a creature, created by God the Creator. It is what would make us realize that we come from God and should remain with God for its proper vitality. We have to realize deeply that we cannot live properly without him. 

 That is why we have to see to it that to live properly as a human person we need to establish and continually reinforce our spiritual and supernatural bearing. This duty has priority over all the other duties we have in this life. We may call it the mother duty from where all our other duties and responsibilities, as well as our rights and dignity, spring. 

 We should do everything to establish, recover and maintain this spiritual bearing and supernatural outlook. We should see to it that more than anything else, we should be guided by God’s will and ways that are shared with us through his gifts of faith, hope and charity. We just cannot rely on our own counsel. 

 Given the way we usually are, we really need to exert great effort to comply with this duty of keeping a spiritual and supernatural bearing in our life. Fact is we tend to rely simply on our own ideas, opinions, preferences. We easily allow ourselves to be swayed by social trends and fads, hardly questioning their foundations and orientations. Worse, we can even be guided mainly by our biological elements. 

 That is why we need some time everyday to do some deep thinking and reflection that should lead us to meditate on God’s word and works, and to pray, that is, to enter into conversation with God. Otherwise, we would not be able to enter the spiritual and supernatural dimension of our life. We would simply remain in the peripherals and the superficial aspects of our life.