(This is the article on priesthood written by Fr. Fredrick D'Silva SJ. At present he is the socius to the provicial of Karnataka. This article will be published on this blog in three series. )Introduction
I call this paper a reflection, because I do not pretend that this talk is an academic exercise. In fact I am not academically qualified to bring out a learned essay on Priesthood. There are many here who are much more qualified for that than I am. What I do here is just to share with you my own reflections as someone who does not come from a theological or intellectual background. I focus on the great gift of Priesthood that God has bequeathed to his Church, speak on one particular aspect of priest’s life, namely his need for intimacy, and then, focus on the kind of spirituality that might help him live as a consecrated man.
As you know the Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI specially chose this theme for this year, because this year is specially linked to the memory of that great holy priest of the French Revolution era, St John Mary Vianney. One would think that John Vianney, a simple, peasant priest, totally innocent of all intellectual, theological pretensions, who, in fact, had much difficulty in getting through the basic seminary studies, would be the last one to be held up as a model for Priests by this particular Pope who is a great intellectual and an accomplished Theologian. There is, however, an important message in this for all of us. The Pope seems to tell us that it is not our IQ, not our academic accomplishments and theological achievements that matter. What really matters is what St John Mary Vianney represents: his identity as the priest of Christ. The Pope is exhorting us today to look at Vianney as a reference point for the ministerial priesthood. In Vianney the definition of the Ministerial priesthood is nothing but living and acting in persona Christi and sharing the Eucharistic Lord in charity, forgiveness and truth primarily in the community of faith and then to the world outside.
We need to keep in mind that Jesus did not look for academic achievement, professional skills or technical talents when he selected his disciples. Nor did He look for worthy people. He looked for willing people, and made them worthy. The call to priesthood is a vocation not a profession. In a vocation, there is an innate dependence upon the Grace of God and one does not require academic qualifications. One becomes a priest not because of Philosophy, Theology and the training in a seminary, but because of the laying on of hands by the bishop and the prayer of consecration. What one studies in formation is a help and a preparation for this life of consecration and ministry. Consecration and Ministry are possible only when there is close communion with Christ.
Therefore, Ministerial priesthood has no reason to exist apart from the existential relationship of the priest with Christ who anoints him to be his face for his people. Vianney’s life is a vibrant example of this relationship. Some experience its beauty at the great mystical stage. Vianney had it in the daily praxis of life. This made him to live not for himself but for Christ and his people. His conviction therefore was that "a priest is not for himself."
From this personal relationship with Christ comes the experience of Love. Experience of the eternal Love that God is. And experience of that eternal Love which has become flesh and blood in Jesus Christ for me and for the whole universe. Only when the priest has this love experience of the Triune God incarnated in Christ, and only when he personalizes and interiorizes it in his own life a priest will learn to transcend his weariness, weakness and self-seeking. He transforms himself into a life sharer only in the concrete experience of the love of Christ. John Mary Vianney says that “priesthood is the love of the heart of Christ,". He experienced it. He lived it and then he preached it. The primary expression of that love is Prayer. Prayer not so much as an exercise as an attitude, an atmosphere and as a way of being.
This love experience leads the Priest to build a local community as the Body of Christ, namely, the Church as a community of faith, fellowship and service. He becomes an integral part of that community, sharing intimately in its life, relationships, works and worship. Indeed he becomes a “father” to that community.
Here, let me digress a little to share with you a personal experience. Many years ago as a newly ordained priest, I met an elderly uncle of mine who addressed me as “Father”. I immediately shrunk with embarrassment and told him not to call me “Father” but by my name as he always used to do earlier. His reply still rings in my ears. He said: “Look here! As far as you are concerned, you are still the little boy whom I used to carry on my shoulders not so very long ago. But yesterday during your Ordination, God has made you “Father” to all of us. That is why we call you Father. Recognize what the Lord has done to you. Accept it with gratitude and reverence. Do not be ashamed of it. It is also a responsibility given to you. Cherish the gift of your priesthood joyfully. Live your vocation faithfully. Fulfill your mission generously. Your vocation and mission is to be “Father” to the Christian community”
At that moment I thought that it was a wholly new, original and quite refreshing as well as challenging perspective on Christian priesthood. Several years later, Pope John Paul II issued a document on Priesthood called: “Pastores Dabo Vobis”. “I will give you shepherd after my own heart”. It is a beautiful and very inspiring document. In it the Holy Father says that a priest is ordained to represent God’s Fatherhood in the midst of the People of God. It was then that I understood the depth and the richness of what Priesthood really meant.
We priests are called to be the face of God our Father turned towards humanity. To be the fatherly heart of God loving humanity. To be the messengers of God’s fatherly providence. To be the healing, forgiving strengthening, guiding hands of God our Father for all of God’s children. We have to reach out to everyone to wipe every tear from every eye; to heal every wound; to mend every form of brokenness; to comfort, console, encourage, support, strengthen, warn, advise and admonish. And, above all BLESS! Romano Guareschi, the great Italian author writes in one of his famous Don Camillo series that one day when both the Priest Don Camillo and his mortal enemy the Communist Mayor Peppone were praying before the Crucifix, Don Camillo was so overcome by rage that he was about to hit Peppone on the face. Just then he heard a voice from the Cross: “Camillo, remember! Your hands consecrated in order to bless, not to hit”. And Don Camillo replied: “Lord, my hands are consecrated not my feet” And he gave a mighty, big, solemn kick to Peppone. Our consecrated hands are the hands of God our Father reaching out to His children in distress.
We are ordained to be the image of God the Father to our people. A Father who gives life. A Father who nurtures life. A Father who makes life grow. A Father who protects life from danger. A Father who heals life. A Father who celebrates life. Therefore, as priests we have to give life, nurture life, protect life, make life grow, heal life and above all celebrate life.
Here comes our primary identity as Priests, namely men who are ordained to celebrate the Eucharist. Celebrating the Eucharist cannot just be reduced to saying Mass. Celebrating the Eucharist implies that we live the Eucharist, we become the Eucharist, we build up Eucharistic communities, and we do the Eucharist in daily life. And then, we bring all this up to the altar for our liturgical celebration of the sacred mysteries. Otherwise what we do on the altar becomes empty and meaningless.
The ministerial priesthood has no meaning if the Eucharist does not become the centre of a priest’s existence. The Eucharist makes me the priest of Christ. Eucharist makes the priest Christ’s own. Eucharist makes the priest then share himself for the life of his community in charity, holiness and forgiveness. The community in turn grows into the Body of Christ nourished by the Eucharistic experience. The Eucharist is thus not a mere ritual but the living encounter of the Lord with his people in the sacrificial love, born of faith, expressed in fellowship and becoming fruitful in service.
Therefore, I think that by holding up John Mary Vianney as a model for priests, the Holy Father wishes to teach us two important lessons: There is no ministerial priesthood without Christ and his Church and there is no priestly life without a life joined to Christ. Once Christ becomes central in the life of the priest, everything then follows: truth, charity, forgiveness and holiness. This will result in the life of the Church being built up and transformed together with the life of the priest. This is the reason the Holy Spirit helps the intellectual Pope to teach us through the humble example of Vianney the greatest lesson in praxis: "He (Vianney) taught his parishioners primarily by the witness of his life."
As you know the Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI specially chose this theme for this year, because this year is specially linked to the memory of that great holy priest of the French Revolution era, St John Mary Vianney. One would think that John Vianney, a simple, peasant priest, totally innocent of all intellectual, theological pretensions, who, in fact, had much difficulty in getting through the basic seminary studies, would be the last one to be held up as a model for Priests by this particular Pope who is a great intellectual and an accomplished Theologian. There is, however, an important message in this for all of us. The Pope seems to tell us that it is not our IQ, not our academic accomplishments and theological achievements that matter. What really matters is what St John Mary Vianney represents: his identity as the priest of Christ. The Pope is exhorting us today to look at Vianney as a reference point for the ministerial priesthood. In Vianney the definition of the Ministerial priesthood is nothing but living and acting in persona Christi and sharing the Eucharistic Lord in charity, forgiveness and truth primarily in the community of faith and then to the world outside.
We need to keep in mind that Jesus did not look for academic achievement, professional skills or technical talents when he selected his disciples. Nor did He look for worthy people. He looked for willing people, and made them worthy. The call to priesthood is a vocation not a profession. In a vocation, there is an innate dependence upon the Grace of God and one does not require academic qualifications. One becomes a priest not because of Philosophy, Theology and the training in a seminary, but because of the laying on of hands by the bishop and the prayer of consecration. What one studies in formation is a help and a preparation for this life of consecration and ministry. Consecration and Ministry are possible only when there is close communion with Christ.
Therefore, Ministerial priesthood has no reason to exist apart from the existential relationship of the priest with Christ who anoints him to be his face for his people. Vianney’s life is a vibrant example of this relationship. Some experience its beauty at the great mystical stage. Vianney had it in the daily praxis of life. This made him to live not for himself but for Christ and his people. His conviction therefore was that "a priest is not for himself."
From this personal relationship with Christ comes the experience of Love. Experience of the eternal Love that God is. And experience of that eternal Love which has become flesh and blood in Jesus Christ for me and for the whole universe. Only when the priest has this love experience of the Triune God incarnated in Christ, and only when he personalizes and interiorizes it in his own life a priest will learn to transcend his weariness, weakness and self-seeking. He transforms himself into a life sharer only in the concrete experience of the love of Christ. John Mary Vianney says that “priesthood is the love of the heart of Christ,". He experienced it. He lived it and then he preached it. The primary expression of that love is Prayer. Prayer not so much as an exercise as an attitude, an atmosphere and as a way of being.
This love experience leads the Priest to build a local community as the Body of Christ, namely, the Church as a community of faith, fellowship and service. He becomes an integral part of that community, sharing intimately in its life, relationships, works and worship. Indeed he becomes a “father” to that community.
Here, let me digress a little to share with you a personal experience. Many years ago as a newly ordained priest, I met an elderly uncle of mine who addressed me as “Father”. I immediately shrunk with embarrassment and told him not to call me “Father” but by my name as he always used to do earlier. His reply still rings in my ears. He said: “Look here! As far as you are concerned, you are still the little boy whom I used to carry on my shoulders not so very long ago. But yesterday during your Ordination, God has made you “Father” to all of us. That is why we call you Father. Recognize what the Lord has done to you. Accept it with gratitude and reverence. Do not be ashamed of it. It is also a responsibility given to you. Cherish the gift of your priesthood joyfully. Live your vocation faithfully. Fulfill your mission generously. Your vocation and mission is to be “Father” to the Christian community”
At that moment I thought that it was a wholly new, original and quite refreshing as well as challenging perspective on Christian priesthood. Several years later, Pope John Paul II issued a document on Priesthood called: “Pastores Dabo Vobis”. “I will give you shepherd after my own heart”. It is a beautiful and very inspiring document. In it the Holy Father says that a priest is ordained to represent God’s Fatherhood in the midst of the People of God. It was then that I understood the depth and the richness of what Priesthood really meant.
We priests are called to be the face of God our Father turned towards humanity. To be the fatherly heart of God loving humanity. To be the messengers of God’s fatherly providence. To be the healing, forgiving strengthening, guiding hands of God our Father for all of God’s children. We have to reach out to everyone to wipe every tear from every eye; to heal every wound; to mend every form of brokenness; to comfort, console, encourage, support, strengthen, warn, advise and admonish. And, above all BLESS! Romano Guareschi, the great Italian author writes in one of his famous Don Camillo series that one day when both the Priest Don Camillo and his mortal enemy the Communist Mayor Peppone were praying before the Crucifix, Don Camillo was so overcome by rage that he was about to hit Peppone on the face. Just then he heard a voice from the Cross: “Camillo, remember! Your hands consecrated in order to bless, not to hit”. And Don Camillo replied: “Lord, my hands are consecrated not my feet” And he gave a mighty, big, solemn kick to Peppone. Our consecrated hands are the hands of God our Father reaching out to His children in distress.
We are ordained to be the image of God the Father to our people. A Father who gives life. A Father who nurtures life. A Father who makes life grow. A Father who protects life from danger. A Father who heals life. A Father who celebrates life. Therefore, as priests we have to give life, nurture life, protect life, make life grow, heal life and above all celebrate life.
Here comes our primary identity as Priests, namely men who are ordained to celebrate the Eucharist. Celebrating the Eucharist cannot just be reduced to saying Mass. Celebrating the Eucharist implies that we live the Eucharist, we become the Eucharist, we build up Eucharistic communities, and we do the Eucharist in daily life. And then, we bring all this up to the altar for our liturgical celebration of the sacred mysteries. Otherwise what we do on the altar becomes empty and meaningless.
The ministerial priesthood has no meaning if the Eucharist does not become the centre of a priest’s existence. The Eucharist makes me the priest of Christ. Eucharist makes the priest Christ’s own. Eucharist makes the priest then share himself for the life of his community in charity, holiness and forgiveness. The community in turn grows into the Body of Christ nourished by the Eucharistic experience. The Eucharist is thus not a mere ritual but the living encounter of the Lord with his people in the sacrificial love, born of faith, expressed in fellowship and becoming fruitful in service.
Therefore, I think that by holding up John Mary Vianney as a model for priests, the Holy Father wishes to teach us two important lessons: There is no ministerial priesthood without Christ and his Church and there is no priestly life without a life joined to Christ. Once Christ becomes central in the life of the priest, everything then follows: truth, charity, forgiveness and holiness. This will result in the life of the Church being built up and transformed together with the life of the priest. This is the reason the Holy Spirit helps the intellectual Pope to teach us through the humble example of Vianney the greatest lesson in praxis: "He (Vianney) taught his parishioners primarily by the witness of his life."
To be Continued...
