PRIESTHOOD

Many books have been written on the topic of Priesthood. Many Seminars have been conducted, many controversies have been raging. But after all the arguments have been proffered and all the debates have been stilled, what remains is the essential meaning of priesthood. That will never change. Expression may change. Essence will always remain. And it is the essence of Priesthood that I wish to highlight here in these following few reflections on priesthood.

Who is a Priest?

The Priest is the Servant of the Word
The Priest is the Minister of the Eucharist
The Priest is the Channel of healing
The Priest is the instrument of reconciliation
The priest is the Dispenser of Forgiveness
The Priest is the Builder of the Body of Christ.

Indeed, following the thinking of the Late Pope John Paul II as mentioned in his celebrated encyclical, ECCLESIA DE EUCHARISTIA, the Priest is above all someone who is charged with the mission of building up the Body of Christ in the Local church and in the Universal Church. All he says and does, his very life itself takes on meaning only in the light of this primary mission of building up the Body of Christ. Even as he consecrates the sacramental body of Christ the Priest ministers to the Mystical body of Christ. The Sacramental Body of Christ has its meaning and purpose only in function of the Mystical Body of Christ. And the Mystical body of Christ can survive and grow only by the Sacramental Body of Christ. These two go together and the Priest is the one who holds them together.

Basically there are three ways of looking at the Priesthood:
1. Cultic Priesthood where the priest is little more than a ritual functionary, a ‘POOJAARY’, confined to a particular temple\church.
2. Ascetical Priesthood where the emphasis is on personal holiness and asceticism of the priest as a sacrament of the Divine, a ‘SANYASI’, a religious mendicant, a wanderer who believes in God’s providence.
3. Prophetic Priesthood where the priest is not only a sign and a stimulus of the Holy, but also actively collaborates with God who is busy transforming this world into His Kingdom, a ‘PRAVAADI’, gets into the heart of the world to confirm all that is godly and to confront that which ungodly.

As a Prophet the priest does indeed perform rituals and ceremonies and presides over liturgies. But the basic focus of his liturgical and cultic function is not so much performing a few magic rites, but building up the Body of Christ in the local community. Therefore, his cultic function is inseparable from his prophetic mission. And as a Prophet he remains in close contact and indeed intimacy with God. Asceticism, Mysticism, Prayer and worship, holiness of life and apostolic dynamism are all essential aspects of being priest.

In fulfilling his prophetic mission of building up the Body of Christ, the priest does a variety of works, not all of which are clearly in the realm of the spiritual and several are obviously in the secular realm, whether it is administration of institutions, management of finances, teaching in the classrooms, involving oneself in social work, fighting for a just cause or pursuing artistic vocations. But every one of these activities is priestly in so far as each of them is initiated, carried out and ordained to the building up of the Body of Christ. Thus, a maths teacher in the classroom, a treasurer with his account books, an administrator in his office, a social worker in the slums, an artist in his studio or a builder at the construction site – all contribute to the building up of the Body of Christ because of their motivation, purity of intention and the fruitfulness of their work. This is the meaning of Vatican II definition of priesthood, which goes far beyond the mere cultic conception of priesthood.

Once the celebrated French author Francois Mauriac was asked what he expected from a priest and he replied: “To show me the face of God and to lead me to God”. I think these words of the great writer- philosopher sum up neatly the expectations the People of God always have of us priests. They expect us first and foremost to be the Sacraments of the Divine. This does not mean mere cultic priesthood or what we may call Sacristy Priesthood. It means that we are here to be men of God, images of God:

To bring God’s salvation to people.
To give God’s love to people
To preach God’s word.
To fill them with God’s grace.
To show them God’s face.
To reveal to them God’s own heart.
To communicate to them God’s forgiveness.
To reflect in our lives God’s holiness.
To be channels of god’s peace, healing, reconciliation and forgiveness.

When a priest presides over the liturgy he is judged not by his eloquence, not by the dramatic gestures he uses, not by his theological brilliance, not by his psychological insights, not by his oratorical skills, not by his sonorous singing, but by the witness of his life, depth of his love, strength of his character, and above all the integrity of his person. People easily make out whether what we say springs from our very depths or from external techniques. People can easily identify sounding gongs and clashing cymbals.

Only a priest who has the Word planted deep in his heart,
Only a priest who is nourished by the devotion to the Eucharist,
Only the priest who is a man of prayer (not a man of many prayers BUT a man of prayer) will be an effective and powerful minister of the Word and the Sacrament. Unless we experience intimacy with God we cannot really hope to break through to the hearts of our people.


The Priest has to speak “WITH AUTHORITY” much like the Master before him. His words have to be charged with transforming power, purifying fire, cleansing force, consoling love and strengthening grace. Probably it is apt to quote few lines from one of the Vachanas of a celebrated Kannada poet, Basavanna here:

Nudidare muttina haaradantirabeku
Nudidare spatikada salaakeyantirabeku
Nudidare maanikyada deeptiyantirabeku
Nudidare linga mechchi ahudu ahudu yenabeku
Nudiyolagaagi nadeyadiddare namma koodalasangamadeva yentholivanayya?

But such life-giving words do not come from merely our mastery over language, control over tone or brousing through recent internet material, rather it comes, as yet another Kannada poet puts it, “Maathu mathisi banda navaneetha”. Such words are a result of personal churning experience of God within. It is as if like the butter resulting from churning of curds! It is the result of long hours ‘wasted’ in prayer.

The priest today has to possess phenomenal empathy and insight. He has to be deeply human and at the same time firmly challenging. His availability and compassion, his readiness to share the joys and pains of people, his delicacy and skill in understanding their problems, his involvement in the everyday struggles of his people will make him truly a man of his people, a priest after the mind of Christ as John Paul II describes in PASTORES DABO VOBIS.

The Holy Father says that after the example of their patron and exemplar St John Marie Vianney, the priest of today has to be:

Devout in the celebration of the Eucharist
Empathetic healer of wounds
Simple but Spirit-filled Preacher
Involved in the daily life of the people
Skillful in meeting pastoral needs
Carry on works of justice and charity

It is this last aspect that I want to stress now, namely, works of justice and charity. Today a priest has to join in the people’s struggle for justice and freedom. He has to enter into solidarity with the oppressed. He has to liberate the exploited, heal the wounded, reconcile the estranged, rebuild the broken, and bring the marginalized into the mainstream of society. This is not something new. It is as old as the prophets and Luke 4/16-24.

To be able to do this the priest needs to be a man of deep faith, personal holiness, simple life style, service to the needy, compassion for the weak, solidarity with the poor, and above all personal love for Jesus, which alone will enable him to love as Jesus loved, to live as Jesus lived and to work as Jesus worked. In the Eucharist the priest celebrates Christ’s broken body. In his own life he becomes Christ’s broken Body. In his ministry he serves Christ’s broken Body. As John Paul II says, this is what gives meaning and unity to all the works of a Priest.

In conclusion, I would like to sum up all that I said in the figure of St John Marie Vianney, the model of all priests.

He was a Man of God
A Man of prayer
A Man of the Eucharist
A Man of Forgiveness
A Man of the People

May the Paschal Mystery we are about to celebrate in the Holy Week bring to each of us a deep sense of fulfillment in our vocation and ministry as priests and give us the grace of being more and more faithful to our call to Priesthood.

Francis Serrao, SJ

PRIESTHOOD, INTIMACY, SPIRITUALITY – A REFLECTION / Part III

2. Intimacy: A recent study of the problems of young priests in the first few years of their ministry lists the following: workaholism, lack of reflection, no reading habit, no renewal, absence of a contemplative attitude, ambition, seeking positions of power, misappropriation and misuse of money, alcoholism, sexual acting out, cyber sex, internet pornography, compulsive eating, inability to work in a team, impatience with accountability structures, unresolved anger, damaged self image and empty spiritual life leading to meaninglessness. Ultimately, I believe, all this has to do with the Priest’s need for Intimacy.
Priests are human. With human need for intimacy, friendship and connectedness. To some extent this need is met by institutional structures. But institution cannot really substitute the human and the spiritual. This is particularly true of diocesan priests who are required at times to be alone in some very remote places, without any companionship of fellow priests. Religious Priests, because of their strong bonds in community may not feel this gnawing loneliness which these others feel. Who is there for me? Who is there whom I can call my own? Who is there for me to cherish? Who is there to protect me? To care for me? To be at my side in fair weather and foul? Of course they belong to the Diocese. They know all about “unum presbyterium”. But in practice, to whom do they really belong? To whom can they really go? These are some of the questions that spontaneously arise in the hearts of priests who are assailed by loneliness.
Loneliness, as opposed to solitude, is the corroding feeling of emptiness, meaninglessness, lack of self worth and of being abandoned, of being out place, unwanted, unaccepted, unappreciated. When we do not have a sense of belonging, when we do not truly feel free, secure, loved, wanted, respected, accepted, appreciated, needed, we are lonely. We have a deep need to feel safe, secure, warm, comfortable, free to be ourselves, feeling secure enough to express ourselves in friendship and affection. When God said, “It is not good for man to be alone” He meant that we are by our very nature made for intimacy and communion. When Adam exclaimed: “At last flesh of my flesh; bone of my bone”, he was not referring primarily to sexual attraction, but psychological comfort, human completion, sexual complementarity, emotional connectedness, moral security, social ease and material sufficiency.
We go through life lonely, feeling alone, abandoned and searching for a home. We deeply long to find someone who will understand us, accept us as we are, appreciate us, respect us, love us. We look for someone with whom we can feel safe, secure and serene. Gradually we begin to yearn for a more personalized connectedness, where safety and security comes from the sense of being accepted, appreciated, and affectionately cared for. We face numerous problems related to relationships. We must acknowledge and accept that this deep urge for friendship, companionship, connectedness and communion is placed there by God Himself whose plan it is to build us into a community, the Body of Christ. Therefore, it is God’s will and God’s plan that we must live in intimacy. The sexual dimension of our being is precisely the gift of God for this purpose of pulling us out of our selfishness and pushing us towards other people with whom we can establish intimate companionship leading communion and community. We need to have deeper relations that go beyond our roles and functions. We need to tear off our masks and be authentic and transparent, “naked” before one another. But this by itself will not necessarily lead to intimacy. We need to choose healthy ways of expressing our need. We need to establish growth producing relationships and friendships in genuine and healthy intimacy.
“Intimacy” is a word that creates uneasiness. We know that intimacy is essential for human growth. Intimate human friendships are essential for psychological maturity. Great saints and mystics have had intimate friends. They were not afraid or ashamed of intimacy. But we feel uneasy with “Intimacy” mainly because we confuse that word with physical, genital or erotic expressions. Benedict XVI in his encyclical “Deus Caritas Est” has assured us that even “Eros” is God’s creation. But still we feel uneasy. But we need to gradually move towards Agape by means of Renunciation, Suffering, Sacrifice, Surrender and Service. For us celibate priests, intimacy means psychological and emotional closeness. Intimacy without physical or genital gratification is ennobling, enriching and empowering. Physical and genital gratification without true and selfless intimacy is degrading, diminishing and damaging. Healthy intimacy has to do with transparency and self disclosure. Ability to open oneself totally to another, letting the other into the inner sanctuary of one’s own private, personal self and receive acceptance, appreciation and respect in return.
Intimacy is the hall mark of Christian life. As Christians we are called to experience ourselves as the beloved of God and to embrace others just as we ourselves have been so intimately embraced by God. WE experience and reveal God as love only through one another. Intimacy needs inner strength that will enable us to draw closer to others, reveal ourselves to others, and commit ourselves to long term relationships, without sacrificing our own individuality or personal integrity.
As Gregory the Great says: “The pastor must be pure in thought, exemplary in actions, discrete in his silence and effective in his words. He should be close to all in his compassion. Above all he must be dedicated to contemplation. He should be the humble friend of all who do good. He should be inflexible in his opposition to all vices. He should neither neglect interior life through external preoccupations nor give up external needs through solicitude for interior good.” I think this is a very balanced and very comprehensive summing up of what I am trying to say. Our human needs, drives, impulses and instincts are legitimate. They need to be recognized, accepted and fulfilled. The human should not be sacrificed at the altar of the spiritual or the supernatural.
We must remember that celibates are also sexual. They have a real need for intimacy. This need needs to be met in an appropriate, healthy and fulfilling way. In Pastores Dabo Vobis, John Paul II says that the priest is called to be a man of communion who will build community wherever he goes. Therefore the priest himself needs to be deeply human, caring, affectionate and tender. Affective emotional and sexual maturity in priests is very important. The scandals we have heard about in the west which are also not uncommon in India are mainly due to immaturity in this area. Just because we are ordained we do not cease to be men of flesh and blood. Ordination does not take away our emotionality and our sexuality. Our instinctive impulses and our affective nature remain intact. We need to be vigilant over our body and emotions. But we should not run away from affection and tenderness. We need to be prudent in our relationships and strong enough to renounce everything that is contrary to our priestly identity. But we should not cut ourselves away from the challenges of deep human relationships.
Some of the ways in which priests can preserve their celibacy and at the same time fulfill their need for intimacy is through priestly fraternity, community companionships, healthy relationships, loving service, caring for the wounded, spiritual direction, priestly asceticism, readiness to make sacrifices and especially the sacrament of penance. Self knowledge, self acceptance and self gift are three important aspects of priestly celibacy and celibate intimacy. Acknowledging, accepting and expressing healthy emotions in human relationships are very important helps to emotional maturity.
When such a maturity is absent then problems like alcoholism, sexual irresponsibility, loneliness etc arise. We have to own up our need for intimacy and find healthy ways of meeting that need within the parameters of our celibacy. Let there be friendship! Let there be intimacy! Keep everything within the limits of celibacy! Exercise self discipline. Respect boundaries. Make sacrifices. Celibacy does not mean that we must kill our emotions. If we become cold and unfeeling ice boxes we cannot witness to the truth that God is love. On the contrary, if we are warm, tender and affectionate, we become eloquent witnesses to the power of God’s love which transforms life.
Let me quote Pope John Paul II once again: “In our times we need heralds of the Gospel who are experts in humanity, profoundly knowing the hearts of modern men and women, priest who share their joys and sorrows, hopes and fears with them and at the same time are contemplatives who are in love with God.” I think the great Pope has addressed already the question of spirituality for a priest that will help him live his celibacy faithfully while satisfying his need for intimacy constructively. So let us then go to the third and the last point of this paper.