This year, on the occasion of the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Pope Benedict XVI has inaugurated a year dedicated to prayer and to reflection on the nature and ministry of priest: the Year for Priests.
The reason for these ‘special years’ in the life of the church is to help us focus our attention on a specific subject, to discover its importance, richness and its value. We just finished the Year of St. Paul and now we have the Year for Priests.
Pope Benedict XVI decided to call this year for priests to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the death St. John Mary Vianney. In doing so, he is bringing our attention to this humble priest of the rural parish of Ars, in France, patron saint of parish priests. He was an extraordinary model of priestly holiness; a humble man who, through his example and preaching, has given a wonderful example of sanctity.
The Curé of Ars was so convinced of the importance of the priesthood for the church that on one occasion he wrote: “O, how great is the priest! ... If he realized what he is, he would die, not of fear, but of love.”
Every Catholic participates in the common priesthood of Jesus Christ, but only the priest shares in the ministerial priesthood of Jesus Christ, the specific mission Jesus gave to his twelve apostles — that of proclaiming the Gospel, forgiving sins in his name, and bringing all people into the embrace of salvation through the sacraments, especially the holy Eucharist.
The calling to the priesthood comes from God as a gift of his love. “He who loves us ... has made us ... priests for his God and Father.” These words from the Book of Revelation make abundantly clear that the priesthood is not simply a career choice or a lifestyle decision.
What happens to the priests by this gift of election is a profound mystery. Pope John Paul II called the priestly vocation a “wondrous exchange ... between God and man.” In becoming a priest, “a man offers his humanity to Christ, so that Christ may use him as an instrument of salvation, making him, as it were, into another Christ.” (Gift and Mystery, 72-73)
The priesthood is an amazing gift of divine love. Yet the priests are human, like everyone else. They experience hardship and struggle in their ministry of service. They need the same things that we all need — love, trust, understanding. They especially need support, prayers and encouragement. We all must love our priests more as we pray for them more.
Pope Benedict XVI said in his letter to priests: “I think of all those priests who quietly present Christ’s words and actions each day to the faithful and to the whole world, striving to be one with the Lord in their thoughts and their will, their sentiments and their style of life. How can I not pay tribute to their apostolic labors, their tireless and hidden service, their universal charity? And how can I not praise the courageous fidelity of so many priests who, even amid difficulties and incomprehension, remain faithful to their vocation as ‘friends of Christ,’ whom he has called by name, chosen and sent?”
In our archdiocese we have the blessing of the quiet dedication of our older priests, who have worked generously, joyfully sacrificing the best years of their lives to serve God and us. We also enjoy the enthusiasm of our young priests, who begin their ministry eager to serve everyone unconditionally.
While priests are essential to the sacramental life of the church, they also play an important role as witnesses, models and examples for their communities. In fact, although we know that our only trust is placed in Christ, the Christian people always look up to their priests.
That is why the pope himself revealed the importance of good priestly witness in his letter to priests: “I still treasure the memory of the first parish priest at whose side I exercised my ministry as a young priest: he left me an example of unreserved devotion to his pastoral duties, even to meeting death in the act of bringing viaticum to a gravely ill person. I also recall the countless confreres whom I have met and continue to meet, not least in my pastoral visits to different countries: men generously dedicated to the daily exercise of their priestly ministry.”
Let us pray that our priests may be blessed with the gift of faithfulness in the following of Christ, and that our seminarians may continue in their preparation to be the St. John Mary Vianneys of the future.
All the faithful can contribute, as the pope suggests, offering personal prayers, the reciting of the rosary and the participation at the holy Mass, praying that the priests of the world may be more and more like Christ, the high priest.