Read the Bishop's Blog

April 20, 2022 

When you think of priests, what image comes to mind? In recent years, priests often use two contrasting images, either men “set apart” totally dedicated to God, or “servant leaders” dedicated to serving people. That is, a priesthood of holiness (set apart) or one of service. Instead of contrasting these images, we need to keep them in tension.

I will reflect on how that tension was lived in the priesthood of Jesus Christ. This is essential because it applies to the common priesthood of all the baptized and to the ministerial priesthood of the ordained. In the Chrism Mass we celebrate the Priesthood of Jesus Christ, which continues in the Church. The ordained priests renew their Priestly Promises, while the baptized are reminded that they share in the common priesthood.

The entire liturgy has one primary focus – being conformed to the image of Christ so that we might continue his mission. Listen to that focus expressed in the first question for the priests. I ask them: “Are you resolved to be more united with our Lord Jesus and more closely conformed to him…?” The Preface also expresses this theme. It states, “Lord, as priests give up their lives for you and for the salvation of their brothers and sisters, they strive to be conformed to the image of Christ himself…”

Like Jesus, we have been anointed with the Holy Spirit to be sent. We share in his mission. But the mission will be anemic without being conformed to Christ. The mission might even be wrong if we are not conformed to his image. In this gospel Jesus declared, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me... he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor” (Lk. 4:18). If our sharing in his mission is to be effective, then we need to serve with his heart. Our hearts must be conformed to his heart.

First of all, Jesus lived in intimacy with the Father. He often went to a deserted place to pray. He talked about a special love between him and the Father, saying, “No one knows who the Son is except the Father, and who the Father is except the Son” (Lk. 10:22). His first love was the Father. He was “set apart” or consecrated to the Father. People should see that in us. Our baptism makes us beloved sons and daughters of God.

Being set apart does not mean set above others. Rather, it expresses the person’s exclusive relationship with God. Jesus urged us to live in him as he lived in the Father. He said, “Remain in me, as I remain in you… As the Father loves me, so I also love you. Remain in my love” (Jn. 15:9). Being set apart is a way to illustrate God’s initiative of love for us. As Jesus said, “It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you” (Jn. 15:16).

Brothers and sisters, attend to your baptismal grace, as beloved sons and daughters of God. In college seminary, the rector Fr. Gerry Mahon said to us again and again, “We don’t need any more priests who do not pray.” The same is true for every Christian. We don’t need any more Christians who do not pray – who are “sacramentalized” but not living as disciples. Our sharing in Christ’s Priesthood will be ineffective without intimacy with God. If our sharing in Jesus’ mission is to be effective, then we need to be conformed to his prayer, to his intimacy with the Father.

As I travel the state and stay with priests, I am encouraged by their dedication to prayer. I am thankful for that witness. It is absolutely crucial.

Yet, intimacy with God is not enough. Living the common priesthood of the baptized or the ministerial priesthood of the ordained demands more. We also have to be conformed to Jesus who emptied himself for humanity, conformed to his availability. He was both a beloved son of the Father and a compassionate brother to all. Those two images describe his priesthood, beloved son and compassionate brother.

Jesus was a man immersed in the crowd dedicated to serving people. I know that today seminary faculty emphasize the priest as a “Father” figure. But that image should not be exclusive. In fact, it needs to be refined and enriched by the Scriptures and Church teaching.

Here is a quote from the Decree on the Ministry and Life of Priests from Vatican II: “Priests, who are taken from among the people and ordained for people in the things that belong to God in order to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins, nevertheless live on earth with other men as brothers. The Lord Jesus, the Son of God, a Man sent by the Father to men, dwelt among us and willed to become like his brethren in all things except sin. The holy apostles imitated him. Blessed Paul, the doctor of the Gentiles, “set apart for the Gospel of God” (Rom 1:1) declares that he became all things to all men that he might save all” (#3, Presbyterorum Ordinis).

In the Hebrew culture the eldest brother (or male relative) was called the redeemer. If any members of the clan suffered tragedy, were enslaved, or lost their land, then he was obligated to rescue them, to ransom or redeem them. This is the image the early Christians had in mind when they gave the Risen Lord the title Redeemer. He lived among us as an elder brother. How well do we live as brothers and sisters to others?

St. Paul often reflected on the brotherly qualities of Christ. One of the best descriptions is in the letter to the Colossians where Paul describes the baptized person clothed in Christ. He wrote: “Clothe yourselves in heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience” (Col. 3:12). Those qualities describe Jesus Christ; that is why the baptized are clothed in them.

Those qualities require intimacy or closeness. Heartfelt compassion is literally the “entrails of compassion,” being moved deep in the guts because of how the other person is hurting. It is womb-love, like a mother who has a visceral reaction when her child is suffering. In other words, the intimacy that we experience with the Father as beloved children must be expressed in our intimacy with all people as brothers and sisters.

Priests need to be capable of intimacy. Perhaps the best image for the life of priests is a priesthood of intimacy. Intimacy with the Father as beloved sons (set apart) and intimacy with the family of faith as compassionate brothers (servant leaders).

Before being ordained, what if seminarians were examined for their capacity for tenderness and intimacy with others. What if a lack of heartfelt compassion, gentleness, and patience were impediments for Holy Orders? This would reflect the expectation to be a brother like Jesus, our hearts conformed to his heart. Pope Francis said, “In order to be ‘imitators of Christ’ (1 Cor. 11:1) in the face of the poor or a sick person, we must not be afraid to look him in the eye and to draw near with tenderness and compassion, and to touch him and embrace him” (Angelus, 02/15/2015).

The Lord has sent us Pope Francis who has a charism of the closeness and tenderness of God. He is the Vicar of Christ in a time when there are more refugees and displaced people than any time in history. He shows us how to look them in the face and embrace them with tenderness.

You and I fail so often to live as compassionate brothers and sisters. Our only hope is to appeal to the Perfect Priest Jesus Christ and receive his brotherly love which he renews in his passion, death, and resurrection. We need to come back again and again to celebrate the Eucharist where we are constantly renewed by the paschal mystery.

We also need to experience the redemption that comes from intimacy with one another. The Lord redeems us through our loving concern for our afflicted brothers and sisters. Priests need to attend to brother priests who are isolated. They must nurture relationships with people who will teach them how to be intimate.

People often ask me, “What is the hardest thing about being a bishop?” It is that I was uprooted from so many relationships, and it takes time to plant roots in a new place. I am reading a book which describes the seven aspects of a person who enjoys well-being. According to a forty-year study of a sample group, the most important of the seven is healthy relationships.

Pray for the grace to experience anew that God loves us first. He proved his loved for us by pouring out his love when we were dead in sin. Pray for a fresh encounter with Jesus who redeems us as the eldest brother. Finally, ask for the grace to receive compassion from others and to bring God’s tenderness to the broken.