The Church is the Body of Christ. If you want to
know the Church you look at Christ. The priest represents Christ and acts on
his behalf. There is a very close relationship between Christ and the priest,
between the Church and the priest. If you want to know what a priest is you
have to know Christ first.
Jesus has called himself the Good Shepherd. This image of the shepherd is very
old. We find it in the Old Testament (Prophets, eg. Ezechiel) and in all the
four Gospels. The shepherd cares, takes on responsibility, leads and guides,
heals and binds up wounds. He is always there for his sheep, always ready to
come to the aid of the sheep, he gives himself to them, he knows them and they
know him; they can absolutely trust him. Which means that a priest is no longer
a private person with his own time, his own interests, his own space nobody may
enter. He belongs to his people, to the Church, he is always on call.
He may be a caring father, but he is not a boss. “The Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his
life a ransom for many” (Mark 10: 45). If the priest is representing Christ
and acts on His behalf then he must also understand leadership as Christ did,
namely “leadership as service”. He is not a man of power with which to suppress
the other members of the Church, but he is to empower the lay members of the
Church and set their energies free: “While testing the spirits to discover if
they be of God, priests must discover with faith, recognize with joy and foster
diligently the many and varied charismatic gifts of the laity, whether these be
of a humble or more exalted kind” (Benedict XVI, letter on the Year of the
Priest).
The priest makes Christ present especially when acting on behalf of Christ in
the Eucharist, the Sacraments of Penance and Healing (Anointing the Sick).
He does not celebrate himself in the Eucharist. He must be transparent for
Christ and make Him visible while somehow disappearing himself.
Pope Benedict XVI has declared Saint John Vianney patron saint for the Year of
the Priest. His special charism was to celebrate the Sacrament of Penance
(Reconciliation). The priest is a sinner who acts on behalf of Christ. “What is
it to be a Jesuit? It is to know that one is a sinner, yet called to be a
companion of Jesus as Ignatius was” (Jesuits Today, n. 1, 32nd
Congregation). A priest who does not humble himself in this sacrament, has
nothing to say to penitents.–
Some priests, e.g. Jesuits, are not full-time pastors, but serve the Church
as teachers or social workers or media experts. A priest must always look at
people as created in God’s image with an eternal destiny. People, even very secular
ones, sense this in a priest. They expect from a priest that he has this
“wholesome” approach to them, does not just slice them into different bits.
People yearn to be regarded as persons who are precious; they hate to be
instrumentalized and to be “used”.A
priest needs to be more than just a
social worker, or teacher, or administrator.
A priest must be a man of the Church. He will be asked about the Church and
he must stand up for the Church. It is a contradiction to be a priest and yet
want to be detached from the Church. “Always
have your answer ready for people who ask you the reason for the hope that you
have” (1 Peter 3: 15).This is not
to say that one cannot honestly admit weaknesses of the Church ( see:K.Rahner SJ, The Church of Sinners,).As members of the Body of Christ, the
weaknesses of the Church are our own weaknesses. There cannot be any criticism
of the Church without self-criticism. Recent abuse scandals in the Church have
shown this very clearly.
FISH
THAT DON’T WANT WATER
The mountains of rubbish are growing. Pazarangu Street
which runs past Stoddart Hall, a national monument, is at
one point half covered with stinking refuse making it difficult
for cars and people to pass; now the other lane is beginning
to be covered as well. Our young people were organized into
a cleaning brigade and began, dressed in new T-shirts and
equipped with new shovels, to move the stinking mass, for
some days with the help of City Council trucks.
