The Heart of a Priest

 (Homily for Fifth Sunday of Easter) - Today’s readings seem to me a good opportunity to speak about the beauty of priesthood. The beauty and struggles of marriage we breathe in our own homes, as we grow; whereas the beauty and struggles of priesthood need to be made evident in church. In this way, our youth are given the opportunity to better discern their call.

1.  The first reading (Acts 14:21-27) tells us a lot about the activities of the priest. Look at the verbs Luke uses to describe Paul and Barnabas’ mission.

“After Paul and Barnabas had proclaimed the good news to that city and made a considerable number of disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch. They strengthened the spirits of the disciples and exhorted them to persevere in the faith … They appointed elders for them in each church and, with prayer and fasting, commended them to the Lord in whom they had put their faith. Then they traveled through Pisidia and reached Pamphylia. After proclaiming the word at Perga they went down to Attalia. From there they sailed to Antioch, where they had been commended to the grace of God for the work they had now accomplished. And when they arrived, they called the church together and reported what God had done with them and how he had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles.”

If you re-read the verbs, you will have a fairly comprehensive idea of what the life of a priest is meant to be.

2.  The responsorial psalm (Psalm 145:8-9, 10-11, 12-13) could also be accommodated to sing of the priest’s mission.

“I will praise your name for ever, my king and my God.” The priest is meant to be a shepherd after the heart of Jesus, he is meant to incarnate Jesus’ mercy in the Church today. The priest is not God, but people should be able to say of their priest: “The [priest] is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and of great kindness. The [priest] is good to all and compassionate toward all his works.” Keep in mind, here “the works of God” are also his faithful people. This is why the psalm continues, “Let all your works [that is, your faithful] give you thanks, O LORD, and let your faithful ones bless you.”

What is said of all the faithful can be said especially of the priests. “Let them discourse of the glory of your kingdom and speak of your might.” We need to remind people of what God has done for them, we need to be credible witnesses of the power of God in a world who does not see how God can still be there, in the midst of so much suffering. “Let [the priests] make known your might to the children of Adam, and the glorious splendor of your kingdom.” We need to speak to people about heaven, about the final reward of those who endure and persevere doing God’s will on earth.

3.  The book of Revelation (cf. 21:1-5a) gives us beautiful words to accommodate to the priest. I dare to accommodate these words to the priest because our love is meant to imitate, as much as is humanly possible, God’s love itself. Is it not Jesus who said, “Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful” (Luke 6:36)?

“[The priest]’s dwelling is with the human race. He will dwell with them and they will be his people and God himself will always be with them as their God.” This I think is sometimes the most difficult thing for a priest, and for anyone who takes seriously being a father: you cannot escape from your people. You need to be with them always, available to them… We are not God, but we should love people so much as to desire being everything and everywhere for everyone. Of course, because we are not God, we need to rest. But resting is simply the recovery that allows us to keep loving our children.

And how about this line,

“[The priest] will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there shall be no more death or mourning, wailing or pain, for the old order has passed away.” The priest is called to console God’s people, and in this way renew people’s joy. “Behold, I make all things new.”

4.  I left the Gospel for the end (cf. John 13:31-33a, 34-35) in order to leave a very real idea of what being a priest is, or should be.

Jesus said, “If God is glorified in him [that is, in the Son of Man], God will also glorify him in himself, and God will glorify him at once.” God is glorified in Jesus when Jesus suffers the cross for doing God’s will. Now, if God is glorified by Jesus on the cross, “God will also glorify Jesus in himself”: Jesus is glorified in himself by the resurrection, which is God’s way of glorifying Jesus for having suffered. “And God will glorify him at once,” that is, only three days after his death God will glorify Jesus in his resurrection.

The life of the priest will be similar. A priest must be willing to glorify God by his sufferings. Jesus said these words after Judas left the room, which reminds us that the priest may have to suffer at the hands of other priests. The Church is perfect, but people in the Church are human. However, if we glorify God by doing his will no matter what, then God glorifies the priest, God rewards his labors, and he does it at once, that is, not only in heaven, but also with a certain foretaste of heaven that the good priest is called to enjoy.

Yes, the life of the priest is not rainbows and unicorns, because rainbows do not last and unicorns do not exist. The life of a priest is meant to be truly glorious, because it is a vocation to love to the extreme of suffering, and a vocation to be rewarded to the extreme of heaven. May God give us good priests. Amen.