Since 2003, in the United States, the last Sunday of October for us Catholics is known as Priesthood Sunday. In his divine plan for the salvation of souls, Our Lord Jesus Christ instituted the ordained priesthood for the teaching, leading, and guiding of His people. Priests to baptize, priests to absolve, priests to celebrate the Eucharist, priests to help hardened sinners return to Christ, priests to help families live the Gospel, priests to help us “to love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind” as Jesus teaches us we must, if we wish to inherit eternal life.
St. John writes, “We are called to love God because he has loved us first.” The realization that God loves you, even with all of your imperfections, and all of your past mistakes, is a foundation stone, for the Christian life. It is also the beginning of many priestly vocations, It was certainly the beginning of mine: the young man realizing that he is a beloved Son of God, not simply in an intellectual knowledge, but an experiential knowledge.
The encounter with God’s love and mercy changes everything. When you know God's love to the depth of your being it changes everything. The saints abandon earthly riches, power, and pleasures, to embark on the journey into the heart of God. I think most priests begin their journey to the priesthood desiring to help people discover how much they are loved by God. Priests are servants of the heart of God.
An example from a day in the life of your parish priest: the other day, I brought my cassock and a few pairs of pants to the tailors; surprise, surprise, these three and a half years at St. Clare’s have required a pair of pants or two to be let out a little bit. Well, I had been to this tailor before and I was wearing my Roman Collar, so the tailor new I was a priest. After taking care of business, the tailor says to me if she could ask me a personal question. I love personal questions, so I said, “Of course.” She says that she was raised without any faith, and that she comes from a land very hostile toward religion. And she would like to know why a young man such as myself would want to be a priest. Now, I’ve told my vocation story many times before, but not often to an atheist. So, I knew my answer had to be a little nuanced.
After a moment’s reflection, I said, “I think both you and I know how much evil is in the world, yes? Well, I believe much of that evil comes from people not knowing about God’s love—from turning away from God; and I want to help people turn toward God.” She got a little teary-eyed, and she then began to explain how the Stalinists, the Atheistic Communists, caused so much destruction and suffering in her country, and of course, outlawed religion. But, now that Stalin has been replaced, and religion has been allowed again, many of the people who worked for Stalin were now Churchgoers, and they still seem to be oppressing the people. They exchanged the hammer and sickle for the cross, but they did not change their hearts, and now used the cross to control people. So the tailor sees Christians as largely hypocritical.
What do you say to that? Well, having preached on the hypocrisy of the Pharisees the last few weeks, I told her that God is not fooled by actors. God sees to the heart. And we will be judged by our true intentions and actions in this life.
She said she did not believe in an eternal judgment, but that people need to be held accountable now, in this life. And I told her that there will always be evil in the world, and though, yes, we need to work for justice, there is also eternal justice, God’s justice. And those who hunger and thirst for justice in this life shall have it in eternity.
She then asked why God allows all of the evil in the world, if he is good and just. God wants us to work for goodness and justice, that he doesn’t simply wave a magic wand and all the evil in the world disappears. He works in human hearts, and calls each of us to personal responsibility.
Finally, she asks, what proof do you have that God exists. I said, we do not have absolute proof of God, we are called to have faith, but I believe I have seen miracles, and, I have seen God’s hand working in people’s lives, like the people of St. Clare parish. “I’ve witnessed restored relationships, authentic holiness, and the freedom that comes through faith, and that is proof enough for me. And I hope you discover that, too. I hope you discover you are loved by God.”
So that’s certainly one thing I love about the priesthood. Wearing the collar, you get to have conversations like that. And I believe God works through those conversations. The priest is an outward sign that Christ is with His Church and often he’s an instrument of Christ. There is something wonderful in that if you see a priest, you can approach him for a blessing or a confession or a prayer for healing, whether you are at the airport, gas station, hospital, funeral home, or supermarket parking lot.
The priesthood is also the greatest fraternity on earth. Last night, even though I was tempted to stay at home and binge-watch a new Netflix show, I got together on a Friday night, for prayer, fellowship, and scripture study, with some brother priests.
Sometimes people think that celibacy is a lonely life, but I’ve met married people who were much lonelier than most priests I know. Marriage shouldn’t simply be a cure for loneliness, but the desire to lay down your life for your beloved. And the same is for the priesthood. Priests are not ordained to be bachelor kings, but they find their fulfillment in laying down their life for the Church.
Discerning priesthood should be a normal part of every single young man’s life. The call may come in the form of rumble in the soul, an impulse, the suggestion of a family member, or simply the desire to help people know about God. At the Church entrances, on the bulletin boards, you’ll see a poster with over 70 men studying for the priesthood. These are all men studying here in the Diocese of Cleveland. All these men, I know, love the Church, and believe that the Catholic faith is the remedy for the sickness in the world. These men deserve our prayers, and any young man who shows the smallest sign of a possible vocation deserves our complete support and encouragement.
For their call comes not from selfishness, the desire for earthly riches or fame, but from Christ, who calls them to take up a very unique cross, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.
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