Praying for and pondering on the priesthood
05/04/2021
Acts 14:19-28 In those days,
some Jews from Antioch and Iconium arrived and won over the crowds. They stoned
Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing that he was dead. But when the
disciples gathered around him, he got up and entered the city. On the following
day he left with Barnabas for Derbe. After they 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, saying, “It is necessary for us to
undergo many hardships to enter the Kingdom of God.” They appointed presbyters
for them in each Church and, with prayer and fasting, commended them to the
Lord in whom they had put their faith.
This year is very special for our
parish and for us priests because one of our own parishioners, Omar Galvan,
will be ordained a priest, and I will celebrate my Silver Jubilee. So, let’s
take a pause to ponder the great gift of the priesthood, or the presbyterate,
as it comes to us from the Greek. But before we go to the heavy stuff, here is
a little humor about Holy Orders.
A Jewish Rabbi and a Catholic
priest met at the town’s annual picnic on the 4th of July. Since they were old
friends, they began their usual banter. The priest teased the rabbi: “This
baked ham is really delicious. You really ought to try it. I know it’s against
your religion but I cannot understand why such a wonderful food should be
forbidden!” He went on: “Tell me, Rabbi, when are you going to break down and
try it?” The rabbi looked at the priest with a big grin and answered: “At your
wedding.”
I mention this little joke about
Jewish and Christian leadership because they are really Old Testament and New
Testament counterparts. That is, the New Testament does not abolish the old but
rather builds on it. Jesus said the same in Mt 5:17: “I have come not to
abolish the law and the prophets but the fulfill them.” In the first reading
from Acts, therefore, Paul and Barnabas travel through Asia Minor on their
first missionary journey and make converts to Christianity building on the
Jewish religious foundation.
But after they leave the area, do
they abandon the neophytes and just pray they will persevere? No. We read in
Acts 14:23: “They appointed presbyters for them in each Church, and, with
prayer and fasting, commended them to the Lord in whom they had put their
faith.” Thus we see from the very
beginning of the Church the institution of the presbyterate or the priesthood.
Presbyter is the Greek word from which we derive the English word priest.
Where did the priesthood (or
presbyterate) come from? Did Paul and Barnabas invent it out of thin air? Not
at all. Rather, they instituted it out of the air of the Old Testament, and the
Levitical priesthood. In the Old Testament there were three ranks of clergy:
the high priest (in the line of Aaron), the priests (Aaron’s sons), and the
Levites. Those three ranks correspond to the modern day three orders of Holy
Orders: bishops are the high priests (like Aaron), priests like me and future
Fr. Omar are like Aaron’s sons, and deacons like Greg and Charlie are like the
Levites.
Even in the Jewish synagogue, which
developed in the 400 years before Jesus, we see these three ranks of religious
leaders: the rulers of the synagogue, the board of elders, and the servants.
When the priest and rabbi in the joke, therefore, banter back and forth about
forbidden food or forbidden marriage, their clerical kinship is much closer
than they imagine. Their sacrifices serve the same God.
My friends, in a couple of weeks,
we will have a little celebration for my 25th anniversary after all the Sunday
Masses so I can greet everyone and you can give me envelopes full of money. And
Fr. Omar will celebrate his first Masses on Sunday, May 29th. We will have more
chances to pause and ponder the profound gift of the Catholic priesthood. But
let me ask you a personal question: would you be pleased if your son said he
wanted to be a priest? Would you even encourage him to consider it like you
might suggest he become a doctor, a lawyer or businessman?
Children have a deep desire – it is
perhaps their deepest yearning – to please their parents; to hear their father
or mother say, “I am proud of you.” But if that young man feels he will
disappoint his parents in choosing the priesthood, that will be one more huge
hurdle to Holy Orders. Priests are born in families that believe faith is worth
sacrifice, such as the sacrifice of ham and the sacrifice of celibacy.
Let me conclude with the prayer to
Mary with which Pope St. John Paul II concluded his apostolic exhortation on
the priesthood called “Pastores Dabo Vobis” (I will give you shepherds). The
pope-saint wrote: “O Mother of Jesus Christ, you were with him at the beginning
of his life and mission, you sought the Master among the crowds, you stood
beside him when he was lifted up from the earth consumed as the one eternal
sacrifice, and you had John, your son, near at hand; accept from the beginning
those who have been called, protect their growth, in their life ministry
accompanying your sons, O Mother of Priests. Amen.” Even if our earthly mothers
and fathers may be disappointed in us, our heavenly Mother will always be proud
of priests.
Praised be Jesus
Christ!
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