Proud of Priests

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!