Man of God

Praying for our priests and for ourselves

09/29/2019

1 Timothy 6:11-16 But you, man of God, pursue righteousness, devotion, faith, love, patience, and gentleness. Compete well for the faith. Lay hold of eternal life, to which you were called when you made the noble confession in the presence of many witnesses. I charge you before God, who gives life to all things, and before Christ Jesus, who gave testimony under Pontius Pilate for the noble confession, to keep the commandment without stain or reproach until the appearance of our Lord Jesus Christ that the blessed and only ruler will make manifest at the proper time, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, and whom no human being has seen or can see. To him be honor and eternal power. Amen.

On their way to get married, a young Catholic couple is involved in a fatal car accident. The couple find themselves sitting outside the Pearly Gates waiting on St. Peter to process them into Paradise. While waiting, they begin to wonder: Could we possibly get married in heaven? When St. Peter shows up, they asked him. St. Peter said: “I don’t know. This is the first time anyone has asked. Let me go and find out,” and he leaves. The couple sat and waited and waited. Two months passed and they were still waiting. While waiting, they began to wonder what would happen if things didn’t work out; could you get a divorce? After yet another month, St. Peter finally returned, looking somewhat bedraggled. “Yes” he informs the couple, “You can get married in heaven.” The couple replies: “Great! But we were just wondering, what if things don’t work out? Could we get a divorce in heaven?” St. Peter, red-faced in anger, slammed down his clipboard on the ground. The frightened couple asked: “What’s wrong?” St. Peter shouted: “Oh, come on! It took me three months to find a priest up here! Do you know how long it will take me to find a lawyer?” My apologies to any attorneys present at Mass today.

But if that joke suggests that priests are scarce in heaven, do you know where priests are apparently plentiful? According to the medieval poet Dante Alighieri, in his famous book The Divine Comedy, he puts not only priests but even popes in hell, and believe me, there’s nothing comic about that. These poor prelates include Pope Nicholas III, Pope Boniface VIII, and Pope Clement I, who all inhabit the second-to-last deepest circles of hell for sins of simony, selling spiritual goods. Dante’s poem is a grim reminder of Jesus’ words in Luke 12:48, “Much will be required of the person entrusted with much.” Personally, I never want to forget that admonition, so on my ordination card, I wrote this ancient quotation: “Great is this mystery, and great the dignity of priests, to whom that is given which is not granted to angels.” The older I get – and the more my daily sins pile up – the more convinced I am that quotation is not a cause for pride, but rather motive for the deepest humility. In the priesthood, perhaps like nowhere else, God’s mercy meets man’s mediocrity.

In the second reading today, St. Paul seems to have this priestly paradox in mind – where sin meets grace – when he writes his first letter to Timothy. He exhorts his priestly protégé, saying: “But you, man of God, pursue righteousness, devotion, faith, love, patience, and gentleness. Compete well for the faith.” In other words, don’t you dare take for granted the great gift of the holy priesthood, which is not given even to the angels.

You may recall St. Timothy was one of Paul’s closest companions on his missionary journeys and he loved him like a son. In 1 Timothy 1:2, he writes: “To Timothy, my true son in the faith.” In the year 64, St. Paul left Timothy in Ephesus to govern the church as its bishop. Paul wanted Timothy to have Jesus’ words in Luke 12:48 burned into his memory. Or as the Jonas Brothers sing in their popular song, “Sucker,” Paul wanted Jesus to be the “tattoo inside his brain, the medicine and the pain,” which is a perfect description of how Paul and Timothy and all of us priests feel about Jesus: “I’m a sucker for you, Lord.” Bet you’ve never thought about that song in that light.

The U.S. Serra Club that promotes vocations to the priesthood annually sponsors Priesthood Sunday, which falls on this Sunday, September 29th. Some people even call it a “Second Fathers’ Day” besides the one in June. I really like that designation of being called “Father,” because we all have natural fathers whom we honor and love, but we know they are not perfect men. The same holds true for our spiritual fathers, our priests, who need our prayers, because they, too, are not perfect men.

But do you know who you really need to pray for besides priests? Please pray for the church staff that have to work with the priests on a daily basis. Why? Well, you get to see the priest at Mass, when we can slap a smile on our face and be charming and cheerful. “Oh, Fr. John is so wonderful,” you think. But the staff sees us when we are grumpy and grouchy on a bad hair-day, when we are picky and petty worried about the collection, when we are selfish and slothful and want to stay in bed instead of say Mass, when we are unkind and unkempt because we don’t have a wife to clean us up to out in public. In short, you see the “man of God,” but they see the man of mediocrity. You think all priests will go straight to heaven; they know all priests will be lucky to make it to purgatory.

On Priesthood Sunday, and really every day, pray for your priests because they need it. But in a sense, you need these prayers for priests even more. Why? Well, without priests, who will baptize your baby, and who will hear your confession, and who will marry your son or daughter, and who will feed you with the Bread of Life, and who will anoint you before you leave this world to meet your Maker? In other words, the People of God need these mere mortals because they have been granted that which is not given to the angels. In their hands is your salvation.

St. Augustine, the holy and humble bishop of Hippo, tried to balance these two sides of the sacred priesthood, saying: “Where I am terrified by what I am for you, I am given comfort by what I am with you. For you I am a bishop, with you…I am a Christian.” Please pray for us priests, these men of God, these men of mediocrity, these men with Jesus “tattooed inside our brains.” Pray for priests so it won’t be so hard for Peter to find one in heaven.

Praised be Jesus Christ!