No Reason To Leave

Understanding and appreciating a priest’s superpower

08/05/2024

Mt 14:13-21 When Jesus heard of the death of John the Baptist, he withdrew in a boat to a deserted place by himself. The crowds heard of this and followed him on foot from their towns. When he disembarked and saw the vast crowd, his heart was moved with pity for them, and he cured their sick. When it was evening, the disciples approached him and said, "This is a deserted place and it is already late; dismiss the crowds so that they can go to the villages and buy food for themselves." He said to them, "There is no need for them go away; give them some food yourselves." But they said to him, "Five loaves and two fish are all we have here." Then he said, "Bring them here to me," and he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, he said the blessing, broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples, who in turn gave them to the crowds. They all ate and were satisfied, and they picked up the fragments left over– twelve wicker baskets full. Those who ate were about five thousand men, not counting women and children.

This year Msgr. Jack Harris celebrates his 50th anniversary of priestly ordination. In an interview with the Arkansas Catholic newspaper he was asked how he decided to become a priest. He answered with his signature smile: “Well, I still haven’t made up my mind. There wasn’t any point at which it happened. I took a look at it, decided I’d come in and look around and never found a reason to leave.” And I’m pretty sure if he hasn’t found a reason to leave in 50 years, he probably will not find one.

Recently I received a random text message trying to give me a reason to leave the priesthood and pursue another career. It said, "Hi, I’m Joy from Robert’s Recruiting. Your background and resume have caught the attention of several online recruiters, so I want to offer you a job you can do from home and pays $1,500 weekly plus commission, making it easy to make over $10,000 a month.” Please don’t tell the bishop I have posted my resume online hoping to land a better paying job!

But if someone were to ask me why I wanted to become a priest I would reply because priests have a special superpower that Roberts Recruiting could never offer me, namely, transubstantiation. Do you know what transubstantiation means? It is the priestly power to transform mere matter – bread and wine – into the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus Christ.

And a priest exercises that power at the Mass when he extends his hands over the bread and wine (called the epiclesis) and then says the words of consecration. That is why we ring the bells at that moment and the priest genuflects on one knee. He kneels before his Lord and Savior, who one second earlier was in heaven, but now stands on earth on this altar.

And that is why parishioners at Mass are kneeling at that moment too. Roberts Recruiting could offer me a job making a million dollars a week, and like Msgr. Harrison said, it would still be “no reason to leave.” In other words, for me the real question is not “why would anyone want to be a priest?” But rather, “why would anyone NOT want to be a priest?”

If we look closely at the gospel today we see Jesus is teaching his apostles about this priestly superpower of transubstantiation. He multiplies the five loaves and two fish, but St. Matthew uses precisely the same four verbs that described Jesus’ actions at the Last Supper when he transubstantiated the bread and wine into his Body and Blood for the first time.

That four-word sequence – he took, he blessed, he broke, he gave – are charged with eucharistic significance. Whenever you hear them, you should immediately think of the priestly power of transubstantiation. When Jesus responds to their query about giving the people something to eat, he answers, “give them some food yourselves.”

And then he shows his first priests how to practice the power of transubstantiation by taking, blessing, breaking and giving. This is how Jesus’ priests would feed the people that day and every day that followed. In other words, Jesus was teaching them their special priestly superpower, and once they learned it, they too would find, as Msgr. Harris said, no reason to leave.

Except, of course, Judas, who left because he never appreciated that superpower. At the end of John chapter 6, the magnificent chapter on the Bread of Life Discourse, and John’s version of the multiplication of the loaves, we read, “Jesus answered them, ‘Did I not choose you twelve? Yet is not one of you a devil?’ He was referring to Judas, son of Simon Iscariot; it was he who would betray him” (Jn 6:70-71). Put in modern terms, Judas would have jumped on the job offer from Roberts Recruiting.

Yesterday was August 4, the feast day of St. John Vianney, the patron saint of parish priests like me and Fr. Samy. Since it fell on a Sunday this year, we did not celebrate it liturgically. But I do want to draw your attention to it in passing, and ask for his intercession and for your prayers for us poor diocesan priests. Why?

Well, because Robert Recruiting is not the only one trying to entice us to leave the priesthood. There are many such recruiters in this world. But once a priest understands his unique superpower called transubstantiation, we realize the full import of Msgr. Jack Harris’ words, “I still have not found a reason to leave.”

Praised be Jesus Christ!