“A priest, to Paradise or to hell, never goes alone: souls always go with him in great numbers, either saved by his holy ministry and by his good example, or lost by his negligence in the performance of his own duties and by his bad examples.” (St. John Bosco)
Gaudium Press, English Edition
Newsdesk (08/01/2022 18:38, Gaudium Press)
Another year has gone down in the annals of history; a very remarkable year, on account of all the heaviness of fear, uncertainty, isolation, death, and crises in the most diverse sectors of society. At the end of one year and the beginning of the next, it is common to take stock, calculating gains and losses.
In such an atypical year, although some have gained a lot, honestly or dishonestly, taking advantage of the opportunities raised by the crisis, the vast majority have lost. Health was lost, lives were lost, jobs, purchasing power, freedom to come and go, the right to show one’s face. And, among the losses suffered, one of the ones I regret the most is that we can no longer touch the hands of priests.
In these times, with a worrying decrease in vocations, the concept that we have about the importance of priests seems to be more and more distorted. And, as we have the harmful habit of taking the whole for the part, when a priest acts badly and tarnishes the sacredness of his mission, many, especially those who don’t know what exactly the priesthood means, tend to level down all those who exercise this exalted function.
Priests are human people and, unfortunately, we are forced to admit that, in recent times, some have been more human than divine, and not at all exemplary in their behavior, betraying the sacred Sacrament of Holy Orders.
When a person sins, he offends God, but when a priest sins, especially when he sins seriously, he alters the order of the universe, such is his importance in the economy of life.
To Criticize or to Pray?
But, I am not here to “speak ill of priests”, something that should never be done. Of course, we should not close our eyes to their errors, and when these errors affect the morals and dignity of other human beings, they should not only be denounced, but exposed, rather than covered up and thrown under the ecclesiastical carpets.
However, there is an attitude far superior to simply criticizing and disseminating the errors of priests: prayer. When a priest errs, it is not the Church that errs, however, she is deeply wounded by the errors of her highest representatives, since she was constituted by Our Lord Jesus Christ as the foundation and path to holiness, the continuation of His presence on earth.
St. Therese of the Child Jesus was one of the greatest examples of intercessor that is known; she prayed and offered sacrifices for priests continuously. Padre Pio of Pietrelcina advised: “Instead of criticizing them, think about praying for them! And St. Nicholas of Flüe, a Swiss saint who was not a priest, but a father of a family, became famous for encouraging people to pray for priests and for vocations; for him, the healthy maintenance of the Church’s life depended on it.
I don’t confess to a man!
It is very common to hear people who do not frequent the Sacrament of Reconciliation give the excuse that they confess their sins directly to God, because they do not want to confess to a man. Without mincing words, we know that this is the excuse of the weak and opportunistic, who worship their own sins and, when they “confess” directly to God, they do so with such parsimony that they don’t even hear the voice of their own conscience – God’s presence in us – accusing them.
The impenitent, who use this artifice to avoid confession, know very well that they do not do it because the priest is a man, but because their own corrupted humanity tells them that that man, hearing them in confession, is the legitimate representative of God, and they are ashamed and afraid to hear from God, through the mouth of the priest, the naked truth that will expose to them the gravity of their sins and the need to change their lives. They do not repent, they do not want to change and even less to stop sinning, because they delight in their evil deeds, but to appease their own conscience, they prefer not to go to confession, accusing priests of being sinners, instead of seeing in them the sacrosanct figure of Jesus, ready to forgive them and help them change their lives.
Who is the priest?
The Catechism of the Catholic Church, in its article 1548, states: “In the ecclesial service of the ordained minister, it is Christ himself who is present to his Church as Head of his Body, Shepherd of his flock, High Priest of the redemptive sacrifice, Teacher of the Truth. The Church expresses this by saying that the priest, in virtue of the Sacrament of Orders, acts ‘in persona Christi Capitis’ (in the person of Christ the Head).”
In paragraph 1551 we further find, “The Sacrament of Orders communicates ‘a sacred power,’ which is Christ’s own power. The exercise of this authority must therefore be measured by the model of Christ who, out of love, made himself the last and servant of all.”
And in paragraph 1120: “The mission of salvation entrusted by the Father to His incarnate Son is entrusted to the apostles and, through them, to their successors: they receive the Spirit of Jesus to act in His name and in His person. Thus, the ordained minister is the sacramental link that connects the liturgical action to what the apostles said and did and, through them, to what Christ said and did, the source and foundation of the sacraments.”
The Catechism’s explanations of who the priest is are crystal clear. We can also quote a precise description from Holy Scripture: “The priest is the man of God.” (2 Tim 3:17). However, there are nothing better than good examples to provide a clear picture in this regard…
Why did St. Francis not want to become a priest?
St. Francis of Assisi did not want to become a priest because he thought himself unworthy of such a high vocation. He had such admiration, veneration and love for priests that he would even kiss the ground trodden by one of them. He never met a priest without touching their hands, and he always did this on his knees, touching their feet as well. His respect was immense, and when he touched the hands of a priest, he said that he was touching the hands of the Son of God.
St. John Bosco used to speak about the importance of respecting all priests, whom he referred to as sacred ministers of God, to have reverence when speaking with them and to respectfully kiss their hands. No doubt, this was a priest aware of the greatness of his own ministry, a priest who respected himself and never stained the hands of Jesus that he carried united to his working arms.
Between the Angel and the Priest
St. Cassian said that the dignity of the priest is heavenly, St. Dionysius considered it divine, St. Ephrem, infinite, and St. Ignatius, martyr, completed by saying that this dignity “is venerated by the Angels themselves, to the point that when the priest celebrates the Divine Sacrifice, the Angels stand near him and assist him.”
St. Catherine of Siena, St. Theresa and St. Veronica Giuliani, among others, as well as St. Francis, kissed the ground where a priest had passed. And St. John Mary Vianney, the Holy Curé D’Ars, patron saint of priests, said, “If I met a priest and an Angel, I would greet the priest first, then the Angel!”, explaining that without the priest, the Passion and Death of Jesus would be worthless, for it is the priest who holds the keys to the heavenly treasures and is the dispenser of the divine mysteries (cf. 1 Cor 4:1).
This vision was confirmed by the Venerable Catherine Vannini who, in ecstasy, saw during Masses, the Angels holding the hands of the priest at the moment of the elevation of the Host and Chalice.
Priest: full-time minister
You may say that I am narrow-minded, but there are certain changes of habit that do not sit well with me. Until a few decades ago, it was common for priests to wear the cassock on a daily basis. This way, you always knew when you were in front of a priest.
Today, few priests wear the habit or the cassock, some still wear the clerics, but the vast majority wear ordinary clothes, and worse, clothes that are not appropriate even for a layman, let alone a priest! I am not going to go deeper into this, but it is difficult, for example, to find a man wearing shorts and a tank top and know that he is in front of a consecrated priest! They are even sporting tattoos.
I have heard, to the great consternation, even from priests, that once the Mass is over, the priest becomes an ordinary man again. This is not true. The priest is not an ordinary man! He is a separate being, chosen by God for a very high mission. “No one assumes this honour on his own, but only he who is called by God.” (Heb 5:4).
St. Paul makes it clear that when God makes the call to the priesthood, He separates that man from all others, he is “set apart for the Gospel” (Rom 1:1) and marks him forever, making him “a priest forever” (Heb 5:6).
Therefore, there may be priests who have strayed from their path, but, there are no former priests, because the Order is an indissoluble ministry and, unlike marriage, which dissolves at death, not even after death will a priest cease to be a priest. He is consecrated in his body and in his soul, and must remain chaste and immaculate.
St. Gregory of Nyssa says, “He who yesterday was mixed with the people, becomes master of the people, becomes superior to the people, doctor of holy things and chief in the sacred mysteries.”
God will not love them any less for this
God forces no one, and when a man is called to the priestly vocation, he can choose to accept it or not. A young man does not become a priest overnight. It takes at least eight years of study, a long period of preparation and discernment. At the end of this period, some give up, because they do not feel able to fulfill the demands of this sacred office, and God will not love them any less for this, because they will be able to follow the paths of the Gospel in another state of life.
However, by becoming a priest, by professing the vows of chastity, poverty and obedience and receiving the Sacrament of Holy Orders, that individual has to know that he is dying to the world. He will continue to be a man, with the weaknesses pertinent to human nature, but his choice must always prevail.
All the more reason why we should pray a lot for priests and for their very high mission, whose sublimity carries great responsibilities. Holiness is built step by step, so the priest is not without sin and temptations. It is up to him to live as Jesus lived.
St. Bernard said that “the priest, by nature, is like all other men; by dignity he is superior to every other man on this earth; and by his conduct he must be an emulation of the Angels.” To the hands of priests is entrusted not only the ministration of the sacraments, but the very salvation of souls, and as St. John Bosco stated, by his conduct, by his example, he will drag many to Heaven…or to Hell.
When we look at the hands of a priest
From this, we can conclude that, if a priest is to rest, to eat well and even to have moments of relaxation and leisure, each one of these things must be done in a holy way. It is not for the man of God to go to worldly dances and parties, it is not for the man of God to meddle with people of bad life, except for the purpose of evangelizing them, without participating in their consort with darkness.
It is not for the man of God to betray his vows, to stain his purity, to deceive those to whom he owes obedience, and to enrich himself with the wool and fat of the sheep (cf. Ezek 34). And, above all, it is not for him, by sacrificing his own innocence, to cause the loss of innocence of those who trust in him.
So, when we look at the hands of a priest, let us always remember that those hands touch the very body of Our Lord, as he relives the mystery of the divine sacrifice, in the Eucharist. Even more, those hands, are the very hands of Jesus Christ, hands forged by the Holy Spirit, hands blessed by Mary Most Holy, and hands made to bless the children of God.
And, even if, for sanitary reasons, we are still prevented from touching those sacred hands, at least, let us venerate them in the silence of our hearts, asking God that they don’t become contaminated, that they don’t curse, and, above all, that they never again become simply the hands of a vile sinner.
By Afonso Pessoa
Compiled by Roberta MacEwan
