The months of June and July are truly happy days to remember for the majority of us priests. These are the months in which we celebrate the anniversaries of our presbyteral ordinations.

Each added year in our priestly life is a joyful thanksgiving to God as well as a serious examination of conscience. Many know that being a priest is both challenging and demanding. The amount of work required in parishes and other fields of apostolate, accompanied by discouragement and, now and again, loneliness are facts that cannot be ignored or denied. However, the secret to turn these obstacles into fruitful opportunities for priestly growth and holiness are to bring these frustrations and worries to the Eucharistic Christ in deep relational prayer.

I have always been captivated by the interesting words Pope Francis said in a homily he delivered at the Ordination to the Priesthood Mass celebrated in Saint Peter’s Basilica on 21 April 2013.

“Let what you teach be nourishment for the people of God. Let the holiness of your lives be a delightful fragrance to Christ’s faithful, so that by word and example you may build up the house which is God’s Church. Likewise you will exercise in Christ the office of sanctifying. For by your ministry the spiritual sacrifice of the faithful will be made perfect, being united to the sacrifice of Christ, which will be offered through your hands in an unbloody way on the altar, in union with the faithful, in the celebration of the sacraments. Understand, therefore, what you do and imitate what you celebrate. As celebrants of the mystery of the Lord’s death and resurrection, strive to put to death whatever in your members is sinful and to walk in newness of life.”

But how can we priests collaborate with Jesus Christ to build up the house which is God’s church? How can we be united to Christ’s sacrifice not merely sacramentally but ontologically? How can we let the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God’s holiness, form us into the image of Christ, the Good Shepherd?

Six golden principles can help us recover our priesthood. The first one deals with the permanence of the priesthood. We all need to remind ourselves that we priests, thanks to the sacerdotal ordination, have entered into a permanent relationship with Jesus Christ and his living Body the Church. The ontological character we all received in our presbyteral ordination guides our way of understanding ourselves as chaste spouses of the Church and spiritual fathers to God’s flock.

The second principle says that the priest acts in persona Christi. This means that the sacraments he celebrates are for him and those who receive them efficacious, in other words, ex opere operato. The sacerdotal character is rendered active the more the priest struggles to grow humanly and, especially, spiritually. The next principle lays down the fact that the priest belongs and represents the Church in persona Ecclesiae. That is why we priests pray the Liturgy of the Hours, as we promise at our ordination, for the needs of the entire Church. As men of the Church we must endorse and faithfully pass on the Church’s teachings as humble stewards. Our sacerdotal character challenges us to be a sign and symbol that point to Jesus Christ.

The fourth principle speaks of priestly presence. Every act we priest do is priestly and has enormous value. Christ really wishes to act through us continually. This occurs, in a special way, when we preach, shepherd, and heal God’s people as their spiritual fathers. The following principle directs us as priests to bypass the trap of functionalism or activism. Unfortunately, we can get so busy that we get to the point of forgetting who we are or for whom we are working. We should be supernaturally receptive, opening ourselves to prayer to God, silent meditation and an ever deeper relationship with Jesus.

The last principle and sixth principle is our ongoing formation. Sacerdos semper reformandum. An ongoing formation attitude not only lies at the basis of our priestly character but motivates us to live our priestly life joyfully, bearing abundant good fruit.

Lord, we priests humbly ask you on our knees to help us continually live what we celebrate on the altar. Amen.

 

Fr Mario Attard OFM Cap

Paola