I was struck by that quote, and was interested in just what was meant by it – just why had the Archdiocese decided to put that quote on their vocations t-shirt.
Thankfully, the t-shirt came with another gift, a DVD that the US Conference of Bishops has produced about priestly vocations. And this very well done production helped explain what this quote – that the world needs heroes – really means and how it connects to the priesthood.
Among other things, the video shows a priest serving as a military chaplain, saying Mass and anointing soldiers on the front lines. It shows priests visiting the imprisoned and the sick, and educating youth. It shows priests living with and serving the poor and destitute in Africa and India. It shows a priest demonstrating for freedom and human rights in Asia. Finally, it shows the coffin of Fr. Mychal Judge being carried by the New York City firemen that he died serving on September 11th, 2001.
Seeing those scenes I came to understand what this quote on the t-shirt was all about. It reminded me of my ordination when the bishop gave me the paten and chalice with the bread and wine and said: “Accept from the holy people of God the gifts to be offered to Him. Know what you are doing and imitate what you celebrate: model your life on the mystery of the Lord’s cross.”
The point of that instruction, the point made by that video and this t-shirt, is that the priesthood is a calling to be a hero! The scenes I described, and countless others that you can undoubtedly call to mind, are meant to show that wherever there is human need, wherever there is physical poverty or poverty of spirit, the priesthood is meaningful, because the priesthood is the face of Christ, who came to serve and not to be served.
Priests are meant to be “other Christs” – they are meant, like Christ the Good Shepherd, to lay down their lives with and for those they serve, that they might have life and have it to the full.
Now I don’t imagine even for a minute that I am myself the kind of hero shown in that video. But I do know that I want to give my life to that kind of vocation. I know that I discerned the Lord’s call to priesthood because I want to live, not for myself, but in self-sacrifice, for my brothers and sisters, and that mine is indeed a vocation to heroic self-sacrifice.
What’s more I think that most people want to live that kind of life. Young people especially, with their enthusiasm and idealism, don’t want to settle for mediocrity; they want to live lives that are extraordinary and remarkable – lives that shape and change the world for the better.
Unfortunately, as a society we don’t often give enough support to this heroism of vocation. We tend to give the most glory to a more self-centered and egotistical definition of success. Perhaps even more than at other times in our history, we hold up actors, musicians, and athletes as heroes and see fame, fortune, and self-fulfillment as the highest achievement.
This has had detrimental effects on married life, causing us to lose sight of the fact that, like any true vocation, marriage requires Christ-like self-sacrifice, mutually given and received in love. And we have certainly ceased speaking of priesthood and religious life in such terms of heroism and sacrifice.
Parents and grandparents, relatives and teachers, are less and less likely to invite young men and women to discern priesthood and religious life as an heroic and honorable vocation – as a worthy way of spending one’s life for God and others. Maybe that’s because we priests and religious have compromised too much, and need to live more courageously, more sacrificially. Maybe it’s because we priests and religious need to better show the joy, peace and fulfillment that ultimately comes from such a vocation to sacrifice.
However that may or may not be true, it is certainly clear that the world needs, that Christ needs, men and women to heroically lay down their lives in sacrifice and service. The Church and the world need the lives of priests and religious, because in them it can see the life of our Lord: close to poor and lonely, teaching and healing, inviting all to faith and new life.
As you know, I spent Holy Week this year serving in a priestless parish in Nome, Alaska. The Diocese of Fairbanks is a mission diocese and there are simply not enough priests to fully cover the vast territory of the diocese, even during the Sacred Triduum. That we here had two priests and were able to spare me for service in Alaska was thought to be an amazing luxury!
I was so moved by the deep hunger the faithful there had for the Sacraments of the Church. People were so glad to have daily Mass and to have someone to hear their Confessions. Even the three Little Sisters of Jesus who live in Nome were so grateful to have a priest amongst them, to bring them the Sacraments, and to compliment their ministry of presence and prayer.
My trip to Nome was a reminder to me as a priest of what a privilege it is to make even small sacrifices to serve God’s holy people. But I hope that in telling you about my experience, that you are reminded to never take for granted that the Church here is blessed with priests and religious . . . and to remember that it is your responsibility to make sure that is always the case.
That’s why we celebrate on Good Shepherd Sunday, the World Day of Prayer for Vocations to Priesthood and Religious Life. We fulfill the Lord’s command to ask for more workers for the vineyard. We pray that the Good Shepherd may send us more shepherds after His own heart – priests and religious who are “ardent but gentle servants of the Gospel.” And we take up the responsibility to ourselves encourage and invite more young people to consider devoting their lives as priests and religious.
The world does indeed need such heroes.
No comments:
Post a Comment