20190121 SUPPORTING
AND LOVING OUR PRIESTS
Readings at Mass
Liturgical Colour: Red.
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First reading
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Although he was Son, he learned to obey
through suffering
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Every high priest has been taken out of
mankind and is appointed to act for men in their relations with God, to offer
gifts and sacrifices for sins; and so he can sympathise with those who are
ignorant or uncertain because he too lives in the limitations of weakness. That
is why he has to make sin offerings for himself as well as for the people. No
one takes this honour on himself, but each one is called by God, as Aaron was.
Nor did Christ give himself the glory of becoming high priest, but he had it
from the one who said to him: You are my son, today I have become your
father, and in another text: You are a priest of the order of
Melchizedek, and for ever. During his life on earth, he offered up
prayer and entreaty, aloud and in silent tears, to the one who had the power to
save him out of death, and he submitted so humbly that his prayer was heard.
Although he was Son, he learnt to obey through suffering; but having been made
perfect, he became for all who obey him the source of eternal salvation and was
acclaimed by God with the title of high priest of the order of Melchizedek.
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Responsorial Psalm
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You are a priest for
ever, a priest like Melchizedek of old.
The Lord’s revelation to my Master:
‘Sit on my right:
your foes I will put beneath
your feet.’
You are a priest for
ever, a priest like Melchizedek of old.
The Lord will wield from Zion
your sceptre of power:
rule in the midst of all your
foes.
You are a priest for
ever, a priest like Melchizedek of old.
A prince from the day of your birth
on the holy mountains;
from the womb before the dawn
I begot you.
You are a priest for
ever, a priest like Melchizedek of old.
The Lord has sworn an oath he will not
change.
‘You are a priest for ever,
a priest like Melchizedek of
old.’
You are a priest for
ever, a priest like Melchizedek of old.
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Gospel Acclamation
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cf.1Th2:13
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Alleluia, alleluia!
Accept God’s message for what it really
is:
God’s message, and not some human thinking.
Alleluia!
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Or:
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Heb4:12
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Alleluia, alleluia!
The word of God is something alive and
active:
it can judge secret emotions and thoughts.
Alleluia!
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Gospel
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'Why do your disciples not fast?'
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One day when John’s disciples and the
Pharisees were fasting, some people came to Jesus and said to
him, ‘Why is it that John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast,
but your disciples do not?’ Jesus replied, ‘Surely the bridegroom’s attendants
would never think of fasting while the
bridegroom is still with them? As
long as they have the bridegroom with them, they could not think of fasting.
But the time will come for the bridegroom
to be taken away from them,
and then, on that day,
they will fast. No one sews a piece of unshrunken cloth
on an old cloak; if he does, the patch pulls away from it, the new from the
old, and the tear gets worse. And nobody puts new wine into old wineskins; if he does, the wine
will burst the skins, and the wine is lost and the skins too. No! New wine, fresh skins!’
21 JANUARY,
2019, Monday, 2nd Week, Ordinary Time
SUPPORTING
AND LOVING OUR PRIESTS
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [ HEB 5:1-10; PS 110:1-4; MARK 2:18-22 ]
Very often, as bishop, I receive complaints and disappointments
with our priests. Unhappiness and
dissatisfaction with our priests, their lifestyle, leadership and character are
not peculiar to Singapore but everywhere in the world. This is a
contradiction and a cause of sadness not just to the bishop and the priests,
but everyone in the Church. A priest is called to be a bridge between God
and man. So, when he becomes an obstacle instead, he has failed in his
role as a priest. But how does that come about? This is because
people have high expectations of a priest. He is supposed to be the
representative of Christ and also the image of God our Heavenly Father.
People, therefore, expect a priest to be a man of God, exuding the love,
mercy and compassion of our heavenly Father, besides being a good leader, an
eloquent preacher, a scholarly teacher and a warm and understanding spiritual
father.
However, quite often people fail to realize that a priest is not a
god. He is a human being taken from among the people of God. He is weak and prone to temptations and sins like the rest of humanity.
Indeed, a priest is tempted to the capital sins of pride, envy, anger, sloth,
gluttony, lust and greed. This is what the letter of Hebrews reminds
us. “Every high priest has been taken out of mankind and is appointed to
act for men in their relations with God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for
sins; and so he can sympathise with those who are ignorant or uncertain because
he too lives in the limitations of weakness. That is why he has to make sin
offerings for himself as well as for the people.” He is a sinner
himself and imperfect like the rest of the People of God. He too must
offer sacrifices for his own purification from his sins. But because he is a
fellow sinner, that should make him more compassionate, forgiving and understanding
because he knows how difficult it is to struggle against temptations and sins.
Nevertheless, the Lord in His mercy has chosen a priest, taken
from among the people of God, to mediate His presence. The call to the priesthood is not something that we take upon
ourselves, but it is a divine election. “No one takes this honour on
himself, but each one is called by God, as Aaron was. Nor did Christ give
himself the glory of becoming high priest, but he had it from the one who said
to him: You are my son, today I have become your father, and in another text:
You are a priest of the order of Melchizedek, and for ever.” Unlike entry
into jobs and positions in the world which is determined by qualifications and
capability, entry into the priesthood is dependent on whether the Lord has
called that person to the priesthood. Those called are not necessarily
the best in the eyes of the world. They might not be the most eloquent,
the most holy, the most talented. But they are ordinary people like the
early apostles, chosen from among the People of God for the service of the
Church.
Of course, this does not mean that a person who is called to be a
priest is not expected to live up to the high demands of the priesthood. On the contrary, more than the laity, a priest is expected
to be another Christ to others and to act in His name, especially in the
celebration of the sacraments because by virtue of his ordination, he is
configured to Christ. A priest, aware of his weaknesses and imperfection,
strives to grow in holiness, in acquiring the skills of preaching and
shepherding the people of God. Grace perfects nature. And so a
priest cannot simply depend on grace without cooperating with the Lord.
This was what Jesus Himself did. “Although he was Son, he learnt to obey
through suffering; but having been made perfect, he became for all who obey him
the source of eternal salvation and was acclaimed by God with the title of high
priest of the order of Melchizedek.” Jesus too had to grow in perfection
through obedience to His Father’s will.
Consequently, instead of complaining about the imperfections and
mistakes of our priests, the people of God must support them in their growth in
holiness and passion for their ministry. What
they must not do is to be the devil’s advocate or his accomplice in tempting
our priests to sin. The
letter to the Hebrews states clearly, “For we do not have a high priest who is
unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who in every respect
has been tested as we are, yet without sin.” (Heb 4:15) Even Jesus was tempted right
at the outset of His ministry and throughout His ministry. The devil did
not leave the Lord alone but tried to put obstacles in His way. So too
when the priest tries to be a good priest, he is often tempted by the Evil
One. But woe is the one who tempts the priest to sin and then condemns
the priest for sinning. It is like what the world is doing,
tempting others to sin, to sexual offences and stealing, and when they sin and
commit offences, it condemns them, punishes them and sends them to prison.
Like Jesus, the devil tempts the priest to earthly pleasures and
material possessions. He was tempted
to use His power to change stone into bread. Whilst we should take good
care of our priest in his material needs and offer him some comforts in life,
we should be careful that we do not tempt our priest to hanker for money,
material things, indulge in worldly pleasures so that he becomes a slave to the
pleasures and material things of life. Priests, like Jesus, too are tempted to
glory and honour. Jesus was asked to bow down in worship
of Satan for the glory of the world. Again, while we must show respect to
our priests, we should not put them on the pedestal as if they are
mini-gods. Otherwise, used to being served and glorified, they become
egotistic and enslave themselves to popularity and honour and
acknowledgement. Finally,
like Jesus, a priest is tempted to use his power to affirm his position and
status. This
was what the devil asked the Lord Jesus to do: jump down from the pinnacle of
the Temple. Often, priests can be carried away by the spiritual and
temporal powers vested on them. They are so used to having things their
way, commanding obedience from all but giving obedience to none, that they
become so full of themselves, arrogant, dictatorial, abusing their authority to
serve themselves. (cf Mt 4:1-11)
Indeed, the danger for us when we fall into sin and get used to
sin is that our hearts become hardened. This is what the Lord warns us
all. “No one sews a piece of unshrunken cloth on an old cloak; if he
does, the patch pulls away from it, the new from the old, and the tear gets
worse. And nobody puts new wine into old wineskins; if he does, the wine will
burst the skins, and the wine is lost and the skins too. No! New wine, fresh
skins!” Indeed, our sins are like wineskins stretched over the
years and lost its elasticity. Old wineskins cannot receive the newness
of the Holy Spirit. Many of us in our spiritual life, due to neglect and
complacency and most of all indifference to our sins, have become hardened to
the voice of God. We no longer hear God’s challenge to purify our life,
like the scribes and the Pharisees.
Priests and religious are so used to handling the “sacred things”
of God that after some time we get used to them and become irreverent, treating
them as mundane things. This explains why some priests lack reverence for the
sacred, including the Eucharist, because their hearts are hardened.
They are no longer sensitive to the presence of God. The priesthood
becomes simply a function that they perform. This is true for those who
are married as well, and those who hold positions in their offices and in the
community. We become indifferent to the roles we play. We merely
perform for people to see, like the Pharisees who fasted to impress others, but
it does not come from our inner convictions.
Hence, whether we are priests or lay, we must ensure that our
hearts are docile to the Lord. We read from the first reading that “during his life on
earth, he offered up prayer and entreaty, aloud and in silent tears, to the one
who had the power to save him out of death, and he submitted so humbly that his
prayer was heard.” We need to be intense in our prayer life and intimacy
with God who alone can give us the grace to overcome the temptations and the
power of the Evil one by being obedient to the Word of God and to His holy
will. Unless we are willing to submit ourselves to God even at the
expense of suffering, we will not grow in perfection and holiness, and become
an example of inspiration to others.
Indeed, our great joy at the end of the day is to be in the
company of our bridegroom, and like John the Baptist, to lead others into His
company.
John the Baptist said, “He who has the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of
the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s
voice. For this reason my joy has been fulfilled. He must increase,
but I must decrease.” (Jn 3:29f) Every priest’s joy is to bring
someone to Jesus, and having done that, he steps back and allows the
relationship to grow. No good priest wants to be an obstacle to someone’s
relationship with the Lord.
Until then, we must strengthen our resolve to be with the
bridegroom, to love Him more so that we will do everything in union with Him
and for Him. We
need to practise fasting and mortifications to strengthen our will to do the
will of God as Jesus did. Through fasting, we come to
appreciate the simple things of life and have the strength to be detached from
worldly things and from being a slave to the world. Most of all, it
enables us to be hungry for God and for intimacy with Him. This is what
the Lord says, “Surely the bridegroom’s attendants would never think of fasting
while the bridegroom is still with them? As long as they have the bridegroom
with them, they could not think of fasting. But the time will come for the
bridegroom to be taken away from them, and then, on that day, they will fast.”
Written by The Most Rev
William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved
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