We are invited to pray that priests in crisis will find faithful and openhearted companions.
Once Catholics may not have associated priests with crises. Their image was of mature and wise men, firmly committed to their calling to follow Jesus and a rock to rely on in our own crises of faith and commitments. If they heard of priests who were accused of criminal behaviour they might have first wondered what crises in his life led him to this but then might have judged him as never him having been a proper priest.
Pope Leo’s prayer intention for April reminds us that priests are human beings whose lives change, who ask questions of themselves, may have doubts and lose certainties, and have met situations that made them ask themselves who they really are and how they really want to live. Like plants, like the rest of us, they have had to grow or wither in scorching times.
TIMES OF JUDGMENT
Crises, whether recognised or not, are part of priests’ lives, and indeed of all human beings’ lives. The word crisis is revived from the Greek word ‘judgment.’ Crises are times of judgment, of making decisions, of weighing our experiences, our hopes, our desires, our commitments and of making judgments. They go with the turf of responsible living and are a reminder that we can never take for ordinary life for granted. At times we may have life-changing experience that can questions of how and where we want to live, with whom we want to live, and what values we want to live by. These are the crises which Pope Leo has in mind.
In his prayer intention he reminds us that although these deep crises take us into the deep personal centre of our lives where no one else can go, we need caring company to help us along the way.
We need friends to support us, reassure us that our journey is worthwhile, that God loves us deeply wherever we decide to go, that hanging in during the pain of the crisis is worthwhile, and that we shall come out of it stronger. We are invited to pray that priests in crisis will find faithful and openhearted companions, and that, if we are called on in such a crisis, we may respond to the call to be a companion.
SUPPORT AND ENCOURAGEMENT
In the crises they face, priests will also need support and encouragement from the parish and other communities that they serve. This can be difficult if we see the priest, or he sees himself, as above the community and not as a member of it. Priests need support in their lives and not simply in their work. We can provide that only by making efforts to know priests, to welcome their company, and to be open to talk about serious things that matter to us as persons and not simply about church business or football. Communities can help us find support, encouragement, tolerance, and spaces in which we can relax and find strength.
In crises we all also need the support of prayer. If we care deeply in our minds and hearts for people we shall find it natural to pray for them – it goes with a deep concern and hope for them. Prayer, too, reminds us that our concern for the priest in crisis is open-ended. We might hope for a particular result – that he continues to be a Catholic priest, for example – but part of the Our Father – Jesus’ checklist for all our prayer – is ‘Your will be done’.
Fr Andrew Hamilton SJ is an editorial consultant at Jesuit Communications
