St. Boniface - Bulletin, current week

Over the past four weeks, and for the two weeks following next Sunday’s celebration of the Solemnity of All Saints, we have been hearing in the epistle (second reading) from the Letter to the Hebrews. This particular letter brings out many important priestly themes and this Sunday in particular. It is for this reason that I would like to focus, for this week, on the ordained priesthood. This is particular appropriate for us to take this opportunity as we continue in this Year for Priests which our Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, inaugurated this past June 19^th, the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

In our Holy Father’s own words, “[t]he purpose of this Year for Priests, […] is therefore to encourage every priest in this striving for spiritual perfection on which, above all, the effectiveness of their ministry depends, and first and foremost to help priests and with them the entire People of God to rediscover and to reinforce their knowledge of the extraordinary, indispensable gift of Grace which the ordained minister represents for those who have received it, for the whole Church and for the world which would be lost without the Real Presence of Christ.”

He goes on to point out in his catechesis that there is a tug between two competing ideas of priesthood: the “social and functional” and the “sacramental-ontological”. The social and functional view of priesthood simply looks at what priests do. This is not an entirely bad thing. After all, the things priests “do” are those things which loom so importantly in our lives – baptisms, encouragement, counsel, instruction, weddings, and burials. These things, important as they are however, flow from “who and what” the priest is, that is, his “sacramental” identity.

The priest is an outward sign of the inner reality of Christ’s presence and action among us (sacrament). He is an active sign in the world that we are called to be one with Christ and that our true destiny in this earthly pilgrimage is true communion and complete union with God in the life of the Holy Trinity. Thus, our Holy Father points out, the priest’s cultivation of spiritual perfection in communion with God is precisely what drives his ability to be a “good” priest.

This takes prayer, not just on the part of the priest, but on the part of all God’s people. I truly do rely on your prayers and I thank you for your generous offering of them to almighty God on my behalf. I would ask that you continue to pray for all of your priests. I would ask, in particular, that you pray for those priests who are or have experienced difficulties in their ministry and especially in their identity as priest. And also, pray that good and holy young men will hear God’s call to them to share in the priesthood of His Son, Jesus Christ. He is our great high priest and it is in His priesthood that each priest shares and lives in His most holy name. Pray Well ! Fr. Klos

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