Prayer and Spirituality

PROCLAIMING THE GOOD NEWS

priest praying in churchJesus was anointed with the Spirit to bring good news to the poor. He spent much of his ministry teaching and preaching: ‘He went round the whole of Galilee teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the Good News of the kingdom and curing all kinds of diseases and sickness among the people’ (Matthew 4.23). His teaching made a deep impression on them, because he taught with authority (Matthew 7. 28-29). He proclaimed this Good News by reading aloud the Scriptures and showing people how God’s Word was being fulfilled in their own time and lives (cf Luke 4. 16-22).

This proclamation of the kingdom was the heart of his mission. It was a ministry carried out not only in words (teaching and preaching) but also in his actions (e.g. forgiving, healing and feeding people) and by his presence among people as a caring shepherd, touching their lives in many ways. Above all, it was by his death and resurrection that he unleashed the power of the Gospel into the world.

‘He who hears you hears me’ (John 13. 20)

Jesus continues to teach and preach today, with the same power and authority. He proclaims the Good News to the world through the whole community of the Church, the ‘living Gospel’ for all to hear. He speaks through each of us to those around us.

In a special way he continues to teach the Church itself through his ordained ministers. The priest is first and foremost a servant of God’s Word, anointed to proclaim the Gospel by his words, his deeds and his life. Teaching and preaching are at the heart of the priestly ministry. Jesus himself is present by his Word in the words of his priests so that those who hear the priest hear Jesus himself - so long, of course, as it is Jesus himself that the priest is proclaiming.

The Good News of Jesus Christ

The Good News is not firstly truths about Jesus, but Jesus himself: ‘It is not ourselves that we are preaching, but Christ Jesus as the Lord …’ (2 Corinthians 4. 5). The priest is to speak not his own wisdom or ideas but God’s Word, the Word made flesh. Everything the priest does in his ministry is about ‘handing on’ or bearing to others the very presence of Jesus himself. We tend to speak of his threefold ministry as teacher (proclaiming God’s Word), priest (celebrating the Sacraments) and shepherd (bringing people together in Jesus), but they are simply different aspects of one single service, being the living sign and instrument of Jesus still present among us.

Only Jesus himself can speak his word with authority, but he chooses to do so through his priests. Ordination gives to the priest the servant authority to speak in Jesus’ name.

It is above all in the sacraments that he does this! The sacraments are at the heart of the priest’s proclaiming of the Gospel. There Jesus himself, the Good News in person, is powerfully present in a way that touches the hearts and lives of his disciples.

This is supremely true of the Mass. The Eucharist is the proclamation of the Good News: ‘Until the Lord comes, therefore, every time you eat this bread and drink this cup, you are proclaiming his death’ (1 Corinthians 11.26). The words of consecration at mass are a solemn reading of the words of the Gospel, words which are always effective because they are the words of Jesus himself. Jesus speaks his own word through his priest. The Eucharist is the heart of a priest’s ministry precisely because his first duty is to proclaim God’s Word.

Preaching and teaching

Although the priest proclaims the Gospel by what he does and how he lives as well as by what he says, his fragile human words are indeed the instrument of God’s own Word. Like Jesus in the synagogue, he reads aloud the Scriptures with authority and draws out their meaning for today in his homily. He opens for God’s people the treasures of the Scriptures and proclaims the wonderful deeds of God.

The homily is a vital part of the liturgy, especially on Sunday, and much reflection and prayer has to go into it. He is not simply teaching doctrine or theology (some lay people would be better at that then he!), but handing on the Good News as the authorised representative of Jesus himself. Jesus, the one Teacher, teaches through the words of his servant who speaks in his name. Through the priest in the homily, Jesus reaches out to touch the minds and hearts of those who listen so that they may respond with ever deeper faith. St Paul’s words are true of the priest when he preaches with authority: ‘We are ambassadors of Christ; it is as though God were appealing through us…’ (2 Corinthians 5.20). The priest is not a teacher only in the homily. Teaching lies at the heart of his ministry, from formal catechesis to his more informal answers to the many questions he is asked.

The Challenge of the Gospel

Like the apostles, he tells others of is own faith in Jesus, proclaiming to them the Lord he himself meets, knows and loves. He announces the Gospel with authority, so that Jesus can continue to make a deep impression on people through his words. Jesus’ authority was challenged as he taught (Matthew 21.23), and the same will be true for the priest, especially if he really proclaims the Gospel in its fullness.

This can be a real challenge! Like the false prophets in the Old Testament, it is much easier to tell people only what they want to hear, words which will confirm them in the way they live. If the priest is to be a true prophet, speaking God’s Word rather than the words of the world, and calling people to conversion and holiness, he will be often a voice crying in the wilderness and people will want to be rid of him, as they did Jesus (Luke 4.28-30). A priest is unlikely to have to repeat Jesus’ cleansing of the Temple (John 2.13-25), but his words will demand the overturning of people’s lives if it is the Gospel he preaches. This ministry demands a strength and courage which can only come from the spirit of God.

Preaching the Gospel in its full integrity is not always easy. The Gospel challenges people’s complacency; frequently it upsets their consciences; it unnerves them by demanding that they change their way of life. In consequence they may try to discredit the Gospel’s teaching by attacking the teacher … (Cardinal Bernardin) 32

A preaching that awakens, a preaching that enlightens - as when a light turned on awakes and of course annoys a sleeper - that is the preaching of Christ, calling: Wake up! Be converted! That is the Church’s authentic teaching. Naturally, such preaching must meet conflict, must spoil what is miscalled prestige, must disturb, must be persecuted. It cannot get along with the powers of darkness and sin. (Archbishop Oscar Romero) 33

In a society such as ours, the words of the Gospel demand a radical transformation of the way we think, act and live. One example is the question of peace and justice. The priest’s ministry includes a full presentation of the Church’s social teaching, taking seriously the Gospel as a message of freedom, of liberation from everything that oppresses God’s people. The priest will be called at times to speak out against evil in society, and to summon his people to work together for the dignity and human rights of others, even if this brings the cross (cf The Code of Canon Law canon 287.1).

The voice of the Lord

This does not mean of course that preaching the gospel will do nothing but upset those who hear it! It is ‘Good News’ after all! It is the news of God’s boundless love for all, a message which brings true dignity and freedom, a comfort and peace that the world cannot give (John 14.27), the joy of the Lord himself within us (John 15.11). It is news of the living presence of the Risen One who says now as he did before, ‘Come to me, all you who labour and are overburdened, and I will give you rest’ (Matthew 11.28). Jesus often stretched out his hand to touch the lives of others, especially those who were seen as untouchable (lepers, tax collectors and prostitutes). As he proclaims the Good News, the voice and touch of the priest are the voice and touch of the Lord himself, speaking his words of peace and saying, ‘Do not be afraid. I am with you’.

True to the apostles

Archbishop Romero’s motto as bishop was Sentir con la Iglesia, - ‘To be of one mind and heart with the Church’. The priest preaches not his own views and ideas but the Good News of Jesus Christ, as proclaimed by the apostles and handed on faithfully by the Church through the ages.

The Gospel has to be proclaimed in a way that touches the lives of people today and for the 21 st century. It must reach them in their own circumstances. The priest has to be someone who can relate to people as they are, bringing the light of the Gospel to bear on their real lives and problems. He uses modern forms of communication to proclaim God’s love, including the local press, radio and television, as well as more personal kinds of contact with people. Preaching does have to be truly and deeply contemporary.

But it must always be the same Good News, the living word of Jesus Christ who is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. The priest must be someone who is of one mind and heart with the Church through the ages, one in love and faith with the Council fathers and the great saints of the past. His teaching will be rooted in the Church’s Tradition, and he will believe and preach what the Church believes and preaches. The priest is a guardian of the faith of the apostles. As a shepherd he serves the unity of his flock with the whole Catholic Church, through the ages back to the apostles and across the world.

Keep as your pattern the sound teaching you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. You have been trusted to look after something precious; guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us.

(2 Timothy 1. 14)

He ensures that the faith which holds them together is truly catholic and apostolic. This does not mean handing on something dead, a fossil or museum piece! The Church of past generations shares its living faith in the risen Jesus with the Church of today. In this way the pries serves to build up a true Gospel community, one which bears the good News to the world around not only by its words but also by its deeds of love and its way of life.

A Gospel person? An ideal and a challenge!

Anyone offering himself to be an authoritative herald of the Gospel must be someone who already tries to live the Good News and to share it with others. He should be excited by God’s Word, with a zeal to proclaim it to all. He will be someone who loves the Scriptures, and who reads and reflects on them. He will need the kind of mind which can study quite deeply the scriptures and the Church’s teaching; only then will he be able to preach and teach in a simple and faithful way. As time goes by, and he grows in confidence and skill, he will show he has gifts from God for preaching and teaching in ways suitable for ministry today. And he will be someone settled and at ease in his truly Catholic faith, open-minded and adventurous but also one in mind and heart with his Church.

PAUSE FOR THOUGHT

33 Quoted in The Violence of Love p.38

It is as if a community were beheaded when it has no priest to celebrate Mass and to divinise all that is human.

(Archbishop Oscar Romero, at the funeral Mass of one of his

murdered priests)

Archbishop Oscar Romero, from El Salvador in Central America, has become something of an inspiration for many Christians today, a symbol of what the Church should be and of what the pastoral ministry can be for the Church.

He was murdered while saying Mass on March 24 th 1980. Why? Because he loved the poor and oppressed, and would not be intimated into silence.

When he was appointed Archbishop of San Salvador in 1977, the news was not exactly greeted with wild enthusiasm. He was seen as a safe, compromise choice.

He was rather shy, diffident man, and yet even before he became Archbishop he had a reputation for frank and fearless preaching.

A week after his institution as Archbishop, Romero’s close friend Father Rutilio Grande was murdered. He worked as a priest among the poor. His jeep was machine-gunned, and he died along with an old man and a boy. His death had a powerful impact on Romero, and he gradually became a fearless defender of human rights in El Salvador, as one ‘anointed to bring good news to the poor’. He saw himself as ‘God’s microphone’, but this service as a prophet was shared with the people and priests of his diocese, working closely together.

Romero received frequent death threats, and more priests were murdered. But at this time when it was so dangerous to be a priest, there were far more priestly vocations in his diocese than usual. The priesthood was clearly seen as a real challenge it always is when lived in the name of Jesus.

Archbishop Romero taught nothing new. He was in the mainstream of Catholic teaching on justice, especially that of Pope Paul VI, and he built on the good work of his predecessor, Archbishop Chavez. What made the difference was his sense of urgency, fired by the Holy Spirit, much like the great prophets of the Old Testament who spoke out for justice regardless of the threats against them.

Oscar Romero highlights the prophetic side of the priestly ministry, being God’s voice to the people in their life as it really is. But his whole ministry was rooted in the Eucharist and the other sacraments. He was a true shepherd at the service of the Good Shepherd, not a hired man but one who laid down his life for his sheep.

CELEBRATING THE SACRAMENTS

At the very heart of the Catholic faith is the idea that God touches our lives through human signs and gestures, in a way suited to us as human beings. We use signs and symbols all the time to express our inner self to others, making the invisible (for example, our love for another) present through something visible (perhaps a gift, a letter or a touch). This is our natural human way of reaching out to others, flowing from the way God made us. God freely chooses to give himself to us in this truly human way: the invisible through the visible.

Sacraments are the deepest and richest signs of all. In them, the risen Jesus is personally present to us through his Church. They do not limit him in what he does, but they are central, visible ways in which he acts. The sacraments are the personal touch of Jesus at key moments of our lives. They are powerful instruments of the Good News, Jesus himself.

A week of sacraments

In a parish, the sacraments will provide the key moments in the weekly ministry of any priest. He celebrates Mass every day in the Church, as well as the occasional Mass in a school or hospital, or in people’s houses. Every Sunday is centred on several celebrations of the Eucharist, the high point of the life of the Catholic community. Often on a Sunday there are also infants to be baptised. During the week he is called upon to anoint the sick in hospital or at home. Usually on a Saturday he is available at set times for the sacrament of reconciliation, but he is always ready to celebrate this great sacrament whenever asked. On Saturdays too there are often weddings, celebrating the weaving together in love of a happy couple. Many of these sacraments require a lot of preparation, for the priest himself and the catechists who work with him, and for those who are to receive them.

The touch of Jesus

We can see from this why celebrating the sacraments is so central to the priestly ministry. The priest proclaims the presence of Jesus in the sacraments. He is a source of personal contact for people with the Lord himself. And it is above all in the sacraments that the priest himself is a living sacrament of the Good Shepherd. It is Jesus himself who is the minister of the sacraments. When the priest baptises, anoints, consecrates and absolves, it is the Lord himself who is at work through the words and actions of his friend and servant.

Jesus himself continues the same ministry today as we see in the Gospels:

The Eucharist - heart of the priestly ministry

Sharing a meal with his friends was central to Jesus’ life, as it was for any Jew. He and his apostles often broke bread together and shared each other’s company. The Passover Meal on the night before he died was the last of many suppers with his friends, although richer in meaning than they could have imagined.

‘Then he took some bread, and when he had given thanks, broke it and gave it to them, saying ‘This is my body which will be given for you; do this as a memorial of me’. He did the same with the cup after supper, and said, ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood which will be poured out for you’.

(Luke 22. 19-20)

Jesus himself continues this great gesture today when we gather together for the Eucharist. He draws us deep into his sacrifice and gives us his own body and blood, the gift of himself. Through the words of the priest, Jesus speaks the same words today as he did at the Last Supper.

There is no greater or more humbling ministry for a priest. In the Eucharist he is the living icon or image of Jesus as our great High Priest offering himself to the Father, as our Head uniting his body to himself in his sacrifice, and as our Good Shepherd nourishing his flock with the sacrificial gift of himself. The Eucharist is the heart of the life and ministry of the priest and of the community he serves. Everything else he does flows from it and leads back to it, and it is there above all that we see the priest’s role most clearly.

No one can ever be worthy of the priesthood. After all, you stand at the altar, today and in countless days to come, and you say, acting in the very person of Christ, ‘This is my body’ - not ‘his’ or ‘yours’ but ‘my’. Then a remarkable change takes place in the bread and in the wine. Think again of how you sit in the confessional and say ‘I absolve you from your sins’ - ‘I’, with all he authority of God himself.

(Cardinal Basil Hume) 34

35 The Christian Priest Today pp. 14 & 15

PAUSE FOR THOUGHT

With God for his people

Jesus’ role as High Priest includes the internal intercession he makes for us to the Father. During his earthly ministry, Jesus was always a man of prayer, and all his works were done in prayer. Jesus continues this intercession today as our Priest. As his special representative, the ordained priest must be first and foremost a man of prayer, and visibly, publicly so.

Now it was about this time that he went into the hills to pray; and he spent the whole night in prayer to God. When day came he summoned his disciples and picked out twelve of them; he called them ‘apostles’.

Luke (6. 12-13)

His prayer is not simply a private concern, but a priestly duty for the flock. In his daily commitment to praying the Divine Office, the Prayer of the Church, he prays to God in the name of the whole Church, even when he prays it alone. Ideally it is a true community prayer, a communal celebration. The priest must pray whether he feels like it or not!

Jesus taught his disciples to pray (Luke 11. 1-4), and continues this work today. Helping people to pray is central part of the priest’s ministry of teaching and of leadership in holiness. He will encourage the growth of various prayer groups, support people in their personal devotions, and lead different kinds of services.

His living relationship with God is the heart of the priest’s ministry. He does not pray just to keep himself going or to re-charge his ‘spiritual batteries’. All his prayer - on his own or with others - is ministry to those entrusted to his care.

Now we can begin to see what is our role as men of prayer, as priestly intercessors. We are called, near to Jesus and with Jesus and in Jesus, to be with God with the people on our heart …

‘Being with God with the people on your heart’ is the meaning of the Divine Office, of the Eucharist and of every part of your prayer and your service of people.

(Michael Ramsey) 35

34 Light in the Lord p. 93