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Peace and good!
It's Holy Thursday today, the day of establishing the Eucharist and the sacrament of ordination. Some people call it the 'priest day'.
So we want to talk about the priesthood. I feel that a priest is often expected bo live a very sociable life.
To organise various social events, come out to people, to be very outgoing.
The emphasis is on the social aspect of his life, some kind of activism, a practical dimension of his priesthood for society.
Not only on a divine and spiritual dimension but also its practical usage in society.
In general I guess we can say that... We can...;) So let's say it...
In our work we use two kinds of means - rich and poor.
The rich one which is something visible (and a poor one;)), something you can boast about and what you can be praised for.
And it's really addictive because a man sees its effects straight away. He organised a church fete, festivities, fed the poor, made a charity event which was shown in the tv news.
He's become known. But it turns out that many priests, monks or nuns are much more effective in their activities using the poor means.
Such as humble prayer, concern for another person, penance and nobody really records it, showing how nuns of Perpetual adoration spend the whole night adoring the Holy Sacrament.
Because it can't be made into a show. And still it's a really effective evangelizing activity.
On one of my lessons, a 19-year-old girl shared a very interesting thought with us.
She said there's a priest in their parish who is a real social activist but his actions seem to be done to satisfy people. This is how she sees it.
Of course it's not about judging the priest or it's not really about this girl, but she noticed that he does everything just to flatter people's ego.
And she misses an older parish priest who had very clear views on the question of what is and what isn't a sin.
He might have been stricter and not as good as gold but she said that if she was to choose who to confess her sins to, she would go to the older priest.
Rather than the young priest who seems to be good for everybody. A priest will never be for everybody as even Christ is not for everybody.
I mean the love He gives is for everybody, but it's not about pandering to everyone's taste.
People also walked away from Him. He even asked the Twelve: 'Do you want to go away as well?'
So He was saying some uncomfortable things, calling to conversion, improvement of life and didn't only flatter people.
And I think this is the main task of priests - to lead people to conversion, to the meeting with God.
We use different ways to reach people and to show them love and it's also through charity.
But it's not the essence of a priestly vocation.
Of course, priests work with young people in the parish or with altar boys, organise 'holidays with God' or retreat and these things are very important.
But these are not be the only things that define a priest. A priest is also the one who listens to confessions, celebrates the Eucharist, prays from the breviary, takes the Holy Sacrament to the ill.
These are the most important elements of a priest's ministry. But he also finds time to meet other people and talk to them, should anybody knock on his door at night.
Just like Nicodemus talked to Jesus at night, also a priest is the one who should always find time for people, within reasonable limits.
He should be the man who leads people to God, to the meeting with God.
We wish all the priests who are watching us, the sanctity of a priestly life and being Jesus Christ experts. We also wish this to ourselves:).
We're asking you to pray for us and for all the priests you meet, so that they can really be the hands of Jesus Christ.
Peace and good!