I was only a boy sitting in church when I started to think about the meaning of having a single or undivided heart (1 Corinthians 7:32-34). It puzzled me because my own love or at least my childish affections seemed so fractured or divided. My loves were alternately profound (from my love of God and my family) to profane (in loving sweets and low-brow television). As I got older I fell in “love” with every pretty girl I saw; although my shyness, prudishness and poverty as a young man often short-circuited any romantic inclinations. In any case, I seemed most satisfied with an internal dialogue and friendship with God that extended back into my personal history as far as I could remember. I am told that sickly children often turn to God, particularly when poor health excludes them from play with their peers. I knew that God loved me. But how much did I love God and his Church? The Church was good to us and yet the charity bothered me. Some return was required. If I did not have money, I would give something else. What to give? Reflecting upon this question and the notion of an undivided heart, I decided one day that I would offer God my very self. It was not a sure thing that God and his Church would want what I had to offer, and yet, I would offer it all the same.
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There is always reciprocity in the sacraments and this is no less true in the priesthood. Christ loves us and as the great High Priest extends and shares his priesthood with men called to service. God gives the call and men in turn accept this call. The Church gives validation to a person’s calling and through formation assists in its acquisition. Jesus ministers to his people through his priests. The vocation of priesthood or holy orders comes within the context of living out our baptismal call as a priestly people. A child is baptized and then anointed as priest, prophet and king. The Holy Spirit anoints or consecrates the Church (the Mystical Body of Christ) as a prophetic, royal and priestly nation. The sacraments are for men and women, and they are offered as such, but always in the name of Jesus Christ.
Dissenters, arguing for priestesses (women priests), will contend that their exclusion is a violation of justice and that qualified women deserve and must demand ordination. Besides such inclusion being deemed impossible by the late Pope John Paul II, neither men nor women “deserve” to be ordained. It is not an item on a social justice or equality agenda that anyone can merit. It is a divine gift. The Church discerns as genuine or false the vocations to which people feel called. The priesthood is given to a few but in terms of service, the whole Church benefits. Jesus chose men to be his apostles and in turn they ordained bishops, priests and deacons to follow them. The Church follows the pattern of Christ and never felt directed or free to ordain women. However, while no women are called to priestly service, very few men are given this gift from God. The priest is sacramentally “another Christ” and he is an icon of Christ the bridegroom to his bride the Church at Mass. Our most precious sacraments and gifts of salvation come from the mediation of priests. A number of our Anglican or Episcopalian brothers and sisters are coming to Catholicism because they are sick of seeing vocations demeaned to purely human terms. A radical feminism led to women Episcopal priests and bishops. Now a radical homosexual movement forces gay and lesbian clergy into their ranks. Error builds upon error. The reality of the sacraments is forfeited. Human whim and fancy replaces Scripture and a living tradition. I am reminded of the reprimand that our Lord gave poor Peter, and immediately after his great profession of Christ’s identity no less. Unable to understand Jesus’ reference to his coming passion, our Lord says to him, “Get out of my sight, you Satan, you are not judging by God’s standards but by man’s” (Matthew 16:23).
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The vocation of priesthood is not like other occupations. Many people have jobs to put food on the table and a roof over their heads, but their employment does not define them. The priestly ministry, on the other hand, quantifies the man called to holy orders. It is for this reason that I always thought the current practice of having pastors retire was rather peculiar. One does not quit from priestly work. Even the infirmed clergyman in a hospital bed prays for the Church and may offer private Mass for the salvation of souls. Retired priests often still live in rectories and work in parishes. The priest literally works until he drops. The Church assures us that the mark or character distinguishing a man as a priest is also taken into the life to come. He is a priest, forever.
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