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Marist Fathers New Zealand: Life and spirit

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A time to reflect on the meaning of ordained ministry

It was precisely these distortions that the Second Vatican Council intended to correct by its teaching that holiness is the calling of all the baptised; and responsibility for the mission of the church belongs to all the baptised.

But clericalism dies hard. It is still seen in the writings of those who imagine that priesthood needs to be somehow diminished in order to establish ‘equality’. A correct understanding of priesthood and indeed of sacramentality in general, does not lead to this conclusion.

The meaning of priesthood All the members of Christ’s body make present and visible what the risen Christ himself is still doing. That is sacramentality. It does not add to what Christ is doing. The same is true of the way that ordained priesthood makes present and visible Christ’s relationship to his body, the church.

The Catholic tradition is beautifully summarised by Bishop Michael Putney:

There is only one pastor of the church and he is Jesus Christ, the good shepherd. All that priests do as pastors is serve Christ’s own pastoring of the church. There is only one priest in the church, Jesus Christ, and all that Christian priests do is to be the sacramental presence of Christ’s own priesthood. There is only one teacher of the church, Jesus Christ, and all that priests do is give voice to Jesus who speaks through them as the word of life for their hearers.

As priests preside over the church’s liturgy and over the Christian community, they do so only as servants of Christ who alone is head of the church. (Bishop Michael Putney, Foreword in The Prayer of the Priest, 2005.)

These images (high priest, good shepherd, head of his body) describe Christ’s relationship to all the baptised. It is from him that the church receives its existence and its identity. We are the church only to the extent that we receive our life from Christ. The ordained ministry of word and sacrament symbolises this relationship with Christ and a priest’s authority to do this is also received—in the sacrament of Holy Orders.

Priests’ spirituality A priest’s spiritual life is first and foremost the gift and task of being a disciple as it is for all the baptised. It involves both a calling into closeness to the person of Jesus and being sent by him to be ‘for others’. The calling and the sending are two sides of the same coin for all disciples.

To find what is specific to priestly spirituality, we look to the Ordination rites especially those of the third, fifth and seventh centuries which more clearly show that the Holy Spirit is being asked to bring about deep inner renewal. It is seen as a ministry of personal holiness for the sake of bringing about the holiness of others.

Karl Rahner reminds us that, at all key points of salvation history, the call to holiness and the call to a particular vocation have converged. A priest’s spirituality is his ongoing task of bringing about this convergence between his personal life and his ministry.

In this way, the word he preaches is not merely a report about God’s love, but is God’s word made present and visible in him. People need to see how much the word means to him—even when he needs to acknowledge his own failure fully to live up to it. Because the word is not our own, we have no authority to reduce it to what we ourselves manage to practise. We too are challenged by the word we preach.

Presbyterate The Ordination rites also show that ordination means ordination into the presbyteral order. There is no independent priesthood – and no independent priestly spirituality. Supporting his fellow priests and bishop, and being supported by them, is part of being true to what a priest has become.

Ministry is mutual Every priest knows that in ministering he is being ministered to. It is the faith and hopes, struggles, sacrifices, goodness and love of the people that inspires our faith, our desire to serve, and our ability to persevere. For this, we say ‘thank you’.

+ Peter Cullinane Bishop of Palmerston North

Source: Wel-com

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October 6, 2009 Filed Under: Year for Priests Tagged With: Vocations

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