Elements of the Priests’ Life and Holiness

Rev. Mark O’Keefe, OSB

Previously, I spoke about the universal-call to holiness and the shape of an

authentic Christian holiness. I suggested that real holiness isn’t about overtly pious
behaviors, or even about enjoying glorious consolations in prayer. Holiness is about
entering into God’s life, giving one’s life over to God, becoming like God, loving as God
loves. And, of course, “becoming like God” and “loving as God loves” means
self-giving, self-offering, seless service of others modeled after the example of Jesus.
Christian holiness, then, is always linked with the Cross, the pouring out our lives in
love and in service of others. The height of the Christian life, holiness, is the
perfection of charity, the perfection of self-giving.

Real holiness is never abstract, “pie-in-the-sky,” or angelic. In fact, holiness is

never realized separate from “the stuff” of our ordinary daily lives. Holiness can only
be found in life as we nd it - at this moment, in the circumstances in which we nd
ourselves, according to the “cards we’ve been dealt in life.” We are- always being
called to be patient, generous, attentive, caring, compassionate, forgiving at this
moment, with these people whom I see in front of me. Will I give of myself here and
now? Will I think of others rather than only of myself at this moment? Holiness is
always a matter of the now, and of how we respond to the demands of the present
encounter.

Because the path to holiness is always linked to the real circumstances of one’s life,
we can speak of different forms or ways of seeking holiness. Of course, the basic
pattern of the Cross marks every authentic form of Christian holiness. But we can
speak of distinctive forms that Christian spirituality can take according to one’s age,
gender, situation, and state in life. This is necessarily so since the shape of the
challenge to give of oneself generously - the distinctive experience of the Cross - is
different for a married Christian with children and a celibate Christian living alone in a
rectory.

The distinctive form of priestly holiness is to be found precisely in the priest’s

ministry and not separate from it. Ministry gives shape (and is meant to give shape) to
the priest’s path of holiness because, by ordination, ministry is an essential part of his
identity. Ministry - pastoral activities - are not a distraction from a priest’s spiritual
life. Rather, ministry is at the heart of the priest’s spirituality. A married person nds
holiness precisely in the challenge of self-giving in and for the marriage and family. A
professed religious nds holiness in the challenge of self-giving in living the charism of
his or her religious community. A priest nds holiness in the challenges of self-giving
precisely in his ministry as a shepherd after the model of Jesus the Shepherd. The
priest’s prayer, his loving, his self-giving are shaped around the ministry he undertakes
as he represents Christ in his pastoral leadership of the people of God. Certainly, like
every other Christian, the priest must be attentive, caring, generous to his friends, his
family, and the people he encounters on the street: but it is his ministry that gives
distinctive shape to his seeking after holiness as a priest.
Almost as an aside - though really illustrative of my point - I want to reiterate the
fact that the priest, like every other Christian, must nd his holiness in his life as he
nds it. And specically, as a priest, he must nd it in the “whole package” of his
ministry. I assume that we would tell married people that their holiness is to be found
in the ordinary situations of family life: taking care of sick kids without complaint, going
to work every day to insure adequate income to support the family, doing the laundry,
taking time for each other. I assume that we would tell married people that their
holiness is found precisely in the midst of those ordinary marital and family activities.

But I nd that many priests seem to expect to nd their holiness in only part of their
lives: in personal prayer, in celebrating the sacraments, and in certain forms of
personal one-to-one ministry. For many priests, administration meetings, nances are
simply a distraction - maybe even a hindrance - to their spirituality. I am not
suggesting that administration is an essential part of priestly ministry but, if it is part of
his life, he must incorporate it into his path of holiness. Certainly for many priests, the
administrative aspects of their lives represent a great form of self-giving. However, it
may be that the struggle to be generous, patient, and attentive, even in this work, is
part-and-parcel of his self-giving. Perhaps it is well that the priest shares in the
common experience of his sisters and brothers whose vocations and work are rarely
free of very mundane routines and tasks. (One might even be able to make a case
that the later New Testament writings assume that the ministry of the bishop-presbyter
includes the prudent management of the household of God [see 1 Tim. 3:3-4]).

Of course, prayer (openness to God, communion with God) is essential to any

authentic form of Christian holiness. This is certainly true of priestly holiness, since his
ministry must be nurtured and nourished by prayer. Real, sustained self-giving service
in ministry is only possible if the priest’s ministry is being fed by prayer. The priest can
only effectively and consistently make Christ the Shepherd present to his ministry if he
himself knows Christ, has drawn close to him, communes with him.

Priestly holiness, then, is formed in this mutually enriching interaction of prayer and
ministry. Ministry is to be nourished constantly by prayer, and prayer must be given a
particular shape by the priest’s identity as a pastor and shepherd of his people, after
the model of Jesus. A priest could never hide from pastoral activity by claiming that
his prayer must always take priority (like the newly ordained priest who told his pastor
that he could only preside at one of several Masses on a Sunday because he needed
adequate time for personal prayer before and after Mass). Nor, as is probably more
likely in our day, can a priest claim that he “doesn’t have time for prayer” because of
the demands of his ministry.

The combination of a prayerful ministry and a ministerial prayer form in the priest a
special disposition that the Council and especially Pope John Paul II call “pastoral
charity.” The priest’s life and ministry must be given shape by - and aim toward - an
even greater and deeper realization of pastoral charity. That is to say, the priest’s life,
ministry, and daily activities must be shaped by a pastoral love, the charity of a pastor,
the love of a shepherd for his ock. If the height of the spiritual life as a Christian is in
the perfection of charity, then the height of the priest’s spiritual life as a priest is in the
perfection of pastoral charity - in an ever greater, ever deeper, ever more seless
shepherd’s love (PDV 21-23).

The priest is called, gifted, challenged to make present Christ the Shepherd and
therefore he is called, gifted and challenged to model - to make present - the love
that Christ the Shepherd has for his ock. And, as we know, the love of Jesus for his
ock meant a lot more than that he had warm feelings for the people he encountered,
or that he was nice to people, or that he merely treated them fairly, or that he smiled at
them. The love of Jesus the Shepherd for his ock shaped his life as one who came
to serve and not to be served. The love of our Divine Shepherd led him ultimately to
lay down his life for his sheep.

The pastoral charity of the priest, then, lived out in his daily ministry is essentially his
genuine self-giving in ministry. The priest must be willing to give his gifts, his time, his
energy, his very life to the service of God and of God’s people (mo6t especially those
entrusted to his pastoral care). One theologian has spoken of the priest’s “asceticism
of seless availability” (Schwartz, 39; cf. PO 14). In Pastores Dabo Vobis, the Pope
teaches:

“The internal principle, the force which animates and guides the spiritual life of the
priest inasmuch as he is congured to Christ the Head and Shepherd, is pastoral
charity, as a participation in Jesus Christ’s own pastoral charity.. .The essential content
of this pastoral charity is the gift of self, the total gift of self to the Church, following the
example of Christ. Pastoral charity is the virtue by which we imitate Christ in his
self-giving and service. It is not just what we do, but our gift of self, which manifests
Christ’s love for his ock. Pastoral charity determines our way of thinking and acting,
our way of relating to people. (PDV 23 [emphasis in the original text])”

At the Chrism Mass, during Holy Week, the bishop asks his priests to renew their
commitment to priestly service. He asks them:

“ At your ordination, you accepted the responsibilities of the priesthood - out of love
for the Lord Jesus and his Church. Are you resolved to unite yourselves more closely
to Christ and to try to become more like him by joyfully sacricing your own pleasure
and ambition to bring his peace and love to your brothers and sisters?”

And then:

“Are you resolved to imitate Jesus Christ, the Head and Shepherd of the Church, by
teaching the Christian faith without thinking of your own prot, solely for the well-being
of the people you were sent to serve?”

Clearly, the priesthood can never be a “job” - nine to ve, ve days a week. From
the moment of his ordination as a priest, ministry is part of who he is. A pastoral love
is his duty - 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year (even when he is
not actively involved in ministerial tasks).

Immediately, of course, I must repeat-that nothing that I say is meant to deny the
necessity of taking time for oneself, of taking care of oneself, taking a day off, getting a
good night’s sleep, etc. A priest’s gift of self in ministry isn’t nearly as effective if he is
unhealthy, tired, worn out, or burnt out. In fact, his self-giving in. ministry requires that
he take care of himself so that his pastoral love can be real and vibrant and even joyful.

At the same time, I think we ought to feel a certain tension - live in a certain tension
- between taking care of ourselves (which is not only legitimate but essential) and, at
the very same time, of giving ourselves ever more generously (as pastoral charity
requires of us). Clearly, many priests are workaholics - they seem to give and give
and give until they become unhealthy. These workaholic priests are to be encouraged
to slow down, to take care of themselves, and to remember that they don’t have to
save the world because Someone already did, when he died and rose 2,000 years ago.

But, on the other hand, there are other priests who seem to have made “taking care
of myself the eleventh commandment. There’s a kind of narcissism, a
self-indulgence, that seems to place the greatest weight on what “I need,” what fullls
me, what I need to make me happy. These priests need to be reminded that to
represent Christ the Shepherd is to be called to serve and not to be served, to lay
down one’s life for the sheep.

Sadly, some good priests leave the priesthood because they don’t take care of
themselves - they “burn out” and nd themselves empty, even bitter and angry.
Often, it seems, these priests neglected their prayer, and allowed themselves to
believe that everything rested on them and their efforts - rather than on the Lord.

Sadly too — and I think I see this more frequently in young priests - some priests
leave because they never took to heart the fact that priesthood is a life of self-giving.
The man called to priesthood will only nd fulllment, integrity, happiness, and peace
in giving himself generously in ministry - in pastoral charity. At times, this self-giving
will be met with gratitude and praise and support from the people and his peers in
ministry. But often it won’t. Too many priests seem to leave because they’re not
“happy,” or not feeling “fullled,” or not feeling appreciated by the bishop, the pastor, or
the people.

Now, happiness is a wonderful thing: being fullled is an authentic goal. And maybe
we should get (and give!) more support and afrmation to one another. Yet real, deep,
and lasting happiness for the priest must come from living the pastoral love in ministry
to which he is called by God. Fidelity to one’s ministry as a priest is the source of a
deep peace and joy and sense of fulllment that can - and sometimes must - co-exist
with a period of feeling unhappy when there’s conict in the parish, or on the pastoral
team, or in the rectory.
Jesus had many friends; he enjoyed life; he went to banquets and wedding feasts.
But his real happiness was found in doing the Father’s will. His fulllment was found
in being faithful to his identity as a Shepherd who came to serve and not to be served,
and even to lay down his life for his sheep. If we would be his priests - to share in his
ministry as Head and Pastor and Shepherd - then, we cannot hope for a merely
supercial happiness (although there is obviously great happiness in ministry). We
must work for the deep and authentic happiness that comes in giving our lives as
Jesus did.

The priest’s holiness then — precisely as a priest - is found in a prayerful ministry

and in a ministerial prayer that gives shape to a pastoral love, to a pastoral self-giving,
in serving others in our priestly ministry. This ongoing journey is nourished by the love
and support of the people of God, by the challenge and comfort of his brother priests
(especially, for example, in support groups), and by the direction and afrmation of his
bishop.

The spirituality - the holiness of the priest - is shaped by who and what he is. He is
the representative of Christ the Head of the Church, the Pastor and the Shepherd. He
attains his holiness (always as a work of God’s grace) through living and acting as a
shepherd and a pastor - that is, in his ministry shaped by pastoral charity - by a
pastoral love for his people.

Reprinted with permission