Praying for priests

In a few days we will begin the dawn Masses or simbang gabi; our priests can use more prayers from the faithful during this season when their days become more hectic than usual.

Indeed, as we have heard some of our priests lament, between dawn and night Masses, there is hardly any time left for deep reflection in order to prepare edifying homilies to feed the Lord’s sheep.  So, in gratitude to God and in fulfillment of a Christian’s duty we share their burden by praying and offering sacrifices for them.

Since the earliest days of Christianity, the people of God have always been praying for priests.  Acts 12:2-5 says, “He put Peter in prison, assigning four squads of four soldiers each to guard him in turn… All the time Peter was under guard the Church of God prayed for him unremittingly.”  In Thessalonians 5:25, Paul concludes his inspired letter thus, “Pray for us, my brothers.”  The first pope (Peter) needed prayers then; the present pope (Francis) needs prayers now.  The Apostle to the Gentiles (Paul) asked for prayers; so do priests and religious now, whether in the metropolis or in mission lands.

The priests with us in the most densely populated regions where distractions and temptations abound, need our prayers—intensified prayers.  This call to prayer might seem to some a mere spurt of piety, but truth to tell, it’s arising from my remembrance of certain homilies at some of the simbang gabi Masses I have heard over the years.  Sad to say, ill prepared (albeit well-intentioned) homilies—would make these Holy Masses sound more like entertainment than worship.

With all due respect, I say that it is not poor time management that results in mediocre homilies or robs the priest of the vital moments for silent prayer.  These are but symptoms; the real malady may be a fading sense of the Eucharist’s importance in the priest’s ministry.

Once, I happened to be sharing a meal with a priest and a handful of laypersons.  Shortly before the scheduled Mass, one of us said, “Father, we’d better get going; Mass starts in 10 minutes.”  The priest, grinning while emptying the wine bottle into some guests’ half-finished glasses, said, “Relax.  You’re not going to be late.  Mass will not start without me.”  Silence followed; we laypersons exchanged meaningful glances. 

“Mass will not start without me”—uttered with impunity, as if the Mass were all about the priest.  I heard this line again from two other priests on separate occasions (one during simbang gabi season), that I began to wonder if this was a standard joke among priests.  If it’s a joke, it’s certainly far more damaging than any off colored one. 

St. Teresa of Avila, the first woman Doctor of the Church, made praying for priests a principal duty of her Carmelite family.  In Chapter 3 of her book The Way of Perfection, she writes with empathy:  “These (preachers and theologians) have to live among men and associate with men and stay in palaces and sometimes even behave as people in palaces do in outward matters. Do you think, my daughters, that it is an easy matter to have to do business with the world, to live in the world, to engage in the affairs of the world, and, as I have said, to live as worldly men do, and yet inwardly to be strangers to the world, and enemies of the world—to be, in short, not men but angels?”  Then she adds, “This is not the time for seeing imperfections in those who must teach”, and urges her nuns to occupy themselves begging God’s help for the Church’s pastors.  Following St. Teresa we close our eyes to our pastors’ flaws and focus instead on “the beautiful hands of a priest”, actually the title of the following poem by an unknown author.

We need them in life’s early morning,
We need them again at its close;
We feel their warm clasp of true friendship,
We seek them when tasting life’s woes.

At the altar each day we behold them,
And the hands of a king on his throne
Are not equal to them in their greatness;
Their dignity stands all alone;

And when we are tempted and wander,
To pathways of shame and of sin,
It’s the hand of a priest that will absolve us,
Not once, but again and again.

And when we are taking life’s partner,
Other hands may prepare us a feast,
But the hand that will bless and unite us
Is the beautiful hand of a priest.

God bless them and keep them all holy,
For the Host which their fingers caress;
When can a poor sinner do better
Than to ask Him to guide thee and bless?

When the hour of death comes upon us,
May our courage and strength be increased,
By seeing raised over us in blessing
The beautiful hands of a priest.