p. 44The Sacred Heart and Respect for Priests

It might seem that those who have a true reverence for the priesthood would likewise have a great respect for individual priests and, indeed, if human nature were perfectly logical, this would always be so. Every priest, however humble or insignificant he may be personally, bears with him the powers and the dignity of the priesthood which Christ has given him in the sacrament of Holy Orders. Whoever, therefore, reverences the priesthood must respect the priest in his character of the ambassador of Christ. The Sacred Heart of Jesus desires that we should recognize in all priests His personal representatives and respect them for His sake, apart from their own personal claims to reverence.

Unfortunately, however, there are some followers of Christ who are not logical enough in their practical reflections to convince themselves that all priests should be honored and respected for the sake of Christ. They sometimes allow themselves to criticize and speak ill of members of the clergy, to ridicule their human shortcomings, to cooperate with those priests whom they like, but to remain indifferent to those other priests whom they find not so congenial and whose natural characters are not so appealing.

Our attitude in our dealings with the priests of God depends on whether we act from faith and right reason or from human feeling or sentiment. Faith and reason tell us that we should disregard as far as possible the defects and shortcomings of the poor, weak, human individual on whom Christ has placed the immense burden of the priesthood and should rather consider the character he has received by ordination, that of the personal representative of our Saviour. Every priest is merely a human being and every human being has faults and shortcomings, some of which are ingrained in his nature. No one of us has ever succeeded in overcoming all his defects. Out of the whole human race, we know of only two entirely perfect characters. One of these is our Lord Himself and the other is His Blessed Mother. No wonder, then, that even priests, who are consecrated to God in so solemn a manner, still retain many human imperfections. They ought indeed to become as holy as they can, but those who deal with them should try to overlook their shortcomings and think rather of Him Whom they represent.

The great majority of priests lead a holy and edifying life, worthy of their sublime mission. It is a great argument for the truth of the Catholic Church that Christ works in her, generation after generation, this moral miracle, that so many hundreds of thousands of young men, with all the passions, the ambitions, and the dreams which belong to youth, leave all things to follow Christ and to become His ambassadors to His people. If now and then, some one of this great multitude should fall from his high resolve, it is only reasonable to have pity and compassion for his misfortune and to redouble our prayers for the great army of priests throughout the world, that they may continue to have strength and courage to carry out their more than human mission.

Indeed, the Sacred Heart of our Lord is greatly pleased when He sees us respecting His ministers for His sake, not for their own, and disregarding any temptation we may have to criticize them and carp at their human imperfections. As Saint Francis de Sales declares with charitable truth, “If God had wished us to be angels, He would have made us angels; but He has created us men and women.” He desires us to profit by each other’s imperfections, in order to practice patience, and perhaps He sometimes allows even good priests to have difficult and even unpleasant characters so that the faithful may gain all the more merit by respecting them!

During the exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, or during Benediction, as we kneel in adoration before our Lord, we are not very much concerned as to the cost of the monstrance or whether it is of solid gold or only gilded, or whether the gems upon it are imitation or real diamonds and pearls. We contemplate our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament, we love Him and adore Him. The monstrance is precious in our eyes only because it is His shrine. Though we would like to have it as glorious and beautiful as possible, as precious and genuine as gold and gems can make it, still we adore Him with as much devotion and fervor in a poor little chapel or in a church where the monstrance is simple, plain, and insignificant, as we do in a magnificent cathedral where everything is exquisite and beautiful. Indeed, we sometimes feel more devotion in the poor little country chapel or church because there our faith burns all the brighter for the poverty and simplicity of the surroundings.

In like manner, we ought steadfastly to contemplate Christ in the persons of His priests and not to bother ourselves because one priest has one sort of character, another priest another, any more than we trouble ourselves about the different sorts of monstrances which are used at Benediction, or the different kinds of chalices which are employed at Mass. It is for the sake of the Sacred Heart of Jesus that we reverence and help His priests, and this motive is as strong in the case of the poorly gifted and unattractive personality as in the case of those priests who are naturally lovable and popular, learned and kind. In fact, we gain all the more merit for recognizing the chosen friend of the Sacred Heart beneath unpromising appearances and when it is difficult for us to do so.

Our respect for the priest should also extend itself to active cooperation in his sublime work of saving souls. This is the one reason why Christ came on earth. He might have established all the sciences, perfected all governments, brought the whole world thousands of years forward in every material and intellectual regard; but He chose the divine task of saving and sanctifying the souls of men and it is this task which He has conferred upon His priests, that they may continue the work which He commenced. Hence, a priest’s whole life is dedicated to saving and sanctifying mankind in Christ’s name.

Every member of the Church is called upon to cooperate with the priest in carrying out this divine mission. The yearning of the Sacred Heart for souls ought to be a motive, for each one of us, to do all we can to cooperate with the work of the priest. He is but a man, like ourselves, in need of encouragement, in need of support, and sometimes counsel. He is not a being from another world, but like us in everything, nourished with the same food, breathing the same air, subject to the same sorrows, cares, and wearinesses as we. We know how much we need cooperation, encouragement, and kindly help. We appreciate extremely when anyone cheers us on in our work, brings us aid, even speaks a word to us of honest appreciation and friendship. All these things are deeply helpful to the priest in his work.

There are many things which the priest cannot do himself and for which he absolutely requires the aid of the laity. This is especially true in our own time, when social conditions have made the work of the priest in some ways so much more difficult. The priest alone can say Mass and can administer the sacraments. He is the spiritual head of the parish and has the responsibility of the care of souls. But, it is the Catholic people, the lay folk, on whom he has to depend for the meeting of many other needs. The real welfare of the parish societies depends on them. The support of the parish and its activities rests on their shoulders. The distribution of Catholic literature, the sociability which is to be provided for Catholic young people, sometimes the catechetical instruction of Catholic children who are not going to the parish school, the support of the school itself—all these things belong to the sphere of the lay apostolate, a phrase which means the cooperation of the laity in the divine work of spreading the faith and saving and sanctifying souls.

If we truly love the Heart of Jesus and desire to fulfill the wishes of our Saviour, we must respect and help the priest in his mission of ministering to souls. The more we love our Lord, the greater will be our zeal and self-sacrifice in this work so needed in our day and so dear to the Sacred Heart.