Priests who have lost the joy of living their ordained ministry

To the People of God and to all men of good will,

This September, we pray for priests who have lost the joy of living their ordained ministry.

From the outside, no one imagines that a priest who celebrates Holy Mass, hears confessions, visits the sick, answers a call at an odd hour, and has a calendar full of commitments could be living his ministry without joy. In the course of life, the events of everyday living have been wounding his soul in silence, and the result is that the joy of the ministry is no longer perceived as alive, or is merely in its agony. It is not for us, however, to judge which priest has lost his joy; it is for us to pray for all of them.

Some celebrate the sacraments as one who keeps an appointment on a schedule. Others keep postponing, finding reasons, sometimes valid ones, not to celebrate. They carry this pain without anyone knowing, and what Scripture says applies to them: "man sees the appearance but the LORD looks into the heart" (1 Sam 16:7).

We place this month under the intercession of Saint Matthew, apostle and evangelist, whose Feast the Church celebrates on the 21st, that he may obtain from God the graces that priests need.

"As Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the customs post. He said to him, 'Follow me.' And he got up and followed him" (Mt 9:9). Commenting on this passage of the Gospel, Saint Bede the Venerable writes: "Jesus saw Matthew, not merely in the usual sense, but more significantly with his merciful understanding of men. He saw the tax collector and, because he saw him through the eyes of mercy and chose him, he said to him: Follow me" (Office of Readings for the Feast of Saint Matthew).

Matthew was called not because he was worthy, but because Jesus looked upon him with mercy and chose him to live a mission that was his own and unique. Where was he when he was called? Seated at the customs post, in the occupation that earned him the contempt of his own people, who held him to be a public sinner and a traitor. Human choosing often follows the logic of appearances, of interests and preferences. In the order of grace it is not so. The Lord has the primacy, for it is He who chooses, and then the one who is called responds or does not. This reminds us that no priest was ordained by his own merit, and that there is no way of sustaining oneself by human effort, for everything is grace. On the day of the imposition of hands, the Church confirmed the choice that God had already made.

When joy departs, the certainty of having been chosen by God is the first thing to be called into doubt. The priest may be led to conclude that the problem lies in himself: that perhaps he should never have been called, that others would do better, that his interior life does not correspond to what the ministry demands. The first two accusations do not stand: God chose him, the Church confirmed it, and the mission He gave him is his and no one else's. As for the third, there may be truth in it, as there may be in so many other miseries he knows in himself. Matthew too knew his weaknesses and imperfections. Awareness of one's own unworthiness does not annul, much less diminish, the greatness of the call. It only shows where the call came from: from God.

Those who were taken aback to see Jesus at table with tax collectors and sinners heard from him: "Those who are well do not need a physician, but the sick do" (Mt 9:12). And he added: "I did not come to call the righteous but sinners" (Mt 9:13). Discipleship is not and never will be a prize for those who are already healed, but the path along which healing takes place. This makes it clear that no one needs to recover joy in order to return to following Christ the Redeemer.

Christian joy does not depend on temperament or on enthusiasm. Neither does it come from a growing parish, from recognized work, from a grateful community. It is a fruit of the Holy Spirit: "the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace" (Gal 5:22). Fruit is not manufactured by human effort; it is God's grace. For this one must ask and await with confidence the time of grace, certain of Christ's promise: "how much more will the Father in heaven give the holy Spirit to those who ask him" (Lk 11:13).

Let us not forget the Eucharist. The priest who no longer feels anything when he celebrates needs to remember: the Mass he celebrates is worth no less on account of what he feels or fails to feel. The Church teaches that the grace of the sacrament does not depend on the holiness of the minister, but on Christ who acts in him (cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1128). His hands consecrate because Christ consecrates. And the Body of Christ that he gives to the people is also food for himself. Blessed Columba Marmion taught that in Communion we do not receive only a reflection of God's beatitude, but its very Author, with all the fullness of his riches. From this it is clear that the Eucharist is a source of spiritual joy both for the priest and for each one of us, for in it we receive the one who is beatitude itself.

Christ did not promise his disciples a life without difficulties, nor paradise on earth. He promised to remain with them. The last words of the Gospel that Matthew wrote are exactly these: "And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age" (Mt 28:20).

Let us ask Saint Matthew to intercede for every priest and to obtain for them the grace of healing and the fruits of the Holy Spirit. Let us pray:

Divine Redeemer, who in your inexhaustible mercy chose the tax collector Matthew to make him an Apostle, turn your compassionate gaze upon your priests, above all upon those who have lost the joy of living their ministry. Deliver them from the temptations that drag them into discouragement, sadness, and bitterness, and grant that they may feel once again the love and the ardour of the call. Heal them of all that wounds them and renew in them the gifts of your Holy Spirit. Amen.

Saint Matthew, apostle and evangelist, pray for us.

With generosity, let us offer Holy Mass and Communion for priests. Let us pray this month's prayer every day — together with the Rosary, the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, the Liturgy of the Hours, or on its own, as each one knows how and is able. Let us choose one priest and present him to God, calling him by name, until the end of September. Let us offer a hidden sacrifice, a fast or a renunciation that no one sees, for those who today do not feel the joy of living their ministry.

Fraternally in Christ,

Deacon Mario Cardoso