Dear Holy Father, Francis,
It felt so good, consoled and encouraged to have read those beautiful and encouraging words contained in your Letter to priests dated 4/08/2019. I am pushed to reply this letter because I felt you were personally speaking to me. Yes, you wrote to all priests, but I took those words of yours personally that I am all the more encouraged not to give up. How good does it feel that the Holy Father took his time to write to each and every one of us, priests, especially during this time when secularism combats seriously with those ideals that make us whom we are as priests and as a Church. Thank you, Pope Francis for your Letter.
Dear Holy Father, I remember as a boy who had just received the first Holy Communion in St. Mary’s Catholic Church, Abayi Ariaria Aba, Nigeria (at the age of 9) how enthusiastic I was to become a priest so as to be like the pastor from whose hands I received our Lord in the Eucharist. I grew with so much love for the Church and I literally disturbed my parents to send me to the Minor Seminary. Through their instrumentality, I came in contact with a senior Seminarian (now Rev. Fr. Stephen Achilihu) who nurtured my zeal and made me to sit for the entrance examination for a house of formation, the Congregation of Christ the Emmanuel, where in this vocation would be guided and pruned and would be materialized. Reading your Letter reminds me of how I ought to be appreciative to God for bringing me in contact with that senior Seminarian, with the Founder, Fr. John Egbulefu and with all those teachers, Seminary Formators and Rectors who guided me well to answer the call. Reading your Letter now and remembering now those constant words of Fr. Egbulefu “I am living for others” (which he chose as the motto of his priestly ordination), and having witnessed it in my priestly life since August 20, 2016 that I was ordained for the Catholic Diocese of Aba, I grow more aware that the priestly life is one not lived for the priest himself, but for others. Indeed, ‘the priest is not His own’ as Fulton Sheen had said.
Truth be said, I felt so honoured, the sort that I have not felt for many years now, that you addressed yourself as my older brother and father. You thanked me, O Holy Father. Thank you for those series of thanks; thanks for encouraging me. Thank you for thanking me for answering this call. Thank you for thanking me for the joy of service. Thank you for thanking me for celebrating the Sacraments, especially the Eucharist, the Confessions and the Anointing of the Sick. Thanks for reminding me that availability and humility in service are keys to my joy as a priest. Thank you for reminding all of us that we are one family. In fact, you deserve more thanks for the zeal we have seen in you and for your resilience in being a Shepherd we could all look up to, especially at this moment of history. I guess I am not wrong to say that calling yourself my brother and my father depicts ‘familyhood.’ We are family after all. And this means the priesthood brings us together in love and fraternal correction. We ought not be enemies to one another or back-biters, neither should we cause one another pains. We then need to feel sorry for all those members of our priestly family that we have hurt, as we pardon totally all those who have in any way brought us some pains and some moments of frustration. Those hurtful moments are better seen as lessons and as steps towards making us better in Christ.
In your Letter to us, your section on Pains reminds me of those words of Jesus: if anyone wants to come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow me (cf. Matt. 16:24-26). We have been reminded that the Christian life is one that is not devoid of sorrow, as we look towards that eschatological hope of eternity in heaven. We must be encouraged whenever we face trials or disappointments for the sake of Christ as priests by those words of Paul in Romans 8:17: provided that we suffer with Him, we may also be glorified with Him. We have understood that no cross, no crown. We are now sure that the Lord uses those pains to purify us and to make us more fit for the ministry. We must now be inspired to assist in this process of healing the wounds that might have been caused by ‘the abuse of power, the abuse of conscience and sexual abuse’ while relying on God to renew in us the grace of our ordination, and as we remind ourselves of those gracious words of St. Paul, the apostle of the Gentiles: for when I am weak, I am strong (2 Cor. 12:9-11).
Dear Pope, your section on Encouragement is indeed smashing. I remember a story often told as a joke about a minister who came up into the pulpit with a jug of water and a glass. He was the kind of preacher who is loud and waves his arms about a lot. In the course of the sermon, he drank up all the water in the jug. After the sermon, someone asked another member of the congregation what he thought about the wonderful preaching. And all she could reply was: it was just miraculous; this is the first I’ve ever seen a windmill so driven by water. This could mean how the effort of the priest to preach Jesus might receive some ridicules, and how people might ridicule their minister who makes sincere efforts to witness to Jesus. It is indeed true that a lot of experiences could discourage us, but then again, you have reminded us that prayer is the great propellant when we feel discouraged or challenged, and also a great repellent against evil and the accuser of our brethren, Satan. Yes indeed, a minister whose heart is encouraged is one that is always on the move, as you have said. Finding in the cross of Christ a great refuge is indeed a great antidote against frustration, despair or any feeling of despondency.
I believe then that the Priest should maintain this centrality of the cross in his preaching, and should never attract to himself the glory due to God. We must not give the impression that the people’s decision is for us, rather than for God, or that the faithful exists for us, rather than we for the faithful. When we do this conscientiously, we can survive and be strengthened by God. The priest must also put his whole trust in God, and not in himself, knowing that only God redeems and ransoms. When we adhere to this, we will be able to gather people together, for strength will be given to our humility and confidence. And so can we redeem and change the world. The priest must turn away from worldly message and desires in metanoia and accept any condition he finds himself, so that he can turn to the world in a spirit of kenosis.
It is also true that we must not shy away from the world in a purported spirit of asceticism, but must live in the everyday world, inspired by the radical obedience of love towards God’s will. When we do all expected of us in total obedience to God, we will totally become free; free in imitating the service of Christ, the service of God by which we can truly serve men. The Priest ought not to, whatever the circumstance might be present himself as an earthly king or governor; knowing well that the kingdom of Jesus the Christ is not of this world (cf. Luke 18:36). Our role is a spiritual diakonia. We ought to perform our ministry in the guise of servants, the service of God as a service to men, the service of men as a service to God. When we do this without pump and majesty, we would have found in our significance our true greatness, which is in the cross of Christ, for only in losing our life can we regain it.
Again, the priest ought not to behave as if he is a menacing, intimidating person devoted to preaching doom and inculcating fear, but should preach the message of salvation, the joyful good news, and the message of peace. Remembering the very words of Christ that it is the sick that needs the doctor (cf. Mtt. 9:12-13), we exist for the sinners and the godless men, not for the righteous, and hence must forgive, heal and save. If we fail to recognise that we are sinful men who also exist for sinful humanity, then we might grow hard-hearted, self-righteous and without compassion, deserving neither the mercy of God nor the confidence of men. But when we recognize and do this, we will have the grace of holiness and righteousness.
Thank you also, Holy Father for reminding us of the maternal watch of our mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary, whom we ought to hold so dearly for the success of our ministry. And now, even though we pray for you at every Mass, I promise to offer up one of my Masses this week for you that the Lord may continue to keep you for us in His love. God bless you, Pope Francis.
Rev. Fr. Ezekoka Peter Onyekachi
St. Margaret’s Church, Huntly, Aberdeenshire
Roman Diocese of Aberdeen, Scotland UK.
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