Love is foundation of seeking vocation to priesthood

I recently had a wonderful opportunity to witness one of our third-year theologians (seminarians) become a Candidate for Holy Orders. The candidacy ceremony marks a moment in a man’s journey toward priesthood when, having achieved a certain level of qualification and maturity, he asks the Church to formally hear of his continuing commitment to prepare for the sacrament of holy orders for the sake of God and his people.
 

The ceremony took place in a nearby Catholic church during a regularly scheduled Sunday Mass. The beauty of the ceremony was enhanced by the fact that we had not only these young men professing their intention to seek a life of service as a priest in God’s Church, but we also had the presence of an active, vibrant parish community. These young men, surrounded by their faculty, fellow seminarians, families, and the wider parish community were joined together worshiping the Lord God, reveling in the presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist, and cementing their bonds as God’s community.
 

When speaking with people about “why” someone would want to be a priest, I often share with them my belief that there is really only one ultimate reason to be a priest — and, hoping to illustrate my answer, I try to explain it in terms of the sacrament of matrimony. Ultimately, the singular reason to become a priest is very similar to the singular reason to get married — because you are totally, faithfully, and deeply in love with the intended spouse in the case of marriage, and with the Lord himself in holy orders. The real reason why men become priests is because they have recognized our Lord’s total, unconditional, and uplifting love directed at them, and they choose to respond, imperfectly to be sure, in an offering of total, unconditional, and sacrificial love for God. That love, of course, has an intellectual component to it, but it is also meant to involve the entirety of the man’s being — his humanity, emotions, behavior, goals, etc. — similar even to our Blessed Mother’s own “Fiat” in placing her whole life at the service of her Lord. It is this all-embracing, uplifting type of love that will then serve to motivate the priest’s surrender to God, his contentment and joy, his perseverance in getting through life’s difficulties, and his striving to love the Lord and his people more fully and faithfully. The love that inspires priesthood is so much more than a motivation to seek after a particular lifestyle or agenda, to right social wrongs, or to recreate a particular roseate view of how society should be; it is the kind of passion for another (in this case, the Lord Jesus) that sees uniting with him, imitating him, and basking in his presence as one’s complete life-goal, that which makes life good and worth living.
 

This kind of love, which, I believe, rests at the foundation of the priesthood, then inspires/excites the man to take the goodness that he experiences in his relationship with the Lord, and because the Lord is commissioning him to do so, sends him forth to share that goodness, love, and reverence with those who so need to experience them. The relationship between Jesus and the priest is in no way meant to be exclusive, it is a force that at once totally envelops him but simultaneously sends him out to the world — to passionately share the goodness that he has experienced, to tell others about it, to draw them into it, to imitate Christ’s total love for them that is illustrated so beautifully in the Bible, in the sacraments, in the Church’s teaching, and supremely in Christ’s own passion, death, and resurrection. The priest has been propelled forward by the goodness that he has encountered, and wants to share that with others.
 

The Divine Outreach becomes humanly visible when the priest is able to draw God’s people to worship the Divine Majesty as the Source of all being, truth, goodness, and peace, when he encourages his people to spend more time with the Lord in prayer, and when he inspires them to be instruments of God’s own goodness to those in need in ever-expanding circles of humanity. Back to my marriage analogy, we know how good it is, how filled with joy we become when see a married couple that are so totally, even dreamily, in love with one another; how beautifully that love transforms them — not out of some sense of marital obligation, but out of sheer joy. The priesthood is like that too; isn’t that what we call being not only a witness, but an authentic witness?
 

And so, it really was a joy to see another group of young men commit themselves to further embracing, reflecting, and sharing that love of God that they have experienced with others. With the grace that God bestows upon them, they will lead his people in worship and devotion, in prayer and Bible study, in sacraments and evangelization, in catechesis and service, and in so many other ways. They will do so in the midst and with the support of people like those parishioners who surrounded them at the liturgy. Through the grace of God, the loving ministry of his priests, and the tremendous goodness of his people, the Divine Presence will continue on its relentless task of embracing all the earth. As I began, it was such a wonderful opportunity to be with God’s soon-to-be-priests and their beloved people.
 

Msgr. Fell is a Scripture scholar and director, diocesan Office for Priest Personnel, and Seminarians