Why Jesus?
There’s a story found in the Little Flowers of St Francis of an encounter between the saint and Brother Masseo, who came to meet Francis after he’d been praying in the woods. Half-jokingly Masseo asks: ‘Why you? Why does everyone run after you, want to see you and hear you and obey you? After all, you are not handsome, or learned, or wise, or rich. So why is all the world running after you?’ Francis was very moved by this and prayed for a long time before responding. Then he replied that God had chosen him because he was foolish and sinful, since ‘God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, things that are not … so that no one might boast in the presence of God’ (1 Cor. 1.27f.).
These are questions we need to reflect upon: How do I feel about my foolishness? Do I own my own sinfulness or my weakness? Do I care more about what the world thinks of me than of what God sees in me? But Masseo’s question could equally be posed to Jesus: ‘Why you? Why does everyone run after you?’ And we can also ask ourselves: Why Jesus? Why do I follow him? Each of us needs to discover our own answer. For me, it’s the way his love embraces me and how his life inspires and challenges me. He is the one I turn to for the forgiveness of my sins, as many and great as they have been, knowing that his compassion for me is boundless.
So this book concerns how we can live into our vocation. It’s not intended to be prescriptive or exhaustive, nor does it concern what we do so much as who we are in the deep and secret places of the heart. What we do and how we respond to who we encounter does inform, sometimes powerfully, who we are and helps us uncover more of that mystery, but, in the end, it’s all about Jesus – all for Jesus – and I trust it might be of help to you. To that end, I’ve included some questions at the end of each chapter, which can be used for personal or group reflection. You might like to spend a few moments just recalling what really helps you in your desire to be given to God …
He is the core of the heart of love,
and He, beyond labouring seas,
our ultimate shore.2
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ST FRANCIS OF ASSISI and ST IGNATIUS OF LOYOLA
Finally, I’d like to point out that the ordering and dynamic of the chapters owes something to two saints who, though separated by 300 years, were clearly brothers in Christ – Francis of Assisi, born in 1182, and Ignatius of Loyola in 1491 – and who wanted to know themselves in relationship with him. Ignatius, founder of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits), wrote the Spiritual Exercises, that remarkable ‘retreat’ that is such an immense gift to those seeking to make important life-choices and deepen their life in Christ. And while Francis didn’t write anything similar, there are a number of quotations from the Principles of the Anglican Society of St Francis – the document that defines its ethos and charism – as appropriate reflections. Each chapter also has suggestions as to what a priest might need to do to refresh their relationship with God in Christ.
The chapters reflect the dynamic of the Exercises, which, right at the start, remind us that we need to put a good interpretation on the action of other Christians and not condemn them (the Presupposition) – something to reflect on as we seek to build on the foundation of our being the beloved of God. For what matters more than anything else – more than growing congregations or successful churches – is the quality of the priest’s relationship with God in Christ, which determines everything else, including the way we relate to others. Like the Principle and Foundation in the Spiritual Exercises, before ever we begin to consider our calling, we must attend to the way it needs to be rooted in God’s utter love for us even though there will be times when we doubt that. As I listen to priests, it’s sometimes apparent that this underpinning has been forgotten, ignored or never properly realized, for the hurly-burly of everyday life can wear away any foundation. So before looking at specific matters of concern, the first chapter includes an invitation to relish (as Ignatius would encourage us) God’s compassionate love for us. After considering these foundations we’ll reflect on how we can deal with our failures through the ministry of Confession before moving on to explore aspects of diaconal life and the needs that are addressed in formational ministries. Then after the chapters on prayer – personal and Eucharistic as well as the place of the Daily Office – we’ll consider the resources that can assist our vocation: spiritual direction, supervision, rules of life, retreats, making choices in life, thoughts on being single or called to celibacy, and how we might realize our ‘personal vocation’. After considering who we are beneath the role we exercise, we’ll look towards the end for which we are made and what part our sexuality has to play as we seek union with the Other.
So, as we begin, let a profound meditation of Francis, which he is said to have used as an all-night prayer, echo in your heart:
‘Who are you, O Lord my God, and who am I?’
Notes
1 St Jean-Baptiste-Marie Vianney TOSF, Curé d’Ars, Catechism on the Priesthood.
2 Sister Janet CSMV, Mother Jane Margaret CSMV, St Mary’s Press, 1974.
Introduction
In my beginning is my end
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‘Abide in me as I abide in you.’
(John 15.4)
Much of my ministry at present involves accompanying people who are seeking to develop their relationship with Christ through spiritual direction and it is exercised in the shadow of the Lloyds of London building in the City of London. Designed by Richard Rogers it excites a variety of opinions and, like it or loathe it, clearly flies in the face of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s famous observation in his book The Little Prince that ‘what is essential is invisible to the eye’. However, this book follows Lord Rogers’ desire to expose what is normally hidden.
Not long ago I sat with a priest recalling her experience of a diocesan clergy conference when she suddenly exclaimed: ‘If I’ve lost God, what’s it all about?’ The conference had offered a breadth of workshops dealing with important matters – the work of a parish priest in changing times, youth ministry, church growth, etc. She’d chosen one facilitated by two Benedictine monks, one Anglican and the other Roman Catholic, because the subjects they offered spoke to her desire to deepen her relationship with God, something she knew she needed to look at in depth. This book is concerned with exploring that relationship and how it affects what I call our ‘being beneath the role’ – the person we are behind the position we occupy. This needs such care and attention that this book can only attempt to deal with it in a broad way.
All for Jesus
Like every Christian the priest is simply and profoundly called to live out their baptismal vocation. Yet in being a public representative of the Church, a priest is not just representing that body as people see it and may experience it in all its fallibility and brokenness, but also what they see it, however dimly, as having the possibility of being. Priests carry people’s hopes, fears, projections – and fantasies. So when the priest visits a sick person, it’s not only a kind Christian who is visiting, but one who is seen in a very particular way as a sign of Christ in his mystical body. That can be an uncomfortable thought for some, but it can help us recall that we are called to have our heart centred on Jesus, and in humility give thanks when others see him through us.
We ought not to be weary of doing little things for the love of God, who regards not the greatness of the work but the love with which it is performed. (Brother Lawrence of the Resurrection 1614–91)
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PRIESTLY SPIRITUALITY?
I don’t think there is any spirituality unique to the priesthood, but there