Strengthen Your Brethren - Pray for our Priests…, - July 23, 2006
If Bishop Listecki can have “Guest Writers” for his bishop’s column in the Catholic Times, I suppose I can sub for Fr. Kevin Louis, while he’s on vacation….
The life of a priest is not an easy one. Nobody disagrees with that. Yet, how often do we take the time to pray for and encourage our priests?
I recently heard of a priest (not in this area), in his 20+ years of priesthood, he’s only been too a handful of dinners in parishioner’s homes. And it’s not because he’s a horrible guest! What a travesty that is. (Now if Fr. Louis returns from his vacation and has 20 dinner invitations, I’m going to hear about it!) But you get the idea.
Similarly, last week I was talking to another pastor in the area and asked if he had taken any vacation time this summer. He responded “a couple days”. Another parish priest gave up his summer retreat/vacation due to a sudden and tragic death in his parish.
I frequently tell Fr. Louis and other priests, “We like you guys….and want you to stick around for awhile.” In other words, don’t push yourselves into the grave!
When I was a protestant, it’s something we were made very conscious of---the necessity of praying for our ministers. And it is so necessary. We Catholics can certainly do a better job of this.
Think about this example. The devil tempts all of us. His goal is to lead people away from God. Now, who is the devil going to tempt more forcefully, John Smith who attends church only occasionally? After all, if he doesn’t attend Mass one week, does anyone notice? Does it shake anyone’s faith?
On the other hand, if the devil can get Father Jones to fall into sin, causing scandal, witness the abuse scandal of several years ago, will that shake some people’s faith? Will that cause some people to doubt? Absolutely. As the old saying goes, “Strike the shepherd, scatter the sheep.”
So while we all face temptations, how much more so do our leaders? And how much more is it incumbent upon us to pray for them!
God bless our priests!
Phil Lawson
Director of Catechesis & Evangelization