Mission Monthly – August 1998
“Take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God.”
Acts 20:28
It seems appropriate that I reflect this month on the theme of this year’s Antiochian Archdiocese Clergy Symposium. In many ways it was a hard-hitting conference. Primarily we as clergy were reminded again and again of the enormous responsibility given and received in our ordination to serve the Altar and the people of Christ.
We were encouraged to take special care of ourselves. Highlighted was the well known advice of the great saint, Seraphim of Sarov, “Save yourself and a thousand souls will be saved around you.” I recall a recent conversation with a parishioner encouraging me in the simple matter of making “quality” time for my wife and family. Her comments ended by saying, “the health of our parish is dependent upon the health (spiritual, emotional, physical) of our priest.” This theme was echoed many times throughout the conference, both in the presentations and in the private conversations amongst the men. With all the attention given to this matter I cannot help but believe that this is a real problem of the priesthood. My sympathy especially goes out to those men who are serving parishes with membership exceeding three, four and five hundred families. Time management and task prioritization seem inadequate tools when one is juggling personal prayer and study, liturgy and divine services, sacramental ministration, pastoral counseling, parish administration, family and personal time (with, unfortunately, the latter always seeming to come up last).
Secondly, the demands of caring for the flock take on an intricate life of their own when one considers the challenges associated with balancing the life of the Church with person, personality and personal circumstance. Certain questions were asked for which there was no answer. I can only conclude that maybe some of these questions just can’t be answered. I will spare the reader the inner workings of the pastor’s mind, yet one must know this truth: in the pastoral ministry there is very little (if any) black and white. The truth of the matter is that there are no pastoral absolutes and the mark of a good pastor is his ability to minister in life’s many hues of gray.
I was deeply touched in the reaffirmation of how sincerely the bishops and priests love and care for the people. I pray that the laity will come to a deeper and abiding knowledge and trust in this very fact. I do believe (for the most part) that this is the case and I also believe that it can only be sin and the efforts of the devil which interfere with the relationship between clergy and laity and which sometimes prevents us from realizing the true, common work of the Church. Our Church is hierarchical but not papal, and our Church is dependent upon the laity but it is not congregational. This conciliar or cooperative nature is of the Church’s essence and for our salvation. The clergy are chosen and ordained to serve the people to shouts of “AXIOS!” (He is worthy!); while all are elevated to the royal priesthood by the rite of one’s baptism to the shouts of “SEALED!” (the gift of the Holy Spirit in holy chrismation).
As in most aspects of the inner life, Truth is affirmed and struggle supported only when the Light of Christ is allowed to shine upon the heights and depths of one’s heart and soul. It is an awesome responsibility to be made “overseer” of anything, especially the Church of God. The priest’s role of virtue, leading others to the life of virtues, is empowered by the Holy Spirit in the interior life and expressed in the work of ordination; but it is not a role reserved only for the ordained. A priest will indeed “take heed to himself and to all the flock,” but only the encouragement and support of the flock, energized and hungry for the Word of God and the life of the Church, will complete the cycle.