“Jesus called them to be with him and to be sent” ( Mk3;13-15)
We can speak of an identity only in relation to Jesus Christ as we are called to act in the person of Jesus Christ. It is not filling a gap or substitution. In normal language, it is understood as delegating someone to represent when he is unable to be present. We cannot speak in the meaning of this normal language since Jesus Christ is never absent since he is present in His Spirit in the Church. When you speak about identity crisis in the priesthood it is relational since it follows that we are unable to be configured to Christ. ( Jer 3:15, 23:4) ( Jn 17:11,21)
The crisis in the priesthood today depends on how far a priest understands his priesthood as priest-victim and sharing in the priesthood of Christ. ( Heb5:1) ( Heb 4: 15) Traditional images of priesthood such as a spokesperson for moral and doctrnal prouncements, a cultic man. an enigma, a one who wields ecclesial authority and even ina secular age today he is considered as an anchor for virtue and decency in a time of moral relativism. So what is our IDENTITY TODAY AS PRIESTS? After Vat II summarizing the emergence of new identities and images of the priest ( James Bacik) identified a number of major shifts: From pedestral to participation, from classical preacher to contemporary mystagogue, from the lone ranger to colloborative ministry, from a monastic spirituality to a secular spirituality, from saving souls to liberating people. ( Po nos.2,4,5 LG nos.1,28). It is a shift from a cultic model of priesthood to a more servant leader model. How do I understand my identity as a priest among the people whom I am sent to serve now? ( Mt 28: 18-20) How do we understand this paradigm shift?
From Pedestral to Participation: conviction of the basic equality of the people of God , trying to relate to people as leader-copanions rather than asserting authority.
From classical preacher to bearer of mystery: it is more of enabling people to discover God within themselves rather than merely emphazing the truths of the faith and morally correct behaviour. The priest is the one who bears that strange power and who leads the people of God into an ever more intimate contact with it , In carrying out this task one is most authentically a priest.
From the lone-ranger style to colloborative ministry: While recognizing the sacramental confered on him by the ordination and without denigrating the unique role of the ministerial priesthood, tends to focus on the ministerial gifts of the people of God to evolve a participatory Church.
Priests are now in the midst of discovering a deeper, a more holistic identity as memebers of the people of God and as presbyters of the Church. How do we understand this paradigm shift?
From Pedestral to Participation: conviction of the basic equality of the people of God , trying to relate to people as leader-copanions rather than asserting authority.
From classical preacher to bearer of mystery: it is more of enabling people to discover God within themselves rather than merely emphazing the truths of the faith and morally correct behaviour. The priest is the one who bears that strange power and who leads the people of God into an ever more intimate contact with it , In carrying out this task one is most authentically a priest.
From the lone-ranger style to colloborative ministry: While recognizing the sacramental confered on him by the ordination and without denigrating the unique role of the ministerial priesthood, tends to focus on the ministerial gifts of the people of God to evolve a participatory Church.
From a monastic spirituality to a secular spirituality: a Diocesan spirituality has evolved as in the past the spirituality was influenced by monastic ssssspirituality which is more suited for a religious community. It doest mean giving up prayer and contemplation but a call to a spirituality that is nourished by pastoral ministry itself.
From saving souls to liberating people: From the cultic model prposes saving souls a through pastoral care and the celebration of sacraments though they are necessary for salvation. But the communal dimension of salvation and integral salvation of humanity has evoked a keen awareness to work for justice, peace and reconciliation. The community of faith and the social order surface as the enduring context for God’s saving grace.
In general. a certain uneaseness awkwardness accompanies anyone’s search for identity since identity is at the same time both a constant and an evolving reality. At the core of the Priest,s crisis of soul, then is the search for his unfolding identity as an ordained servant of Jesus christ. Behind and beyond issues of integrity and intimacy that shape the quality of his soul lingering question of his true self as one ordained into that priesthood of the one High Priest. PDV :12 The priest’s identity like every Christia identity has its source in the Blessed Trinity which is revealed and communicated to people in Christ establishing in him and through the Spirit the Church as “ the seed and the beginning of the Kingdom”. The specific identity of the priest is that by virtue of his consecration he is sent forth by the Father through the mediatorship of Jesus Christ to whom he is configured in order to live and work by the power of the Holy Spirit in service of the Church and for the salvation of the world. There is a composite of many charisms that form the working description of dicesan priesthood in its uniqueness as we know it.. They cannot be simply reduced to alist of functions. Cari Arico says reminds priests that we reduce our call to functions. They do not give identity. The intergration of many gifts that God gives to priests makes his identity in relation to his call.
Living the “mystery” in the earthen vessel which was entrusted in his ordination will be his identity. ( ICor 4:1, 1 Tim 4; 14, 2 Tim 1:6) ( PDV:24)