“When you see me standing up there, mumbling to myself and apparently taking no notice of you, all dressed up in silk like a great pin cushion, you mustn’t think of me as something quite apart, at a distance from you, uninterested in your feelings and your concerns. On the contrary, I am standing there like a great pin cushion for you to stick pins into me. All the things you want to pray about, all the things you want for yourself, and all the worries that are going on at home are part of the prayer that I am saying, and I couldn’t prevent them being part of my intentions in saying the Mass, even if I wanted to.”
Monsignor Ronald Knox said this in a Sermon to school girls over 60 years ago. I am struck by the power of these words and how relevant they are to this day. The priesthood has often been viewed, I have come to realise, as a man-made institution which takes away from the “royal priesthood” of all Believers, with abuse, sexism, financial irregularities, dressing up in silk, and a lack of supernatural grace. With such an understanding in mind, it is hard to stand up for such an institution. But the fact is that we need to delve deeper to find a Christ-centred priesthood.
At the beginning of April, we observed Holy Thursday and the commemoration of the Lord’s Last Supper, which is one of the most important, complex, and profound days in the life of our Church.
This feast reminds us of when we were given the institution of the Holy Eucharist as the true body and blood of Jesus Christ and the institution of the sacrament of the priesthood. It is through this sacrament that He is brought to us, and from it we get an insight into holy charity. We are called to give of ourselves which is the true nature of sacrifice. The words do this in “remembrance of me” are words that must have confused the disciples, as they already were in the midst of the Passover and it’s memory of the freedom of children of Israel. But they were given a new task in remembering, which only makes sense through His Passion, Death, and Resurrection, which flows from this meal.
Remember, God doesn’t work in our time, so the first bread and wine did become the first Eucharist and they did receive his Body, Blood Soul and Divinity. Just two weeks before Holy Thursday on Passion Sunday (5th Sunday in Lent), we heard the words of Psalm 42 2-3: “Do me justice, O God, and fight my fight against a faithless people; from the deceitful and impious man rescue me. For You are my God and my strength. Send forth Your light and Your fidelity; they shall lead me on and bring me to Your holy mountain, to Your dwelling-place.”
This portion of the Psalm helps us to understand the mission of Christ and His work of salvation, explained for us and given to us in the Holy Mass. From the words of that Psalm till Vespers on Easter Sunday, it offers a lens through which to see the Holy Mass in slow motion. For who is the central figure of the Mass but Jesus Christ, just as real today, as on that Passover evening? The Church and the Holy Mass is all about Christ. Everything we do, as Saint Paul says, is to preach Christ crucified, and use words if we must. We should be His charity to the world or change the word charity for love. This is the truer nature of the priesthood. This is how we are rediscovering as priests and people.
There is work to be done, and the priest has to get his hands dirty. He cannot simply be a sacramental machine, moving around from church to church, offering the mass and confessions with appointments. He needs to be involved in the salvation of his parish. He cannot leave his people without a constant shepherd. He has to be there as Christ requires it. He has to be involved in the beauty of liturgy and life which flows from it. The priest should be seen praying the rosary with the people, interacting with their families, and wearing his cassock on the streets and in the supermarket. He has to teach the truth of the Church and lead by example of Christ. He must spend hours in the confessional, offering the Sacrament of Penance to those who may be reticent at first.
The road will be a weary one and there will be power struggles amongst the people. The devil will attack, and a priest’s Marian devotion should be very strong, placing his tears and flowers at the feet of his Holy Mother. He has to conform himself to constant prayer, read Holy books and the Scripture, and go to confession regularly himself. He should keep company with holy people in his parish and go out of his way to find the lost in his area. He should learn to use the technology available and ask people to help him with it. Asking himself daily what can he do? How can he give of himself like Christ and offer the sacrifice which is himself?
The power to carry out all these duties is found in the Holy Eucharist. It is the nuclear power for Catholics, and when we have our spiritual eyes open to that truth, we realise again and again the power of Christ in the Holy Mass and our need for Him and his saving powers in this dark land. It is only through the cross that the promise of the Last Supper is accomplished, but through the Mass, it is brought to us in the fadeless light of the Resurrection. We can’t ask for anything better than that, as priests or people. Yes, sometimes I do feel irrelevant, overlooked, misunderstood, odd and so many other things. But I am glad that’s why God chose me to be his pin cushion, so that I can go to the Altar of God to be stabbed with thousands and thousands of pins of peoples prayers, joys and broken hearts as he is brought to the world by my unworthy hands again and again to be given to us daily as our supersubstantial bread (Matthew 6:11).
I end with the prayer the angel taught the children of Fatima. If a priest faithfully prays and acts this out on behalf of himself, his people, he and they will surely fall more deeply in love with God, the mysteries of faith, and the salvation of the world: “My God, I believe, I adore, I hope and I love Thee! I beg pardon for those who do not believe, do not adore, do not hope and do not love Thee. Amen.”
All photos in the article courtesy of Father Gerard Hatton.