So, what sort of atmosphere is this?
The answer will slowly unfold later. For now, it is the 4th Sunday of Easter and the Gospel lends itself to the theme we have, which is, Good Shepherd Sunday, or otherwise known as Vocation Sunday. Elsewhere in John’s Gospel, we hear Jesus describing Himself as the “Shepherd who lays down His life for His sheep”. Today we hear Him telling us that “The sheep that belong to Him listen to His voice; He knows them and they follow Him”. Nothing novel because the Old Testament is replete with this pastoral metaphor of who God is. The best know is our oft-repeated Psalm 23 “The Lord is my Shepherd”.
Good Shepherd Sunday, appropriately designated as Vocation Sunday may be the occasion to speak of the priestly vocation and by extension the call to religious life. But, fundamentally, it gives us pause to recognise who we are as Church.
Firstly, we may be sociologically constituted meaning here we are composed mostly of English or Mandarin-speaking parishioners. We belong to that narrow stratum of society which is probably middle and upper middle class; after all, this is the richest parish of the whole diocese. Coming from such a homogeneous background, we possibly buy into a set of familiar narrative. When everyone shares into a common assumption, it might be hard to appreciate another point of view. Much like the man who collects rubbish who does not really know what clean air smells like.
Hence, if we did not know better, we may think that our status quo is normative. For example, the presence of many extraordinary ministers for each Mass. Let me just say that their service is deeply appreciated. However, we seem to accept that they are constitutive of what the Church should be when in actual fact, they are a development that came out of Vatican II—a period marked by the sharp decline in vocation numbers. So, let us take a closer look at the priesthood and its relationship to us being Church.
If this were the only life we have, the death of a priest is just a matter of fact—as most deaths are. But, if there is life after life, then, give this a thought. We are three priests here. When added up, we have more history than future. Say, if we were struck by a tragedy in which none survived, then there would be no Masses here until they can be covered by other priests. But what if every single priest in this diocese were to be drowned—going to Tioman in a ferry which capsized in rough seas and none of our bodies recovered. There would definitely be no Masses in the diocese unless you accept that Apostolic Succession is no longer required to make present Jesus truly, really and substantially. Then, the absence of the priesthood is not a problem because the Eucharist is just a memorial meal that anyone can preside. Asia, in particular Japan, has had a distinct history whereby the Mass had been absent because there were no priests left to celebrate it. The returning missionaries, at the time when Japan reopened her doors to world trade, described the immense of hunger for and appreciation of the Eucharist by the priestless community. In short, without the priesthood, there is no Mass. Without the Mass, there is no Church. Without the Church, there is no salvation.
Whatever vision we want to promote of the Church, nothing comes close to the uncomfortable fact about the priesthood. What many priests can do, any lay person can too. An able administrator, an attentive accountant, a competent counsellor, a sensitive spiritual director, a single-minded social activist. All these functions you might associate them with a priest but the reality is these capabilities readily found amongst lay people and in fact, the laity is often more competent than their priests. What is uncomfortable is how the Cure of Ars described of the priest: “O, how great is the priest! ... If he realised what he is, he would die. ... God obeys him: he utters a few words and the Lord descends from heaven at his voice, to be contained within a small host”.
These days when we are warned of the danger of clericalism, this sounds definitely clericalistic!! But, believe you me, in no way am I pedestalising the priesthood. To put into perspective, Pope Francis said this, “Lay people are part of the faithful Holy People of God and thus are the protagonists of the Church and of the world; we [priests] are called to serve them, not to be served by them.”
It is this understanding of what it means that priests are ordained to serve the people that Vocation Sunday makes sense. But, we are unfortunately a people bedazzled by functionality. When we buy a car we want it to come with all the bells and whistles—never mind that we do not need everything there. This desire is but a symptom of our fixation with technological functionality.
In a way, we invest our priests with the same expectation. It is a form alpha-male achievement obsession which is the air I was referring to. We are such a functional people that when we look at our priest and we want them to be multi-talented. But actually he does not have to be because a priest is at his best when he makes available to the people of God the Sacraments entrusted to him by Jesus Christ the High Priest. Only a priest can feed the People of God, the way Jesus Christ had intended or forgive or anoint etc. He may be an idiot like St John Vianney was but when he celebrates Mass, the bread and wine are really and truly changed into the Body and Blood of Christ. According to Chapter 6 of John’s Gospel, only the Flesh and Blood of Christ is our guarantee of eternal life. For that, we need the priesthood. Therefore, Apostolic Succession for the validity of our priesthood is not our infatuation with the past but rather an assurance that Jesus’ pledge of eternal life is not an empty promise.
Apostolic succession is akin to the monarchical system where when a king dies, the proclamation goes like this: The King (or Queen) is dead! Long live the King (or Queen) Of course, this does not apply to the Catholic priesthood because ours is not a Levitical priesthood where succession is hereditary. Instead, succession in the Church is dependent on bravery, determination and generosity. A priest may be dead but long live the priesthood.
We may still be a Church that is not desperate but we should still ask for young men to step forward to offer themselves to be what Jesus intended for His Church. We want men who dare to step into the empty boots of our elderly priests. If they have the calibre to be multi-talented, all the better. However, the one criterion that is a must is, we need priests who are holy and who know that their lives are to be poured out as a sacrifice for the Church and the people of God. On this Sunday we storm heaven asking that there be young men courageous enough follow in the example of the priests who have served faithfully the Church and are now no longer with us.
The lack of vocations is not an indication that Jesus has stopped inviting young men to join Him in the sanctification of the world but rather a glaring symptom of our deafness to His call. There is never a better time to response than today—like the courier company TNT whose tagline advertises “Today, Not Tomorrow”. Be brave and accept His invitation without hesitation, today and not tomorrow, for He needs you to be His voice, His hands and His heart. To be His sanctifying presence in the world.
