Simbang Gabi 8: The Priest as Minister of the Word

SIMBANG GABI 2017 8

YEAR OF THE CLERGY AND CONSECRATED PERSONS

DECEMBER 23, 2017

Jesus, I trust in you!

When the angel Gabriel announced to Zechariah the birth of John the Baptist, he had difficulty believing in it. Thus, he was made speechless, unable to talk until the day of the fulfillment of the words of the angel. And so, he spent 9 months in silence. Deprived of voice, Zechariah experienced what the prophets of old lamented in the past: “We have in our day no prince, prophet, or leader, no burnt offering, sacrifice, oblation, or incense, no place to offer first fruits, to find favor with you.” (Daniel 3:38) The silence of the Lord was a deafening silence.

It was at the circumcision of John when the silence ended. Asked about the name of the child, Zechariah wrote: His name is John. “And immediately his mouth was opened, his tongue freed, and he spoke blessing God.” The birth of John brought about not just the end of the silence of Zechariah but also the end of the silence of God. At last, a prophet was sent. And the one who was born was not just a prophet. He is the voice in the wilderness who would declare: “Prepare the way of the Lord.” The voice is born. The Word will follow soon.

The birth of John the Baptist gives us the occasion to speak about the Priest as the Minister of the Word. “The People of God is formed into one in the first place by the Word of the Living God, which is quite rightly sought from the mouth of priests. For since nobody can be saved who has not first believed, it is the first task of priests as co-workers of the bishop, to preach the Gospel to all men.” (Presbyterorum Ordinis, 4.) The first task of priests is to preach the Word of God. The priest is ordained to preach. He carries out the mandate which Christ gave to the apostles: “Go to all the world and preach the Gospel to all creatures.” This task is vital for the Church. “By the saving Word of God, faith is aroused in the hearts of unbelievers and is nourished in the hearts of believers. By this faith, the congregation of believers begins and grows according to the saying of the Apostle: ‘Faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes from the preaching of Christ.’ (Rom. 10:17) ” (PO, 4.)

Thus, it is important that priests share the Gospel to everybody. “Whether by having their conversation heard among the gentiles they lead people to glorify God, or by openly preaching proclaim the mystery of Christ to unbelievers, or teach the Christian message or explain the Church’s doctrine, or endeavor to treat of contemporary problems in the light of Christ’s teachings – in every case, their role is to teach not their own wisdom but the Word of God and to issue an urgent motivation to all men to conversion and to holiness.” (PO, 4.) Like John the Baptist, the priest is just the voice. He is not the Word. The only Word is Christ. He speaks not in his own name. He repeats the words of Jesus himself: “The word that I speak is not mine but of the one who sent me.”

Because the word he speaks is not his but of the One who sent him, the priest “ought first of all to develop a great and personal familiarity with the word of God…He needs to approach the word with a docile and prayerful heart so that it may penetrate his thoughts and feelings and bring about a new outlook in him…Nor should (he) forget that ‘the greater or lesser degree of the holiness of the minister has a real effect on the proclamation of the word.’ As St. Paul said: ‘we speak, not to please men but to please God who tests our hearts’ (1 Thess. 2:4). If we have a lively desire to be the first to hear the word which we must preach, this will surely be communicated to God’s faithful people, for ‘out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.’ (Mt. 12:34)” (Pope Francis, Evangelii Gaudium, 149.)

Thus, the priest must be a man of the word of God. He is, first of all, an obedient listener and then an ardent proclaimer. He is the voice and not the Word. He is its servant and not its master. Like Zechariah, the priest must open his mouth and speak the praises of God.

O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee!