For the Increase of Priests

Within the Polish National Catholic Church, the month of June is designated as Sacred Vocations Month.  It is a chance for the entire Church and each of its parishes and members to focus their attention and prayers on the need of the Church for priests and deacons to take up the sacred ministry.  The prayer book of the P.N.C.C. contains the following prayer that I encourage all Polish National Catholics to pray.

FOR THE INCREASE OF PRIESTS

Almighty and Eternal God, in Your plan for our
salvation You provide priests as shepherds for Your people.  Inspire men to answer Your call to become priests, because “the harvest is great but the laborers are few.”  Grant Your Church an increase of priests and keep them faithful in their love and service to You and the people entrusted to their care.  Through their faith and ministry may Your light shine in the world and Your kingdom be built among us.  Through Jesus Christ, our High Priest.  Amen.

Within the prayer there is much for us to consider as we continue to pray for priests to answer the call to the sacred ministry.  We first acknowledge that the ministry of priests within the Church is a part of the plan of God for our salvation.  Throughout the pages of Scripture we know that God desires to be in a
relationship with each of us, but we then ask ourselves, how does each of us participate in this?  Does each one of us have to go out to the desert to meet God?  Do we have to travel to the Holy Land?  Must we climb the nearest mountain?  None of this is the case; God provides priests so that, in each community, His representative may be present, and the community of God, where we partake of the resence of God, is then as close as our parish church, where God’s priest stands as the mediator of the divine presence.

As a Catholic Church, we know that our religious life revolves around the sacraments, and especially the Eucharist.  For this ministry to be fruitful and active within our parishes and our Church there must be priests.  But within this work the priests serve as shepherds.  They certainly have a ministry to impart the sacraments to the faithful, but this ministry does not end there.  It is the priests who teach us the meaning and importance of the Eucharist as well as what it signifies and accomplishes within our life.  It is the priest who helps to prepare us, in the teaching of children and adults through classes and homilies; and it is also the priest who helps us to receive the sacrament worthily through confessing our sins and making our souls clean to receive the presence of
Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.

In all of this the priest truly acts as a shepherd and follows the example of Jesus, Who is the Good Shepherd.  In John 10:11-15 we hear Jesus tell of this role of the shepherd, “I am the good shepherd.  A good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.  A hired man, who is not a shepherd and whose sheep are not his own, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away, and the wolf catches and scatters them.  This is because he works for pay and has no concern for the sheep.  I am the good shepherd, and I know mine and mine know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I will lay down my life for the sheep.”

The priest then must follow the example of the Good Shepherd, out of love and concern for the sheep, the

people of God, that he is to nurture and protect.  But it is also in the priest’s role as shepherd that he is to guide and discipline them to keep them safe and sound. The priest performs this important role all in the plan for our salvation given by God.  Certainly we must pray for those who serve as priests and shepherds over us and pray that as God calls further shepherds, they will answer this important call.

In the next sentence of the prayer we say, “Inspire men to answer Your call to become priests.”  Notice that we do not pray for God to call men; this is
because we really don’t have to.  If it is God’s plan for our salvation that there be priests, then we can know for sure that He will call them.  The issue than is that these men then be able to answer that call.  We pray that these men be inspired to rise above the confusion and din of everyday life and answer this call.  Within this part of the prayer we must also be cognizant of the role we play in these men being able to answer this call.  We certainly know that the world today is not conducive to men answering the call to serve God as priests.  The world calls people to the lure of power and pleasure rather than to service.  But while we point the finger at our culture and the rest of society, what are each of us encouraging in the world around us?  Do we honor those who serve us in the role of priests and shepherds?  Do we show respect to them in how we treat our priests and support them, both financially and spiritually?  As we pray for God to inspire men to answer the call to the priesthood, let us also pray for the inspiration to honor and respect our priests and thereby encourage other men to answer the call of God to the priesthood.

We next pray for the priests to be “faithful in their love and service to You [God] and the people entrusted to their care.”  We certainly ask God to give our priests strength to persevere, especially in this difficult world, but again we must realize that we play a role in this aspect as well.  Do we listen to the spiritual advice and guidance that are offered to us by the priests and bishops of the Church?  Do we help them in their work for the parish and the Church in supporting their programs and participating in the spiritual services of the Church? Do we realize that all of these programs and services are for the benefit of us as God’s people, and not for the priest alone?

And lastly we pray, “through their faith and ministry may Your light shine in the world and Your kingdom be built among us.”  We must realize that this work of the deacons, priests and bishops among us is not a human work.  It is not just another job among many different choices of vocation.  The work of the sacred vocations is holy.  It is the work of Jesus Christ in the world, to shine forth the light of Christ and build the kingdom of God.  It is a holy work that is being
accomplished because God wills it; but the question is then, are we a part of God’s plan or are we working against God’s plan?

Now I know that the call to the priesthood is usually not something that comes out of the blue like a flash of lightning from the sky.  It is rather a gentle calling, like the “still small voice” that is mentioned in Scripture.  Because of this the call to a sacred vocation is also truly the work of the entire
community of God.  God begins the call, but then the community of God, our parish churches and the entire P.N.C.C., must nurture this call in the men of the Church.  As we each pray this prayer during this month of June for sacred vocations and also throughout the year, let us remember these words are not enough.  Our prayer must also be the actions of our own lives and our parish lives that the priesthood is something that is honored and respected.  Knowing that our priests are called by God for our benefit, let us thank God for His plan of salvation which includes our deacons, priests and bishops, but also let us pray and work that His plan will continue strongly in the P.N.C. C. through the ministry and sacred vocations of the clergy.