(A review of Cardinal Vidal’s homilies)
All priestly vocations begin with a love affair.” This line can set a novel into motion, having the power of a famous first sentence. In fact, it comes from a talk given at a retreat for priests. The talk forms part of a collection of religious discourses given by Ricardo J. Cardinal Vidal to the clergy, entitled, “Revelations of a Father’s Heart — a Collection of Homilies for Priests.”
Nonetheless, one discerns from the collection a life, the life of a priest — from ordination to parish work and retirement and, well, the Great Beyond.
At a reunion of priests, the cardinal mentions the love that starts it all. The love of God, actually. For which, in effect, each of them in their youth joyfully went off to sell everything he had “to buy the field of his dreams.”
And then ordination. Of that ecstatic day, Cardinal Vidal speaks, “You were the hero of your town, the center of everybody’s attention, the honor of your family’s name.”
Then came the ministry, the parish, or some other assignment. The great task in life is to find reality, writes novelist Iris Murdoch. But even to priests reality can be a burden. “Ordination made us priests, but it is not the priesthood. Ministry is the work that we do, but priesthood is who we are,” the cardinal stresses, adding that the burden of the priesthood “is in the claim that God has made on us.”
God’s claim on the priest has for its purpose freedom and lightness. But in time the priest could find the lightness unbearable, and seek relief in the privileges of his ministry. “We begin to enjoy the perks, we immerse ourselves in the life and affection of the people, we distract ourselves with material good.”
And then boredom could set in. The cardinal warns, “The greatest danger for a priest is not a girl texting in the middle of the night, or the offer of money in exchange for church property. The greatest danger for a priest is boredom.” Boredom makes a priest answer text messages in the middle of the night, and accept proposals for getting more money out of church property. “It is boredom that will make us consider new possibilities for ourselves,” the cardinal adds.
The priest might fill his days with work and escape from the clutches of boredom, but at the end of the day, he would certainly get burned out. Is it a choice between being bored and getting burned out? No, says the cardinal. “Priesthood does not take its worth from the amount of work we do; it takes its meaning from the personal relationship we have with the Lord.”
These discourses are the fruit of the cardinal’s long experience in the guidance and direction of priests. He became a bishop at age 40 and, by November 30, 2008, would have served as such for no less than 37 years, an event that the publication of this book seeks to commemorate.
When he was still Archbishop of Lipa, John Paul II told him, “My dear brother, you are still too young to be archbishop.” He replied, “My Holiness, you were the one who appointed me.” And the pope nodded, “Yes, because you have much to do.”
The years have validated the pope’s words. From Lipa, he moved to Cebu, where in 1982 he was installed archbishop. In 1984 he received the red hat.
In his apostolic exhortation, Pastores Gregis, John Paul II prescribes the duties of a bishop towards his priests: “The Bishop will always strive to relate to his priests as a father and brother who loves them, listens to them, welcomes them, corrects them, supports them, seeks their cooperation and, as much as possible, is concerned for their human, spiritual, ministerial and financial well-being.”
These discourses take the pope’s instructions to heart. In one homily, the cardinal reminds those who have strayed that they could not just say, “Stop the world, I want to get off!” Because the world will just go on without them. What they need is to rediscover “the spirit of adventure that anticipates the revelation of life’s many surprises.”
This is why, the cardinal says, there can be no retirement from the priesthood.
The cardinal traces what he calls “the ambiguity of the priesthood” to the cycle of presence and absence that the soul experiences of God. But, he adds, “the Lord does not play hide and seek with us, he hides himself so that we may learn the difference between what we think he is and what he really is.”
He considers the problems in the priesthood as mostly problems with authority, not celibacy. As it happens, the lowly seminarian evolves into a self-important priest. He believes that the transition should not be made. “We cross over from submission to authority by not crossing over,” says the cardinal. “The priesthood is not about wielding power,” he adds.
The priesthood has its supports in the paradox in the way one relates to God. “The priesthood is founded not on strength, but on weakness.” Which is why, the cardinal says, the priesthood is an emptying, a kenosis. “When we empty ourselves of all claim to power, we will discover that we belong to God.” And this is why, he says, the priestly vocation is anchored on prayer. “It is an oxymoron — a priest who does not pray.”
Wit gives these discourses charm. In a homily on the feast of the beheading of John the Baptist, the cardinal counsels the priests: “Beware of dancing women, lest they ask the head of your bishop on a silver platter.” In another homily, he urges the priests to have the right relationships, warning them that: “If you take care of your car as if it were your wife, you need a careful reassessment of your sexuality.”
Aside from giving them a peep into the dynamics of the priest’s soul, these discourses, in spelling out the ways of attaining intimacy with Christ, will benefit the lay people, who, like the priests, are not perfect but are called to holiness. Perfection is not the same as holiness, says the cardinal.
“Perfection means always being whole and having never been broken. Holiness is being broken and then being made whole once again.”
In one talk, the cardinal appeals to the priests, letting out a cri de couer: “Let us take care of each other. Let us serve each other’s needs. You know how I have taken great pains to accommodate your needs, especially when you are at the lowest ebb in your life. I am always aware that in those dark moments, there is really no one who can help the priest but his bishop. But just as you would expect your bishop to understand you and take care of you, please I beg you, to also think about your bishop when you contemplate on doing something harmful to yourself. Whatever harms you, harms me too. Whatever hurts you, hurts me too.”
He declares, “For if there is anything more precious to me than my life, it is your priesthood.”
Ordination is like a marriage. This too is why priestly vocations begin with a love affair. The priest puts his hands in the hands of the bishop, and the bishop binds himself before God to look after those hands.
Despite the stray narrative strands that we can pick out from the weave, I think that, more than a novel, the cardinal’s discourses resemble a cycle of prose poems on the theme of solicitude. In a sense, because they too are a pastoral romance of a sort, I find them a truer, if not a more meaningful version, of “The Passionate Shepherd to his Love.”