This past week America Magazine published an article where they reported from a survey they had conducted a finding I did not find surprising at all. It stated priests feel overworked, isolated and lonely. The overworked is from the fewer number of priests and the reason they cited for the feeling of isolation is the continuing abuse crisis within our Church. It certainly wasn’t surprising because I too often feel many of these things in my own priesthood and when talking with my brother priests they also talk about many of these same symptoms…but there is also a response our faith in Jesus Christ asks us to embrace…it is the hope of life where we recognize how the relationship of love helps us live in a broken and suffering world.
It is the intimacy of love Jesus lives and invites us to live within which reminds us of how our feelings are fulfilled and we find peace in true relationship to an other. It is making an act of faith in another, God first and foremost, but also importantly those we know and love. It is the faith that God and others care enough about me as a person to listen, take time and share their hearts with us in an interchange of love and hope. It is the hope that I can be known better and deeper in the sharing of myself with God and enter into His Sacred Heart in the offering of my heart. This is the true intimacy of relationship and life.
Now, I know these are easy words to write but very difficult to live and do because to accomplish true intimacy is hard work and constant works of love. It was appropriate that a few days after this article was published that the morning Mass proclaimed this in the Gospel reading, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Mt 11:28-30)

And here is my commercial…one of the ways I discovered I could combat the feeling of overwork and isolation is my involvement in Worldwide Marriage Encounter. It is here that I can share my feelings with married couples and families who truly care for me and have those relationships where there can be the deeper and more profound intimacy of love which we all need to be truly satisfied. Is there “work” involved with Marriage Encounter…yes…but it is the work that gives purpose to all the other things that happen in life and in the caring for others. It is in the relationships we share as children of God where I grow in peace in the chaste celibate life God and his holy Church call me to live.
I am not a pollyanna but I do know and trust God gives us the gifts necessary to live happy and joyous lives even in the midst of the struggles and pains that surround us. I also know that loneliness, isolation and overwork is not only found in the priesthood and I would highly recommend a Marriage Encounter weekend to any husband and wife…even those who may have attended a weekend many years ago.
So, a few things you can do to help your priests: invite them for breakfast, coffee, lunch or dinner…they will often say “no, I am too busy” but be persistent. Before I went on my original Marriage Encounter weekend, I was asked over a dozen times. When they do say yes, don’t make it another Church meeting…just talk about normal things.
Second, volunteer at your parish. It is amazing how an active and alive parish feeds the souls of a parish priest to do more.
And…pray for your priests, pray with your priests and pray for grace filled priests.
God Bless
Fr. Mark