By Fr. Michael Redden

Father Michael Redden was ordained in Ireland on June 10, 1972. Having recently begun his first priestly assignment at St. Peter and Paul parish in Decatur, Father Redden is the newest of the Irish clergy serving in North Georgia. Father Adamski has asked him to share some of his thoughts on priesthood with the readers of “Role Call.”

Every person in the world today is searching for a meaning in life, looking for something that will keep him going, something that will make life worth living, and give it a meaning in this fast-moving and changing world. In short, each person seeks happiness.

Happiness is not what you can get but what you can give. There is no one who has more to give than the priest – because he can give Christ to the world.

The priest has no family of his own. In each priest there is a conclusion of his race and of his name. This is so because he gives his whole life over to Christ and to giving Christ to the people. He opens his arms to all men but closes them on no one.

A priest is at everyone’s call, or he should be, not only for eight hours a day, but for the full 24. His work is never done. He never closes his door and he can never refuse an appeal for help.

People need comfort in sorrow. There is one way to make sure sorrow never enters your life and that is never to love anymore. Wherever there is love, there will be sorrow. This means that everyone in the world will know tears and sorrow at times. There is no congregation in the world where there isn’t someone who is sad. It is the priest’s duty to bring comfort to them.

In every congregation there are people suffering from a sense of guilt, sin, despair, hopelessness; there are those in whom the realization of, and penitence for, sin has never been awakened. After the awakening there must come a word of hope and comfort. A priest must encourage the people, help them stand on their own feet and meet life in a state of love.

A priest today needs to be a prophet. In the Old Testament, prophets were people with a vision to the future, they could see what was happening, the way history was developing. A prophet could see the direction that the people of God were taking; he saw their destiny. Every country needs a prophet with a listening ear. People are often so completely taken up with discussions and arguments that they have no time to listen. Even in prayer we tell God what we want him to do, we seldom listen to what he wants us to do.

The prophets spoke out against wrong doings of their time, the apostles spoke out. St. Peter said we cannot but speak out about the things we’ve seen and heard. The priest too must speak out. Men are needed today to preserve the moral standards by which society is held together. Men are needed today to preserve the standards of liberty and of freedom which cost so much to achieve.

A priest is a disciple of Christ. A disciple is one who learns, his first quality being order. This is especially true when he is learning, not a special science, but a way of life. Learning is getting things in order, ordering life towards its principle, God. To lead people to God, one must be more with God, have a great sense of God. A priest’s life must be a loving worship of God. Priests must stand out as living examples of true religion.

So far, I’ve just given a very brief outline of what’s expected of a priest, but what does it take to make a priest? A simple answer is it takes a man. A man with a deep love of God, and a great love of people, a man with visions and an unconquerable hope in the future, a man with a deep faith in God, a faith that makes him firm, a faith that makes him speak out and tell the world that there is a God, a God who knows, loves and cares about the universe.

Priests are needed to lead the people back to God. People seek answers for their doubts, their questions and fears. The world is full of great ideas, but someone is needed to bring those ideas to their fullness, to guide and instruct. A priest can help this world find a meaning and direction.

One thing we value more today than anything else is time. Always giving time to others and refusing to run from them is very demanding. But time freely given is not only a surrendering of comfort but an opening to a great unpredictable human encounter.

A priest must be above all a man of prayer. Prayer helps him to come closer to God, know God and have faith in God. Knowledge of God and faith are very necessary. You cannot be a good priest if you do not pray. You cannot help people to have faith, hope and love if your own faith, hope and love does not compel you to pray. To bring God to people you must be in living contact with Him. Prayer is a necessary part of that effort.