A priest at the altar has no face,
and the arms that elevate the Lord
are without ornament or dust.
For God imposes silence
on the one he commands to speak,
and whomever His Spirit sets ablaze
is himself extinguished.
This poem on the priest was written by a 20th century mystic, author and convert to Catholicism, Gertrud von Le Fort. She wrote over 20 books of Catholic poetry, essays, short stories, and novels. Writing between the two world wars, and up until her death in 1971, she influenced the work of many renowned Catholic thinkers and authors, especially of the French Catholic literary revival such as Georges Bernanos. She is perhaps best known for her works, The Pope from the Ghetto and The Song of the Scaffold, which was about the execution by guillotine of Carmelite nuns during the French Revolution and was the source of the opera, Dialogue of the Carmelites.
The poem on the priest was part of a work entitled, Hymn to the Church, which signaled Le Fort’s formal move to becoming a Catholic in 1924. The poem deals with the key identity of the priest and is significant for us, as priests, as we celebrate this Chrism Mass and profess our priestly identity in the renewal of our priestly promises. It is also significant to all of us in our identity as baptized followers of Christ.
A priest at the altar has no face,
and the arms that elevate the Lord
are without ornament or dust.
For God imposes silence
on the one he commands to speak,
and whomever His Spirit sets ablaze
is himself extinguished.
These words express powerfully that the priest is the proclaimer of Jesus Christ and not of himself. He is faceless, unadorned, and silent because he is the enfleshment of Jesus Christ. The priest is set ablaze because he is extinguished by the Lord Himself. The priest’s fundamental identity is summed up in the words of Saint John the Baptist, “This joy is made complete. He must increase; I must decrease.” (Jn 3:30).
God does indeed impose silence upon the priest as He commands the priest to speak. The silence imposed upon the priest is so that he can first listen to the Lord in prayer. Prayer is the essential component of a priest’s life. Without prayer, the priest cannot hear the Lord nor the people entrusted to his care.
In February, Pope Francis gave a very personal address to the priests gathered in Rome for the International Theological Symposium on the Priest. In his talk, Pope Francis emphasized, as he has on other occasions, the four forms of closeness in a priest’s life which are: closeness to God, closeness to the bishop, closeness to other priests and closeness to the people. The Pope stressed that closeness to God is primary for the priest and prayer is his primary occupation. He emphasized that a priest must have an intimacy with God born of prayer through listening to His word, the celebration of the Eucharist, the silence of adoration, entrustment to Mary and the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Pope Francis explained that a spiritual life is not the same as religious practice and that priests, as all of us, need to listen to the Lord in silence even when this is difficult. He insightfully observed, “perseverance in prayer is more than simply remaining faithful to its practice: it means not running away in those times when prayer draws us into the desert. The way of the desert is the way that leads to intimacy with God, provided we do not run away or find ways to avoid this encounter.” It is so important for the priest to be silent before the Lord, not only for intimacy, but also to avoid the confusion between what “I want” and what “God wants.” It is too easy to confuse the two wills and always a tool of the devil to do so.
The priest as silent is a very important part of the promise of obedience. I am not referring to his promise of obedience to the bishop, but his basic promise to be silent in order to listen to God as he speaks to others. The word obedience is derived from the Latin, obedire, which means to listen to, not only in the sense of following a request, but in truly listening to what another person is saying. A priest is one who is silent in order to hear the pains, the joys, and the concerns of those he serves. He remains silent in the sacraments, most especially in the Eucharist as Christ speaks His words, “This is my Body, this is My Blood.” The more these words become the priest’s words, the more he fulfills his vocation. The priest is silent in the Sacrament of Penance primarily to hear the confession of sorrow of the penitent and to lovingly offer the forgiveness of Christ. He is not there to be the prosecutor or even the counselor. He is there in the person of Jesus Christ and his primary words are the absolution of Christ. The priest is silent because he truly listens and his listening is that of the Lord which heals and saves. The core of obedience is to listen to and understand another and this is not always easy.
Listening is truly difficult for all of us, especially today with so many voices speaking through the media and instant communication. We formulate what we want to say before another person has finished speaking. It is difficult to allow others to speak when we can easily put our face first, our words first and our ornaments on display. We can be like the husband who proudly says, “I have heard so many wives complain that their husbands do not listen to them. I’ve never heard my wife say that to me!”
Pope Francis has wisely involved all of us in the process of listening at this time which is what the Synod on Synodality is all about. There is a great deal of understandable confusion about the Synod but one of its purposes is to help us all, not only to speak, but to listen. There are those who think the Synod is meant to change the teachings, disciplines, and traditions of the Church. Pope Francis has made it clear that this is not the case. On the other hand, there are those who feel the Synod is a waste of time because there are too many other important matters to tend to than to speak and listen. The Pope has emphasized that the Synod is meant to help us accompany each other by assisting us in listening to others especially in how they live their faith through the support of the Church. The two disciples on the Road to Emmaus were too busy talking to Jesus before they actually listened to Him. When they heard Him, then He could become present to them in the Eucharist, the breaking of the bread.
I wish to thank you, my brother priests, for your being the collaborators, examples and brothers that you are to me in your priestly ministry. I assure you of my support, fidelity, and always of my prayers. As we now renew our Priestly promises, may we together know the joy of the Lord for whom we are faceless so that we can be His face, for whom we go with unadorned arms to lift Him up and for whom we are silent so we can hear His voice and the voices of those whom we serve in His name.
A priest at the altar has no face,
and the arms that elevate the Lord
are without ornament or dust.
For God imposes silence
on the one He commands to speak,
and whomever His Spirit sets ablaze
is himself extinguished.
Most Reverend Gerald M. Barbarito
April 22, 2022
