{"id":92268,"date":"2015-05-06T00:45:46","date_gmt":"2015-05-06T07:45:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/?p=92268"},"modified":"2015-04-22T08:40:51","modified_gmt":"2015-04-22T15:40:51","slug":"a-crie-de-coeur-from-a-layperson-to-her-priest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2015\/05\/a-crie-de-coeur-from-a-layperson-to-her-priest.html","title":{"rendered":"A crie de coeur<\/i> from a layperson to her priest"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

A reader sent along this beautiful letter she sent her priest:<\/p>\n

\u201cModern man listens more willingly to witnesses than to teachers, and if he does listen to teachers, it is because they are witnesses.\u201d\u00a0(Pope Paul VI,\u00a0Address to the Members of the Consilium de Laicis<\/em>\u00a0(2 October 1974): AAS 66 (1974), p. 568.)<\/p>\n

I begin, as I said when I spoke to you after Mass yesterday,\u00a0with gratitude for your faithfulness to the teaching of the Church in your preaching. It is truly a blessing that I do not take for granted. Thank you.<\/p>\n

And yet\u2026.something left me restless, and it finally has a name.<\/p>\n

I was looking for the element of personal witness to the transformative power of God in a life that I can identify with.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cJesus, through the Church, is calling us to\u2026 \u201d Yes, it is true. (Alleluia!)<\/p>\n

But for those whose hearts have not yet been convinced (or have forgotten, or need to be reminded) that Jesus\u2019 call is a good <\/em>one, or that there is joy <\/em>to be found in answering that call, or that there is real power<\/em> available to bring real change<\/em> and healing <\/em>in my life and in the lives of those I love \u2014 for us, the crucial element is witness. Not only \u201cwe have learned these things from a trustworthy teacher\u201d, but \u201chere is how I (or those I know personally) have experienced this.\u201d Because if what the faith calls me to is primarily aspirational, something I am called to pursue, but without an experience of real power for change, for transformation\u2026 then when I am discouraged, when things are hard (and when are they not?), when I lack the resources within myself to live up to that call (and those resources are always inadequate) \u2014 then the promise of life in Christ seems like a taunt, a mockery, a mirage.<\/p>\n

I need to hear the stories of God\u2019s power made manifest in the world, in the lives of real people. I need to know that it can, and does, make a difference \u2013 not just a difference, but a top-to-bottom transformation. Because, when I look at the various messes in my life and in the world, nothing less is enough.<\/p>\n

And I know those stories are out there. I need to hear them from you. <\/em>And from my brothers and sisters. Or hope becomes remote, and I lose my way.<\/p>\n

The unspoken, implicit message my heart hears: \u201cDon\u2019t try this at home, folks.\u201d This is for the exceptional, the saints, the others. Not for the ordinary \u2014 not for you.<\/p>\n

Why are you a priest? Your priesthood empowers you to stand in the place of Christ, in persona Christi, <\/em>that through you we may directly encounter Him in the sacraments.<\/p>\n

You are a priest for the sake of the salvation of souls, beginning with your own.<\/p>\n

And if salvation is real, it is not only something on a far-off horizon. It can be known truly, and powerfully (though not fully), here and now<\/em>. That is the witness of the apostles, and of the saints through the ages.<\/p>\n

Otherwise it is just a dream, and a dream is not enough.<\/p>\n

What have you <\/em>seen and heard and touched?<\/p>\n

That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon and touched with our hands, concerning the word of life \u2014\u00a0the life was made manifest, and we saw it, and testify to it, and proclaim to you the eternal life which was with the Father and was made manifest to us \u2014\u00a0that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you may have fellowship\u00a0with us; and our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.\u00a0And we are writing this that our\u00a0joy may be complete. (I John 1:1-4)<\/p>\n

Tell me the story of Jesus. Tell me your <\/em>story of Jesus. Preach the Gospel.<\/p>\n

In hope,<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This letter, and million similar cries like I hear constantly (including from my own heart), is what Sherry Weddell\u2019s Forming Intentional Disciples<\/em><\/a> is all about. \u00a0Not for nothing has Fr. Robert Barron called it the most important book of pastoral theology in the past 25 years. \u00a0We have got to catch this vision. \u00a0The future of the Church (and therefore of the world) depends on it.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A reader sent along this beautiful letter she sent her priest: \u201cModern man listens more willingly to witnesses than to teachers, and if he does listen to teachers, it is because they are witnesses.\u201d\u00a0(Pope Paul VI,\u00a0Address to the Members of the Consilium de Laicis\u00a0(2 October 1974): AAS 66 (1974), p. 568.) I begin, as I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[249,650],"class_list":["post-92268","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-forming-intentional-disciples","tag-na"],"yoast_head":"\nA crie de coeur from a layperson to her priest<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A reader sent along this beautiful letter she sent her priest: "Modern man listens more willingly to witnesses than to teachers, and if he does listen to\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2015\/05\/a-crie-de-coeur-from-a-layperson-to-her-priest.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta 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