Editor’s Note: Fr. Ben Daghir preached this homily on August 4, 2022, to his brother priests at St. Jude the Apostle Church, Erie. The feast day of St. John Vianney is August 4th.
Brothers,
I find this Gospel passage fitting during this priest gathering on the feast of St. John Vianney. Today’s Gospel provides an honest perspective of Simon Peter: Jesus calls him both the rock and Satan. In other words, the human nature of a priest is on full display.
In his work The Priest Is Not His Own, Archbishop Fulton Sheen distinguishes between Simon and Peter. He argues that we have “two natures: a fallen human nature called Simon, which makes us simply another man, and a priestly nature called Peter, which makes us another Christ.”
In just two months of priesthood, I have certainly felt this inner tension between Simon and Peter. I have inclinations, habits, desires, etc., that need to be squashed; they are like weeds that I beg Christ, the Master of the Harvest, to rip out.
Your situation may be that you are now a month into your new assignment and beginning to feel more comfortable. The stresses with change are diminishing, and you are starting to find yourself at ease, even excited about new opportunities. Yet, the Simon and Peter within you are still at war. A new assignment didn’t resolve the inner conflict.
Or, maybe you didn’t receive a new assignment a month ago. You are now years or even decades in the same rectory. As a result, the inner conflict between Simon and Peter hasn’t been brought to the surface amid change. Nonetheless, there has never been a ceasefire in that war. The tension between Simon and Peter continues.
Fulton Sheen is very honest about this battle within ourselves. He writes, “We have all seen this inner conflict reenacted a thousand times in our own person: at this moment, another Christ; at that moment, another Satan.” I remember reading those words during my canonical retreat before the ordination to the priesthood. I examined my life and thought to myself, “Yes, I also have moments when I am another Christ and other moments when I reflect that of Satan.” St. Paul understood this dynamic well when he wrote to the Corinthians, “We hold this treasure in earthen vessels.”
Almost 2,000 years separated St. Paul from Fulton Sheen, but the tension between Simon and Peter was present in both of them.
How often do we, as priests, experience this tension with a parishioner or staff member?
Are there certain brother priests who bring out the Simon within us? Do our brother priests encounter Christ in our presence or another Satan who criticizes, blames, and gossips?
How about with regard to ourselves? Do we speak as another Christ to ourselves, or do we beat ourselves up like Satan, always focusing on our flaws, mistakes, inabilities, weaknesses, errors, and failures?
Peter, who at one moment is the rock and the next moment is called Satan, reminds us that our hands are soaked in both chrism and sin. The chrism might cover the odor of our fallen humanity for a day or two, but without the fragrance of the Gospel, the Eucharist, prayer, fraternity, learning from our parishioners, and the virtue of charity, the stench of sin will begin to reek. Of course, people can sniff out the nature of Simon within a priest from miles away.
So, what do we do with this inner tension?
Fulton Sheen’s advice is to serve one master, not two. Sheen states that the temptation for priests is to convince ourselves that we can handle the conflict with our willpower.
To be clear, in today’s Gospel, Simon Peter is still serving two masters. Like me, and quite possibly like you, Simon Peter is still geographically and spiritually far away from his crucifixion in Rome, from that martyrdom in which he serves only one master, Jesus Christ.
I’ll conclude this homily with a few words from St. John Vianney. In a homily entitled “Serve only one Master,” Vianney preached:
“What a sad life does a priest lead who wants both to please the world and to serve God! It is a great mistake to make, my friends.”
Of course, Vianney demands that we serve only one Master, Jesus Christ.
Building upon the examples of St. Peter, St. John Vianney, and Archbishop Fulton Sheen, may we be renewed in our priesthood through this gathering as brothers and serve only one Master, Jesus Christ.
+ Fr. Ben Daghir