SPECIAL EDITION SERIES 5 ARTICLE #23 - August 4th, 2023 by Fr. Ben Daghir

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SPECIAL EDITION SERIES 5 ARTICLE #23 - August 4th, 2023 by Fr. Ben Daghir

Editor's Note: Last year, Fr. Ben Daghir had the unique opportunity to preach to priests of the Diocese of Erie on August 4, 2022. Annually, the priests gather on the feast of St. John Vianney (August 4th) to pray, celebrate Mass, spend time with one another, and be renewed in the priesthood. This article is a summary of Fr. Ben Daghir's homily. The Gospel was Matthew 16:13-23. 

Article:
Brothers,

I find this Gospel passage rather 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.

Archbishop Fulton Sheen, in his work The Priest Is Not His Own, distinguishes between Simon and Peter. He argues that each of us has “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. which need to be squashed; they are like weeds which I beg Christ, the Master of the Harvest, would rip out. 

Maybe your situation is 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 beginning to find yourself at ease, even excited with 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 from a month ago. In fact, 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 in the midst of change. Nonetheless, there has never been a ceasefire with 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 separates St. Paul from Fulton Sheen, but the tension between Simon and Peter was present in both of them. 

How often we as priests can 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 on our own will power. 

To be clear, Simon Peter in today’s Gospel 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 may we together serve only one Master, Jesus Christ. 
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Fr. Ben Daghir is a priest for the Diocese of Erie. He is a graduate of Elk County Catholic High School in Saint Marys, Saint Vincent College in Latrobe, and St. Mary's Seminary & University in Baltimore, Maryland. He considers writing one of his favorite hobbies.