DETROIT — On the treadmill, via a phone app or in front of the Eucharist, priests find the time to pray in their personal life, bringing them peace within a busy vocation.
Priesthood Sunday, celebrated Oct. 28, recognizes the importance of our pastoral leaders and how vital they are to our Church community.
“Priests are no longer the only ones who offer pastoral care to our people,” Archbishop John Vlazny of the Archdiocese of Portland, Ore., said on a website set up to recognize the day. “Yet without a priest, no parish is able to be a Eucharistic community. It is important to reaffirm the importance of the priesthood of Jesus Christ and its central place in the life of our Church.”
Central in the life of many priests, in turn, is prayer.
Fr. Stephen Rooney says prayer doesn’t have to be mastered; rather, it is an essential part of a faith life that is both elusive and integral to Scripture.
“A piece of fundamental truth regarding prayer is given by St. Paul: We do not know how to do it. ‘We do not know what we are rightly to pray; but the Spirit Himself intercedes on our behalf with unutterable groans…’” Fr. Rooney said.
At one time, Fr. Rooney, pastor of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish in Temperance, says he believed prayer was something at which he, as a priest, should be proficient.
“But I soon realized that this kind of attitude put me in danger of seriously falsifying my relationship with God,” he said. “This elusiveness of prayer is an integral part of the scriptural view of prayer as something that God retains under God’s own control.”
Though there are some changes in the New Testament, “the doctrine remains the same,” he said. “Under the new covenant, all those who are in Christ are authorized to pray, because all are priests and prophets.”
He says he was humbled by this revelation. “I had to learn that all prayer is a gift and at times all I can do is to sit in silence waiting until it is granted to me,” Fr. Rooney said. “When the silence becomes a burden or my mind is all over the place, I take to ‘saying my prayers.’
“That may be the rosary or the prayers my mother taught us: to hold the crucifix and to kiss the Holy Wounds of Jesus,” he said. “My day begins and ends with praying the Liturgy of the Hours,” the official set of daily prayers recited each day by all clergy in the Roman Rite, and many religious and lay Catholics as well.
With a multitude of responsibilities, Fr. Rooney finds time to pray no matter what he is doing — including when he’s exercising: “When I’m on the treadmill, I tend to try and pray for the people who asked me to pray for them,” he said.
Learning to be humble before prayer was a grace given to Fr. Doug Bignall, whose knee surgery last year now prevents him from genuflecting, an act he truly loved.
In the church he leads, St. Thecla in Clinton Township, he finds peace when he prays after each morning Mass.
“I love the priesthood and I love serving God’s people,” he said. “Without prayer, without being rooted in Christ — daily — I wouldn’t be able to accomplish anything, at least successfully. I truly believe in, and am thoroughly boosted, by my daily prayer, the Liturgy of the Hours, and the celebration of the most Holy Eucharist.”
He recalls going to Mass as a child with his grandparents at St. Joachim Church in Detroit. Because he and his brothers would arrive at the church two hours early, he “really” learned how to pray, he said, laughing.
“Each and every day does bring tremendous challenges, especially those that arise from ministry. But the blessings that come from serving the Lord outweigh any challenge I might face,” Fr. Bignall said. “In order to serve the Lord each and every day, I know I need to spend some time with the Lord, in thanks, in adoration, in contemplation, and in awe of all that He has given to me.”
Prayer comes to other priests in many ways. With modern times upon us, Fr. Brian Cokonougher, pastor of Holy Trinity, which covers the Port Huron faith communities of St. Stephen, St. Joseph and Our Lady of Guadalupe, uses what some might consider a rather unique routine.
“Something that I have recently started to use to help me maintain my prayer life is the iBreviary app for my smartphone,” Fr. Cokonougher said. “Given that I — like so many priests — am responsible for multiple worship sites, it has become a very helpful tool for stopping in the middle of the day to find strength and encouragement through the prayer of the Church, the Liturgy of the Hours.”
No matter how or when it’s done, all priests can agree that prayer should be a thread throughout everyone’s lives, clergy or lay.
Said Fr. Rooney, “The great Dominican preacher, William Peraldus, explained why prayer is such a good thing, so easy and open to everyone: ‘Not everyone can give alms, not everyone can fast, but everyone can pray; even if they are dumb, they can pray mental prayer.’”
Michelle Samartino is a freelance writer from Rochester.
