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The whole art of being a parish priest can be summed up in two loves, one fearlessness, and one fear.
The first love: Love of God.
My late confrère Pater Norbert used to spend an hour kneeling in prayer in the parish Church in Sulz before Sunday Mass, and many of his parishioners have told me how moved they were by his evident friendship with God.
Nothing inspires to prayer as much as seeing someone fulfilled by prayer.
The second love: Love of the parishioners.
This means willing their good, and that necessitates being interested in their lives, remembering their names, suffering with those who suffer and rejoicing with those who rejoice.
There is a priest in the Archdiocese of Vienna who carries a bouquet of flowers to every married couple in his parish on their wedding anniversary every year. Most every day he has several bouquets to deliver.
The one fearlessness: In order to truly love his parishioners it is important that a priest not fear them, that he not be dependent on their praise and approval, that he not be too weighed down by their criticisms.
People will always be upset about something or other (“You coward! How dare you follow the Bishop’s directives on the Corona prevention!” etc.). It is important to be able to accept their anger with patience and good humor.
The one fear: The Fear of God. Nothing drives out the fear of human persons more than the fear of God. One has to realize that one will be answerable at the judgement Seat of Christ for every time that one gives way out of respect of persons.
Obviously, these habits are easy to tweet about, but are difficult to live irl, as I am discovering through experience.
