Intimacy and Loneliness
The past two days we the priests of our diocese have been gathered together to reflect more closely on the subject of intimacy and loneliness in the priesthood. It is a subject that comes up frequently in the life of most priests. We, like everyone else, need to have intimate relationships in order to live healthy lives. And we, like everyone else, sometimes struggle with loneliness.
Our presenter, Fr. Gerry McGlone, challenged us to enter more deeply into intimacy with Christ by choosing to face our loneliness and all that it entails. He reminded us that there are many ways we can choose to avoid entering into the self abandonment that loneliness can present to us. There are a multitude of temptations and addictions that can short circuit the path to intimacy with Christ.
The good news is that if we enter into loneliness, we find Christ on the cross there waiting for us. Jesus, more than anyone else, understands fully what it means to feel alone and rejected, abandoned by God.
Fr. Gerry also challenged us to answer the same question that Jesus posed to the blind man, Bartimaeus, in the Gospel of Mark, What do you want me to do for you?
It seems that most of my brother priests and I answered the question in one way or another by asking Him to bring us into closer intimacy with Him and to make us better servants. It was good to have the time to pray together with my brother priests, especially on these two interrelated issues that face all of us as we strive to live lives centered on Christ.
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hmm. Good post to think more about!
A timely post for me. I think it is often forgotten that even amid the frantic pace and nearly constant accompaniment of others in family life, it can often be a very lonely place to be as well. Asking Jesus to provide all of the intimacy that we need is a good remedy, but still, one that requires a leap of faith and trust that can be very hard to come by.
You’ve given me much to ponder. Thank you Father!
Glad you all found the material helpful. It wasn’t, in my mind, a competely fleshed out post. I would have loved for our speaker to have had more time with us than he did. There were lots of things that we could have delved into more deeply.
Suppose Christ tells the lonely priest in his quiet prayers to leave the priesthood and get married to find real intimacy. What will the church authorities say? This I believe happens.
Kryg,
It seems you are applying a very narrow definition of intimacy. There is certainly a unique kind of intimacy that is present in many marriages. There is also often loneliness within a marriage.
There are many opportunities for priests and many others who are not married I might add to experience intimacy with others (and by this I do not mean physical intimacy).
My own belief is that all people seek intimacy with God, whether married or single, but often we end up trying to fill the need for God with something less than God.
As to priests who leave priesthood to marry, I cannot speak as a “church authority”. I have a very good friend who did just that and he seems happy with the decision. That being said, I also believe, despite the bias our culture has against it, that the majority of our priests are happy doing what they have chosen. That doesn’t mean there are not struggles, but I have yet to meet anyone, priest or not, who does not have times of struggle.