Priests are called to serve the community

Bishop Joseph Hii of Sibu called on Catholics to pray for their priests, that they may become priests who serve.

In making the call during the Chrism Mass at Sacred Heart Cathedral on March 21, he said priests sometimes forgot the purpose of their vocation due to human weaknesses.

“We all had been consecrated through our baptism but, within this baptismal vocation, there is a call within a call for some of us to the priesthood.

“But this call within a call is not a call to go higher in position. However, we are all humans, many times we fail due to human weaknesses, and we tend to forget the purpose of our leadership,” he said.

Because of human weaknesses, he said, many priests want to be served instead of serving the community.

“God calls us to lead and we are also called to service; to serve the community and not to be served,” he pointed out.

He also said that the priests need the community to teach them to be better and to be humble.

That was why coming together, especially for the Chrism Mass, is important for the priests to rededicate, remind and to renew themselves to serve the community and to remain humble.

It was also important for the community to come together to pray for their priests to enable them to become better priests.

“You have so much to teach us because, as a community, you are priestly people, kingly people, prophetic people, so we also need to learn from you and be humble,” he said.

Article reproduced from Herald Malaysia online