Reaction Paper I on our class on Theology of Holy Orders

The Priestly Calling: Human and Divine

It is clear, whether in the Old Testament or in the New Testament, it is of great significance to note that the priesthood is not something that someone or somebody arrogates it to himself but rather it is always God who chose the person to become a priest. It is a fact that priesthood is a calling. A person does not chose to become a priest but he is called to become one.

With this, most of us contend that the calling of a priest is a divine thing. And I think nobody would neither disagree with me nor argue with this idea. The vocation to the priesthood has been and will always be “divine calling”. Priesthood is a vocation, it is God-given, a grace of God to the person worth of such a call. However, as I have come to think of it, all of these so called “calling” or “vocation” (i.e. priestly calling and the other vocations for that matter) is a human phenomenon quite contrary to our fixation that it is only the divine hand that is at work when it comes to this area. For me, the calling should be taken always in the context of God entering into the human sphere. The divine working in the human dimension.

How do we know one is called to the priesthood in the first place and not in marriage live or in others things. This is not as easy as it sounds. We are not anymore in the scriptural times, where God calls the prophets literally, given the case of Samuel, where the divine voice calls his name from the heavens, awaking him from his slumber. In our times, one does not really know whether he is called to the priesthood or not. He therefore takes his chances and this is where the human dimension comes in vis-à-vis the divine call.

I would say that one does not know that this is a calling until he sees there is value in it. Like any other “vocations”, a person must see the value of it before I think one could recognize it as a vocation or a calling. Without such appreciation and valuing, such idea of call cannot exist. God must operate also in the limit of the human dimension. And I think there would be no “pure” calling per se without the human person valuing it, referring to it and/or naming it as a “calling” or vocation and with any luck, refer it to God, calling him in this kind vocation in life.

It is also true in the Old Testament, for it is said that one cannot decide that he is a priest is chosen. And so how? By belonging to the tribe of Levi. What we have here in fact is that God is using a human dimension (physical in this sense because you must be born and belong to the tribe of Levi) for calling a person to the priesthood. Calling therefore, must be taken in the context of our humanity. Even if one is convince that God calling him to this kind life however does not see the value of it, eventually has no calling. A calling cannot exist on its own. It has to be experience first by the person, value it and later refer to it as a calling.

So therefore, it would be an impossibility to have a calling without a person valuing it, for valuing is detrimental to the existence of the call itself. I am not sure if my observations are valid and right, however, these are just some of the questions that linger in my mind. Could there be a possibility of a calling even without the person valuing it? Can there be a God of call with out a person knowing it thereby not responding to it? It’s a reality, that human beings as we are, our psychological, emotional, sociological and rational complexities might get into the way wherein it might lead to the concealment and burying of such calling rather that unearthing it?

These are some of the issues that struck me about the priestly calling. Though I am convinced that such (i.e. calling) is a divine call however, is always contextualized in our own existential experience and reality and cannot be separated from it for I believe it cannot exist as it is.