Christ’s right-hand man

Editor’s note: As the Church prepares to celebrate World Day of Prayer for Vocations on May 11, Good Shepherd Sunday, the vocations director of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis’ shares this reflection on the call to the priesthood.

There is an interesting phrase we Christians have professed in our Creed for centuries that is easy to gloss over: He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. To be at someone’s right hand signifies closeness, honor and authority, and thus, the Father shares everything that belongs to him with his Son. You’ve heard before the expression “he’s my right-hand man,” referring to someone who is indispensable as a trustworthy and loyal coworker. Think of Christ this way to his Father: He’s his Father’s right-hand man.

Now interestingly enough, Jesus uses similar language in John’s Gospel when speaking about himself as the good shepherd: “No one can take them out of the Father’s hand. The Father and I are one” (Jn 10:29-30). So, if the Father and the Son are one, are we safe in Christ’s hand or the Father’s? Here is perhaps where St. Augustine can be helpful: “the Son is the hand of the Father, not in a bodily sense, but as being he through whom all things were made” (Tractate on John, #48). The hand works, blesses, prays, even speaks, and so if Christ is the hand of the Father, he does all these things as one who shares in his Father’s honor and authority.

Jesus says, “My sheep hear my voice … no one can take them out of my hand” (Jn 10:27, 28). This time Jesus speaks of his own hand, not the Father’s. And so, if I may extend St. Augustine’s point one notch further, who calls Christ “the hand of the Father,” then I would call the priest “the hand of Christ.” With a brother’s kindness, Jesus chooses men to become sharers in his sacred ministry (cf. Preface for the Chrism Mass). In other words, he chooses the priest to be his hand: to be his right-hand man.

What greater honor could a man receive than for Christ to consider him to be a trustworthy and loyal coworker? When the Code of Canon Law speaks of those to be ordained to the priesthood, it says in part that the man must be considered “useful for the ministry of the Church” (CIC 1025, §2). I think this speaks directly to the hearts of men: Simply put, we love being useful. We don’t like standing around idle all day with nothing to do (think of the parable of the hired workers). No, we’d much rather lend a helping hand and look back on our day simply knowing that we helped someone. Before my head hits the pillow, I think of the people I fed with Christ’s body and blood, the people I helped unburden from their sins, the people who are mourning the death of a loved one, to whom I could bring a word of consolation. I think of the people lying sick to whom I brought a bit of spiritual comfort, the people who from my hands received the waters of baptism. How’s that for a useful day?

So, to readers praying about your vocations, I ask you please to consider the priesthood. In my lowly opinion, there is no greater honor than to be considered useful for the ministry of the Church and to be Christ’s hired worker. The Man who gave himself up to the point of death for your sins and rose from the dead to make you coheirs with him offers you even more: to be his trustworthy and loyal coworker in his vineyard; to be his right-hand man.

Father Pavlak is director of vocations for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. He can be reached at stpaulpriest@10000vocations.org.