Why priests weep

Let the priests, the ministers of the LORD, weep...

So says today’s first reading (Joel 2:12-18) as the people of God are called to repentance.

Even now, says the LORD,
return to me with your whole heart,
with fasting, and weeping, and mourning;
Rend your hearts, not your garments,
and return to the LORD, your God.
For gracious and merciful is he,
slow to anger, rich in kindness,
and relenting in punishment.

***

Blow the trumpet in Zion!
proclaim a fast,
call an assembly;
Gather the people,
notify the congregation;
Assemble the elders,
gather the children
and the infants at the breast;
Let the bridegroom quit his room
and the bride her chamber.
Between the porch and the altar
let the priests, the ministers of the LORD, weep,
And say, “Spare, O LORD, your people...”

The weeping of the priests, of course, is not just a liturgical action, responding to the rubric demanded by the prophecy: it must and does come from the heart.

So, why would the priests weep?

First of all, like anyone, they would weep because of their own sinfulness.

But the priests have even more reasons to weep.

In his work, the priest is always an eyewitness to God’s grace at work, in the rites of the Old Testament and in the ministry of the New Testament. He knows well the goodness of the Lord.

In his work, the priest is also a frequent witness to the sinfulness of man. In the Old Testament, the priest saw the many people bringing their sin offerings to the Temple. In the Church today, priests hear the sins of the people in Confession.

The priest is thus keenly aware of the goodness of God and of the offenses against that goodness.

And thus the priests weep.

You and I may or may not be ministerial priests, but we all have cause to weep: weeping for our own sins as well as for the sins of the world – sins against God, who is all Good and deserving of all our love.