Your Priest Fights a War
Your priest fights a hidden war, standing guard over the altar and your soul, wielding prayer and sacrifice as weapons, even as he battles his own weariness, trusting Christ for victory. — D.
You see him there, quiet in his robes, hands clasped and eyes cast down as though humility were his armor. And perhaps you think, as many do, that his work is soft—words and whispers, hymns and handshakes. But you do not see the field he treads. The altar is no gentle hearth; it is the frontline, flanked by unseen ranks where he stands between what is holy and the wolves that circle. You may not believe it. You may not know it. But your priest fights a war.
He wars not with sword or shield, though the battle scars him all the same. His prayers lash against the dark; his fasts grind at his body like a millstone. The Word of God he wields is sharper than iron and heavier than lead. At times, it buckles his strength, his hands trembling to hold it high. He labors to defend this house—not bricks and beams but the living stones: the gathered souls entrusted to his care, Christ's body in his hands. Each baptism, each eucharist, each blessing, each absolution—is a wound dealt to the enemy.
Yet he wars, too, with himself. Against the creeping vines of pride or despair that threaten the field of his heart, the weariness that drags his arms when he longs to lower them, like Moses on the hill. He cannot rest long; the enemy prowls, looking for the breach in the wall, for sheep to scatter. Even when he is bent and broken, he keeps watch—because the battle is not just his but God’s, and the Cross reminds him who holds victory.
Do not mistake his quietness for ease or his peace for indifference. For every hour you see him at the altar, there are others hidden: in prayer, in wrestling, in the lonely places where he seeks the strength to fight another day. Pray for him, and let your prayers be the balm to heal his wounds, the wind to lift his arms, the shield to steady his feet. Christ calls him to fight for you, so may you stand with him as he stands with God.