The Cost of Being A Priest: Fr. Zachariah Lynch
or, the reality of being Christian
I was wasting time at the office yesterday when I saw a particularly touching video that almost brought me to tears, but at the very least made me sit up and pay attention. It was a Roots of Orthodoxy video interviewing Fr. Zachariah Lynch, particularly the video asking him about being a priest. Here’s the video:
As it turns out, I used to read Fr. Zachariah’s blog, The InklessPen, back in my Red Pill Days. This was at the beginning of my turn to Christianity. Of course, I was too stupid to fully accept Christ back then and carried on in my own turmoil and misery but such is life I suppose (another story for another day).
Lynch starts off the interview saying that it’s “a terrible thing… to be a priest. It’s beautiful in some sense, I wouldn’t change it… you love it but… you have to die.”
“…it’s terrible… it’s terrible…” And he literally starts crying.
On the one hand, it’s hard to watch. You can tell Lynch has been through a lot for Christ. On the other hand, it’s something to emulate (in a way). Yes, he is a priest but we can simply replace the word priest with “man” or “follower” of Christ, and what changes?
If you choose to follow Christ, you have to die for him.
Please forgive me, because I say this with an amoeba’s level of understanding of Christ. I had to stop writing so much because I realized I knew so little. But still…
If you choose to follow Christ, you have to die for him.
It’s difficult. If someone came up to you and asked you to renounce God or die, you’d have to make that choice. But for most of us, it will never come to that while at the same time, it comes to that in every moment, every literal second of our lives.
Do you wake up late and skip your prayers? Do you forsake your duties because you shouldn’t have to do this? Did you give up some ambitions because they are clearly sinful? Do you love your neighbor who you’ve hated for so long? Do you drop your ego in all circumstances? Do you forgive people? Do you forgive yourself? So many decisions. Are we doing what Christ would want us to do?
“If you want to be a priest, then you have to be ready to suffer. Because you have to suffer with Christ, for your people, and for the world around you… and then you have to love and you have to try to love as best you can, and that’s a hard thing, it’s a hard thing. And there are so many temptations, so many temptations.”
His words cut me deep. It was extremely… relatable. I don’t have a flock of parishioners, but I have a family, I have friends. I have people who work for me. I have to work with people who don’t like me… who hate me, who’ve reported me or tried to get me fired for whatever reason. I work hard for leadership who would lay me off without a second thought. I have family members I know who have betrayed me and perhaps I have betrayed them. I have close friends who want nothing to do with me anymore. I’ve gossiped, I’ve lied, I’ve done bad things. The person I loved the most I lost to cancer. I’ll never see him again in this life. Surrounded by people, houses, a good life and yet it’s empty. It’s all empty. I believe that’s why I turned to Christ.
“Sometimes all you have is Christ… and you’re stripped down to almost nothing. And left with only Christ. You have to be ready to be rejected, persecuted. You have to be ready to love when people don’t love you. Forgive when forgiveness isn’t given to you. Slandered, mocked, all Christians do. It’s hard thing.”
“But in Christ there is life. You have to count the costs. We need good priests who will stand for the Gospel.”
Indeed, we need good men who will stand for the Gospel. I can only pray I’ll be one of them.
Thank you Fr. Zachariah Lynch. For being so honest.