“Master your craft, first.”
Holding me back, in my estimation
Haven’t yet reached elite level:
preaching: discipline, mess, world-salad
visiting the home-bound: discipline, hustle
religious-ed: infrastructure, application, hustle
music: infrastructure, application, hustle
These are the first four to come-to-mind. I’m sure by the time I’m done writing this I’ll add a couple of more; so I’ll revise this in a minute.
If we can triangulate around the personal holiness of the sacred minister with these three points—excellence in his particular priestly office (parish priest), fidelity to his ordinary, and concern for his brother priests—what does “mastery” look like in each?
It first looks like “competence.”
Mastery is not necessarily jack-of-all-trades-manship.
Careful, here.
There is a basic competence required for my field of work. What is it?
A Manual for the parish priest:
Notice, here, we’re already moving beyond the scope of the previous project (Eucharistic Custody).
Good fraternity can help you gain knowledge and competence in areas where you lack immediate, direct experience.
Fidelity to the Bishop reminds you you’re in it for the long haul. This is a project that you’ll give your whole life for, even from exile.
