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Pope Benedict XVI- General Audiences |
General
Audience
On Priestly Identity
"One Who Prays Is Not Afraid; One Who Prays Is Never Alone"
H.H. Benedict XVI
July 1, 2009
www.zenit.org
Dear brothers and sisters:
As you know, with the celebration of First Vespers for the solemnity of
the holy Apostles Peter and Paul in the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the
Walls, the Pauline Year has come to a close -- the year that marked the
2,000th anniversary of the birth of the Apostle to the Gentiles. Let us
give thanks to the Lord for the spiritual fruits that this important
initiative has brought to so many Christian communities.
As a precious heritage of the Pauline Year, we can reap the Apostle's
invitation to go deeper into the knowledge of the mystery of Christ, so
that he becomes the heart and center of our personal and social
realities.
This is, in fact, the indispensable condition for a true spiritual and
ecclesial renewal. As I already emphasized during the first Eucharistic
celebration in the Sistine Chapel after my election as the Successor of
the Apostle St. Peter, it is precisely from that full communion with
Christ that "flows every other element of the Church's life: first of
all, communion among all the faithful, the commitment to proclaiming and
witnessing to the Gospel, the ardor of love for all, especially the
poorest and lowliest" (1st Message at the End of the Eucharistic
Concelebration With the Members of the College of Cardinals in the
Sistine Chapel, April 20, 2005).
This is true in the first place for priests. Because of this, I thank
Divine Providence, which now offers us the possibility of celebrating
the Year for Priests. It is my heartfelt wish that this will be an
opportunity for interior renewal for every priest, and consequently, [a
year of] firm reinvigoration in the commitment to his own mission.
Just as during the Pauline Year, our constant reference point was St.
Paul, so in the coming months we will look to St. John Vianney, the holy
Curé d'Ars, recalling the 150th anniversary of his death. In the letter
I wrote to priests for this occasion, I wanted to emphasize what shines
forth in the existence of this humble minister of the altar: "the
complete identification of the man with his ministry."
He often said that "a good pastor, a pastor after the heart of God, is
the greatest treasure that the good God can give to a parish, and one of
the most precious gifts of divine mercy." And almost unable to conceive
the greatness of the gift and the task entrusted to a poor human
creature, he sighed, "Oh how great is the priesthood! … If he could
understand himself, he would die. … God obeys him: He pronounces two
words and Our Lord descends from heaven at his beckoning and enters into
a tiny Host."
In truth, precisely considering the binomial "identity-mission," every
priest can better see the need for this progressive identification with
Christ that will guarantee him fidelity and fruitfulness in the
evangelical testimony.
The very theme of the Year for Priests -- Faithfulness of Christ,
Faithfulness of Priests -- shows that the gift of divine grace precedes
every possible human response and pastoral accomplishment, and thus, in
the life of the priest, missionary proclamation and worship are never
separable, just as the ontological-sacramental identity and the
evangelizing mission are not separable.
Apart from that we could say the objective of every priest's mission is
"cultic": so that all people can offer themselves to God as a living
host, holy and pleasing to Him (cf. Romans 12:1), that in creation
itself, in people, it becomes worship and praise of the Creator,
receiving from it that charity that they are called to abundantly
dispense among each other.
We clearly see this in the beginnings of Christianity. St. John
Chrysostom said, for example, that the sacrament of the altar and the
"sacrament of one's brother" or, as they say, the "sacrament of the
poor," are two aspects of the same mystery. Love for neighbor, attention
to justice and to the poor, are not just themes of social morality, but
rather the expression of a sacramental conception of Christian morality,
because through the ministry of the priest, the spiritual sacrifice of
all the faithful is carried out, in union with that of Christ, the one
Mediator: the sacrifice that priests offer in an unbloody and
sacramental manner awaiting the new coming of the Lord.
This is the principal dimension, essentially missionary and dynamic, of
priestly identity and ministry: by way of the proclamation of the
Gospel, those who still do not believe are begotten in the faith, so
that they can unite their sacrifice to the sacrifice of Christ, that
translates in love for God and neighbor.
Dear brothers and sisters, faced with so many uncertainties and
struggles, it is urgent to recover -- also in the exercise of priestly
ministry -- a clear and unmistaken judgment about the absolute primacy
of divine grace, recalling what St. Thomas Aquinas wrote: "The smallest
gift of grace surpasses the natural good of the whole universe" (Summa
Theologiae, I-II, q. 113, a. 9, ad 2).
The mission of every priest depends, therefore, also and above all on
the awareness of the sacramental reality of his "new being." The
priest's renewed enthusiasm for his mission will always depend on the
certainty of his personal identity, which is not artificially
constructed, but rather given and received freely and divinely. What I
have written in the encyclical "Deus Caritas Est" is also true for
priests: "Being Christian is not the result of an ethical choice or a
lofty idea, but the encounter with an event, a person, which gives life
a new horizon and a decisive direction" (No. 1).
Having received such an extraordinary gift of grace with their
"consecration," priests become permanent witnesses of their encounter
with Christ. Beginning precisely from this interior awareness, they can
plentifully fulfill their "mission," by means of the proclamation of the
Word and the administration of the sacraments. After the Second Vatican
Council, the impression has come about that in our times, there is
something more urgent in priests' missions; some believed that they
should in the first place build up a distinct society. On the other
hand, the verses from the Gospel that we heard at the beginning call our
attention to the two essential elements of priestly ministry. Jesus
sends the apostles, at that time and now, to proclaim the Gospel and he
gives them the power to cast out evil spirits. "Proclamation" and
"power," that is to say "word" and "sacrament," are therefore the two
foundational pillars of priestly service, beyond its many possible
configurations.
When the "diptych" consecration-mission is not taken into account, it
becomes truly difficult to understand the identity of the priest and his
ministry in the Church. Who in fact is the priest, if not a man
converted and renewed by the Spirit, who lives from a personal
relationship with Christ, constantly making the Gospel criteria his own?
Who is the priest, if not a man of unity and truth, aware of his own
limits and at the same time, of the extraordinary greatness of the
vocation he has received, that of helping to extend the Kingdom of God
to the ends of the earth?
Yes! The priest is a man totally belonging to the Lord, because it is
God himself who calls him and who establishes him in his apostolic
service. And precisely being totally of God, he is totally of mankind,
for all people. During this Year for the Priest, which will continue
until the next solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, let us pray for
all priests. May there be an abundance of prayer initiatives and, in
particular, Eucharistic adoration, for the sanctification of the clergy
and for priestly vocations -- in dioceses, in parishes, in religious
communities (especially monasteries), in associations and movements and
in the various pastoral groups present in the whole world -- responding
to Jesus' invitation to pray "to the lord of the harvest that he may
send workers to his harvest" (Matthew 9:38).
Prayer is the first task, the true path of sanctification for priests,
and the soul of an authentic "vocational ministry." The numerical
scarcity of priestly ordinations in some countries should not
discourage, but instead should motivate a multiplication of
opportunities for silence and listening to the Word, and better
attention to spiritual direction and the sacrament of confession, so
that the voice of God, who always continues calling and confirming, can
be heard and promptly followed by many youth.
One who prays is not afraid; one who prays is never alone; one who prays
is saved! St. John Vianney is undoubtedly a model of an existence made
prayer. Mary, Mother of the Church, help all priests to follow his
example so as to be, like him, witnesses of Christ and apostles of the
Gospel.
[Translation by ZENIT]
[The Holy Father then greeted the people in several languages. In
English, he said:]
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
There is a close link between the Pauline Year, which concluded last
Sunday, and the Church’s current celebration of the Year for Priests. As
we have seen, Saint Paul, in his life and his writings, teaches us that
the mystery of Christ must stand at the very heart of our lives as
individuals and as a community. This is true in a very special way of
priests. In Saint John Mary Vianney, the patron saint of parish priests,
we see a wonderful example of a priest whose person was completely
identified with his ministry. The priest’s personal identity, grounded
in his calling and his sacramental configuration to Christ, may not be
separated from his pastoral activity. Indeed, the ministry of every
priest is essentially "cultic", in the fullest sense of the word: it is
meant to enable the faithful to offer their lives to God as a pleasing
sacrifice (cf. Rom 12:1). It is my hope that this Year for Priests will
help all priests to appreciate the immense grace of their vocation,
consecration and mission. During this Year may the whole Church pray and
work more fervently for the sanctification of priests, an increase of
priestly vocations, and a greater appreciation of the role of the priest
in the life of the ecclesial community.
I offer a warm welcome to the English-speaking visitors present at
today’s Audience, including the pilgrimage groups from England,
Scotland, Japan, Malaysia, the Philippines, Canada and the United
States. I thank the choirs for their praise of God in song. Upon all of
you I cordially invoke God’s blessings of joy and peace!
© Copyright 2009 - Libreria Editrice Vaticana
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