Deacons spend their lives for the Gospel as priests & bishops: intellectually, theologically & pastorally

On the feast of Saint Lawrence (August 10), the Cardinal
Prefect of the Congregation for Clergy, Claudio Cardinal Hummes, OFM, wrote to
the world’s permanent deacons that what the Year of the Priest is also oriented
toward the Order of Deacon and what is said to the priests applies very
much to the deacons. This is welcome news! 

I admire the vocation of deacons but I have had my fill of deacons who
believe their vocation is undervalued, mis-understood or abused by priests. While there are tensions among some deacons and priests, the problem is often grossly reported. In
recent weeks since the pope inaugurated the
Year of the Priest I have heard deacons complaining that they
feel “left out” by not having a spiritual/intellectual year dedicated to them
as one is to the priesthood. The moaning distracts. Complaining is rather 

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tedious when you see the connections among the various hierarchies in our
Church because none can exist without the other (even though the Church didn’t
have the permanent deaconate for long a period of time). Look at the witnesses of the sainted deacons through the millennia: Stephen, Ephrem, Francis among many. Quoting Pope
“to work
in favor of this pull of priests toward spiritual perfection, upon which, above
all, depends the efficacy of their ministry,” (discourse of March 16, 2009).
Hence, I am happy to see something on the value of the permanent deacons in the
Year of the Priest because the call and ministry of priests and deacons are intimately
interrelated as is the call to the episcopacy in the service of the Gospel. Additionally,
I am elated the Cardinal once again drew our attention to the need to know our Scripture
and the practice of
lectio divina. Proper and ongoing formation in the Lord and
the Church requires careful attention to the place of Scripture and lectio. The
letter said in part:

To know Revelation, to adhere unconditionally to Jesus
Christ as a fascinated and enamored disciple
, to base oneself always upon Jesus
Christ and to be with Him in our Mission, this is then what awaits a permanent
deacon, decisively and without any reservation. From a good disciple a good missionary is born.

The ministry
of the Word
which, in a special way for Deacons, has as its great model St.
Stephen, Deacon and Martyr, requires of ordained ministers a constant struggle
to study it and carry it out, at the same time as one proclaims it to
others
. Meditation, following the
style of lectio divina, that is,
prayerful reading, is one well traveled and much counseled way to understand
and live the Word of God, and make it ones own. At the same time, intellectual, theological and pastoral
formation is a challenge which endures throughout life
. A qualified and up to
date ministry of the Word very much depends upon this in depth formation.

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The
second reflection regards the ministry of Charity, taking as a great model St.
Lawrence, Deacon and Martyr. The diaconate has its roots in the early Church’s
efforts to organize charitable works. At Rome, in the third century, during a
period of great persecution of Christians, the extraordinary figure of St.
Lawrence appears. He was archdeacon of Pope Sixtus II, and his trustee for the
administration of the goods of the community. Our well beloved Pope Benedict XVI says regarding St.
Lawrence: “His solicitude for the poor, his generous service which he rendered
to the Church of Rome in the area of relief and of charity, his fidelity to the
Pope, from him he was thrust forward to the point of wanting to undergo the
supreme test of martyrdom and the heroic witness of his blood, rendered only a
few days later. These are universally recognized facts.” (Homily Basilica of
St. Lawrence, November 30, 2008). From St. Lawrence we also take note of the
affirmation “the riches of the Church are the poor.” He assisted the poor with
great generosity. He is thus an ever more present example to permanent deacons.
We must love the poor in a preferential way, as did Jesus Christ; to be united
with them, to work towards constructing a just, fraternal and peaceful society. The recent encyclical letter of
Benedict XVI,
Caritas in Veritate (Charity in Truth), should be our updated
guide.  In this encyclical the Holy
Father affirms as a fundamental principle “Charity is the royal road of the
social doctrine of the Church” (n. 2). Deacons must identify themselves in a
very special way with charity
. The poor are part of your daily ambiance, and
the object of your untiring concern. One could not understand a Deacon who did
not personally involve himself in charity and solidarity toward the poor
, who
again today are multiplying in number.

Saint John Eudes: a guide for ecclesial renewal who said give self to Christ

Yesterday’s general audience (August 19, 2009) Pope Benedict took the opportunity to draw our attention to the saint being memorialized in the Liturgy, Saint John Eudes, as a model for personal renewal which will lead to the renewal of the priesthood. The zeal, the desire for the face of God, the need for conversion will lead, I am convinced, not only the renewal of the priesthood (and seminarians) but also the entire Church. Christ is the one thing we are seeking, the one person we are seeking. As the Baptist said, “He must increase; I must decrease.” AND focus on CHRIST!!!!!  

Read a portion of the Pope’s address.

While contempt was being spread for the Christian faith by some currents of thought that were prevalent then, the Holy Spirit inspired a fervent spiritual renewal, with prominent personalities such as that of Berulle, St. Vincent de Paul, St. Louis Mary Grignion de Montfort and St. John Eudes. This great “French school” of holiness also had St. John Mary Vianney among its fruits. By a mysterious design of Providence, my venerated predecessor, Pius XI, proclaimed John Eudes and the Curé d’Ars saints at the same time, on May 31, 1925, offering the Church and the whole world two extraordinary examples of priestly holiness.

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In the context of the Year for Priests, I wish to pause to underline the apostolic zeal of St. John Eudes, directed in particular to the formation of the diocesan clergy.

The saints have verified, in the experience of life, the truth of the Gospel; in this way, they introduce us into the knowledge and understanding of the Gospel. In 1563, the Council of Trent issued norms for the establishment of diocesan seminaries and for the formation of priests, as the council was aware that the whole crisis of the Reformation was also conditioned by the insufficient formation of priests, who were not adequately prepared intellectually and spiritually, in their heart and soul, for the priesthood.

This occurred in 1563 but, given that the application and implementation of the norms took time, both in Germany as well as in France, St. John Eudes saw the consequences of this problem. Moved by the lucid awareness of the great need of spiritual help that souls were feeling precisely because of the incapacity of a great part of the clergy, the saint, who was a parish priest, instituted a congregation dedicated specifically to the formation of priests. He founded the first seminary in the university city of Caen, a highly appreciated endeavor, which was soon extended to other dioceses.

The path of holiness he followed and proposed to his disciples had as its foundation a solid confidence in the love that God revealed to humanity in the priestly Heart of Christ and the maternal Heart of Mary. In that time of cruelty and loss of interior silence, he addressed himself to the heart so as to leave in the heart a word from the Psalms very well interpreted by St. Augustine. He wanted to remind people, men and above all future priests of the heart, showing the priestly Heart of Christ and the maternal Heart of Mary. A priest must be a witness and apostle of this love of the Heart of Christ and of Mary.

Today we also feel the need for priests to witness the infinite mercy of God with a life totally “conquered” by Christ, and for them to learn this in the years of their formation in the seminaries. After the synod of 1990, Pope John Paul II issued the apostolic exhortation Pastores Dabo Vobis, in which he took up and actualized the norms of the Council of Trent and above all underlined the need for continuity between the initial and permanent moments of formation. For him, for us, this is a real point of departure for a genuine reform of priestly life and apostolate, and it is also the central point so that the “new evangelization” is not simply an attractive slogan, but rather is translated into reality.

The foundations of formation in the seminary constitute that irreplaceable “humus spirituale” in which it is possible to “learn Christ,” allowing oneself to be progressively configured to him, sole High Priest and Good Shepherd. The time in the seminary should be seen, therefore, as the actualization of the moment in which the Lord Jesus, after having called the Apostles and before sending them out to preach, asks that they stay with him (cf. Mark 3:14).

When St. Mark narrates the vocation of the Twelve Apostles, he tells us that Jesus had a double objective: The first was that they be with him, the second that they be sent to preach. But in going always with him, they truly proclaim Christ and take the reality of the Gospel to the world.

In this Year for Priests, I invite you to pray, dear brothers and sisters, for priests and for those preparing to receive the extraordinary gift of the priestly ministry. I conclude by addressing to all the exhortation of St. John Eudes, who said thus to priests: “Give yourselves to Jesus to enter into the immensity of his great Heart, which contains the Heart of his Holy Mother and of all the saints, and to lose yourselves in this abyss of love, of charity, of mercy, of humility, of purity, of patience, of submission and of holiness” (Coeur admirable, III, 2).

Holiness is to live as lovers of the Lord

Archbishop Mauro Piacenza writes that holiness is our concern for today, not something we should put off until tomorrow. His letter
to priests exerted below speaks of some elements that are important for those observing the Year of the Priest. Piacenza highlights the fidelity that Saint John Vianney had even when he wanted to
abandon the ministry in Ars, that is, being faithful and not creating some ambiguous, heroic sensibility is not coherent to the ministry of Christ. This is what alerts us that Vianney is a model worth following: grace truly building on nature. A theological concept that I associate most with
John Paul II in his theology of the body, that of “self-gift,” is applied here in the context of the life of the priest
and to the sacrament of the Church. In time we’ll here more about the role of self-gift as it applies to priesthood because it is an essential fact in the “becoming” of a priest of Christ and the richness of giving and receiving of that particular grace. Plus, the theology of self-gift, if really lived, might eradicate some evident sacred cows that diminish the flowering of life of holiness. Finally, let me draw our attention to the archbishop’s last sentence because it is worth the time reflecting on, not because he happens to be right but because he reminds us
what we are made for–God.


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The Curé of Ars stands before us as an outstanding
figure of priestly holiness, demonstrated not in the extraordinary nature of
his works but in his daily fidelity to the exercise of the Ministry; he became
a model and a beacon for the France of the early nineteenth century, and for
the whole Church, of every time and place; he is a source and consolation for
each one of us, even in the midst of various “exhaustions” which can touch our
priesthood.

His total dedication is a spur to our joyful self-giving to Christ
and to the brethren, so that the Ministry may always be a luminous echo of that
consecration from which comes the one apostolic mandate and, in it, every
pastoral fecundity
.

May his love for Christ, which was the bearer of his
humanity and sincere affection, be for us an encouragement to love every more
deeply “our Jesus”: may His be the sight we seek in the morning, the
consolation which accompanies us in the evening, the memory and the
companionship of every breath we take by day. To live according to the example
of St. John Mary Vianney, as lovers of the Lord, means to always maintain at a
high level of missionary tension, becoming progressively but concretely living
images of the Good Shepherd and of him who proclaims to the world, “behold the
Lamb of God”.

May the real spiritual enrapture of the Curé of Ars during the
celebration of Holy Mass be for each one of us an explicit invitation to always
have a full consciousness of the great gift which has been entrusted to us: a
gift which leads us to sing with St. Ambrose: “And we can all, raised to a
dignity such as to consecrate the Body and Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ, hope
in Your Mercy!”

May his heroic dedication to the confessional, nourishes by a
real expiatory spirit and sustained by the consciousness of being called to
participate in a “vicarious substitution” of the one High Priest, spur us on to
rediscover the beauty and the necessity, even for us priests, of the Sacrament
of Reconciliation. That sacrament is, as well we know, a place of real
contemplation of the marvellous works of God
in souls which He delicately captivates,
guides and converts
. To deprive ourselves of such a “marvellous manifestation”
is an irreparable and unjustified privation for us, even more than for the
Faithful, and for our ministry which is fed by the wonder which is born of
every miracle of human liberty which says “yes!” to God!

 

Each priest is intimately connected to St Paul, cardinal says

The priestly figure should not be detached from the
person of Paul. Saint Paul shows all of us a way of living, a way of creating a
relationship with God. The priesthood is a privileged way, and as such it is
not separated from all that Saint Paul himself is, what he teaches and tells us.
Therefore, I believe that this association and connection between the Year for
Priests and the Pauline Year is and will be very good and very important.


Cardinal Andrea Cordero Lanza di Montezemolo, emeritus archpriest of the
Basilica of St Paul outside the Walls

Priesthood is enlightened by reason & freedom, Archbishop Piacenza said


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“Are you resolved, with the help of the Holy Spirit,
to discharge without fail the office of the priesthood in the presbyteral order
as a conscientious fellow worker with the Bishop in caring for the Lord’s
flock?”

The Archbishop-Secretary of the Congregation for the Clergy,
Mauro Piacenza, wrote to the world’s priests on July 15th reflecting on the
liturgical theology that identifies and supports the theology of priesthood.
Now that we are clearly in the Year of the Priest we have to make solid effort
at connecting our daily prayer for priests (and, those preparing for
ordination) and education on what the Church believes and teaches about the
priesthood. This year dedicated to the priesthood is not only directed to
renewal and reform of the priesthood but also conversion of the entire Church. The
year of priestly renewal is not merely centered on prayer for the local priest (which
is most essential) but also a time for some intellectual formation for both
priest and people. So, the proposal of the Pope is that we give a sufficient
attention to both prayer and education, not one or the other. I’d like to note
that I find myself disappointed to see the lack of a public of storming heaven
for the graces of renewal but also the lack of sufficient discussion of what
the Church teaches and believes. What to do? In the meantime, Archbishop
Piacenza offers a number of juicy tidbits to consider. He said in part:

The
Church, in her maternal wisdom, has always taught that the ministry is born of
the encounter of two freedoms: divine and human. If on the one hand one must
always recall that, “no one claims this office for himself; he is called to it
by God
” (CCC n.1578), on the other hand, clearly, it is always a “human and
created I”, with his own story and identity, with his own qualities and also
his own limitations, who responds to the divine call.

            The
liturgical-sacramental translation of this asymmetric and necessary dialogue
between the divine freedom which calls and the human freedom
which responds is
represented by the questions which each of us has had addressed to him by the
Bishop during the rite our own ordination, immediately prior to the imposition
of hands. We shall revisit together in the months ahead this “dialogue of love
and freedom”.

            We
have been asked, “Are you resolved, with the help of the Holy Spirit, to
discharge without fail the office of the priesthood in the presbyteral order as
a conscientious fellow worker with the Bishop in caring for the Lord’s flock?”
We answered, “I Am”

            The
free and conscious response is based, therefore, on an explicit act of the will
(“Are you resolved to discharge the office”, “I am”) which, as we know well,
requires to be continuously enlightened by the judgement of reason and
sustained by freedom, so as not to become a sterile voluntarism or, worse, to
change over time, becoming unfaithful
. The act of the will is enduring of its
very nature, because it is a human act, in which the fundamental qualities of
which the Creator has made us participants are expressed.

            The
undertaking, then, that we have assumed is “for the whole of life” and thus not
related to fads or indulgences much less to sentiments, which might be apparent
to a greater or less degree. While feelings may be said to have a role in
coming to the knowledge of the truth, it is only so as to direct out focus in
such a way as not to obstruct such knowledge but to assist the discernment of
it. Nevertheless, this is but one aspect of consciousness and cannot be its
determining factor.

            Our
will has accepted to exercise “the priestly ministry”, not other “professions”!
Above all else we are called to be priests always and, as the Saints remind us,
in every circumstance, exercising with our very being that ministry to which we
have been called. One does not merely act as a priest: one is a priest!

            Each
one of us is part of a dynamic entity, called to collaborate by demonstrating,
each in his own way, the Head of this Body: always as “fellow workers with the
Bishop
“, in obedience to the good which he indicates, and “under the guidance
of the Holy Spirit”, that is in praying with each breath
. Only he who prays can
hear the voice of the Spirit. As the Holy Father recalled in the General
Audience of the 1st July last, “Those who pray are not afraid; those who pray
are never alone; those who pray are saved!”.

FuturePriests.com: Praying & Tweeting for priestly vocations

archbishop eijk twitter.jpgA fascinating initiative was launched the other day for the Year of the Priest on Twitter by Utrecht’s Archbishop Willem Jacobus Eijk. Follow the Archbishop at FuturePriests.com.

The Archbishop’s global campaign of prayer for priests is a terrific project that draws together the power of prayer and the power of Twitter.
Tweet with the Archbishop and keep informed by following the blog! Pray for vocations! Don’t forget to retweet with your intentions and prayers!

Seized by Christ, Saint Padre Pio leads the way for renewal, Pope said

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As part of the inaugural observances for the Year of the
Priest, Pope Benedict made a pilgrimage to and celebrated the Sacrifice of the Mass Sanctuary of Our Lady of the Graces at San Giovanni Rotondo, resting place of  Saint Padre Pio of Pietrelcina. In the days following the feast of the
Sacred Heart of Jesus and with devotion to Our Lady in mind, the Pope recalled that the fruit of Padre Pio’s close bond with the Sacred Heart of Christ and His mother, Mary, inspired him to found the House for the Relief of Suffering:  “All his life and his apostolate took place under the maternal gaze of the Blessed Virgin and by the power of her intercession. Even the House for the Relief of Suffering he considered to be the work of Mary, ‘Health of the sick.'”

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Born Francisco Forgione, at the age 23 the obscure Capuchin Franciscan friar was said to have received the gift of the sacred stigmata. On Saint Pio‘s hands and side the wounds were similar to the stigmata, or the wounds of Jesus Christ’s crucifixion, according to Christian belief. The Pope proposed to us another model for priests by giving the example of this friar from Pietrelcina: “A simple man of humble origins, ‘seized by Christ‘ (Phil 3:12) … to make of him an elected instrument of the perennial power of his Cross: the power of love for souls, forgiveness and reconciliation, spiritual fatherhood, effective solidarity with the suffering. The stigmata, that marked his body, closely united him to the Crucified and Risen Christ.”

Relating today’s gospel with the life of Saint Pio, His
Holiness also said to the gathered faithful:

The solemn gesture of calming the stormy sea is clearly a
sign of the lordship of Christ over the negative powers and it induces us to think of His divinity: “Who is He – ask the disciples in wonder -that even the wind and the sea obey him?” (Mk 4:41). Their faith is not yet steadfast, it is taking shape, is a mixture of fear and trust; rather Jesus trusting abandonment to the Father is full and pure. This is why He sleeps during the storm, completely safe in the arms of God – but there will come a time when Jesus will feel anxiety and fear: When His time comes, He shall feel upon himself the whole weight of the sins of humanity, as a massive swell that is about to fall upon Him. Oh yes, that shall be a terrible storm, not a cosmic one, but a spiritual one. It will be Evil’s last, extreme assault against the Son of God…. In that hour, Jesus was on the one hand entirely One with the Father, fully given over to him – on the other, as in solidarity with sinners, He was
separated and He felt abandoned.

Remaining united to Jesus, [Padre Pio] always had his sights on the depths of the human drama, and this was why he offered his many sufferings, why he was able to spend himself in the care for and relief of the
sick – a privileged sign of God’s mercy, of his kingdom which is coming, indeed, which is already in the world, a sign of the victory of love and life over sin and death. Guide souls and relieving suffering: thus we can sum up the mission of Saint Pio of Pietrelcina: as the servant of God, Pope Paul VI said of him.”

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At one point in his address the Benedict spoke to the
Franciscan friars and those connected with the spiritual groups linked to Saint Pio and anyone else, the Pope affirmed: “The risks of activism and secularization are always present, so my visit was also meant to confirm fidelity to the mission inherited from your beloved Father. Many of you, religious and laity, are so taken by the full duties required by the service to pilgrims, or the sick in the hospital, you run the risk of neglecting the real need: to listen to Christ to do the will of GodWhen you see that you are close to running this risk, look to Padre Pio: In his example, his sufferings, and invoke his intercession, because it obtains from the Lord the light and strength that you need to continue his mission soaked by love for God and fraternal charity.”

Following Mass, the Holy Father led the faithful in the Angelus prayer (the great prayer recalling the Incarnation) calling to mind Padre Pio’s devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary. Benedict remarked, “To the intercession of Our Lady and St Pio of Pietrelcina I would like to entrust the Special Year for Priests, which I opened last Friday on the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. May it be a privileged opportunity to highlight the value of the mission and holiness of priests to serve the Church and humanity in the third millennium!”

Watch the video clip

Another video explaining more of Padre Pio’s life

Read the papal homily

Read the papal address to priests and youth

Pope Benedict XVI’s letter to priests inaugurating the Year of the Priest


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On the forthcoming Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of
Jesus, Friday 19 June 2009 – a day traditionally devoted to prayer for the
sanctification of the clergy -, I have decided to inaugurate a “Year for
Priests” in celebration of the 150th anniversary of the “dies
natalis” of John Mary Vianney, the patron saint of parish priests
worldwide.(1) This Year, meant to deepen the commitment of all priests to
interior renewal for the sake of a more forceful and incisive witness to the
Gospel in today’s world, will conclude on the same Solemnity in 2010. The
priesthood is the love of the heart of Jesus”, the saintly Curé of Ars
would often say.(2) This touching expression makes us reflect, first of all, with
heartfelt gratitude on the immense gift which priests represent, not only for
the Church, but also for humanity itself. I think of all those priests who
quietly present Christ’s words and actions each day to the faithful and to the
whole world, striving to be one with the Lord in their thoughts and their will,
their sentiments and their style of life. How can I not pay tribute to their
apostolic labours, their tireless and hidden service, their universal charity?
And how can I not praise the courageous fidelity of so many priests who, even
amid difficulties and incomprehension, remain faithful to their vocation as
“friends of Christ”, whom he has called by name, chosen and sent?

I still treasure the memory of the first parish priest at
whose side I exercised my ministry as a young priest: he left me an example of
unreserved devotion to his pastoral duties, even to meeting death in the act of
bringing viaticum to a gravely ill person. I also recall the countless
confreres whom I have met and continue to meet, not least in my pastoral visits
to different 

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countries: men generously dedicated to the daily exercise of their
priestly ministry. Yet the expression of Saint John Mary also makes us think of
Christ’s pierced Heart and the crown of thorns which surrounds it. I am also
led to think, therefore, of the countless situations of suffering endured by
many priests, either because they themselves share in the manifold human
experience of pain or because they encounter misunderstanding from the very
persons to whom they minister. How can we not also think of all those priests
who are offended in their dignity, obstructed in their mission and persecuted,
even at times to offering the supreme testimony of their own blood?

There are also, sad to say, situations which can never be
sufficiently deplored where the Church herself suffers as a consequence of
infidelity on the part of some of her ministers. Then it is the world which
finds grounds for scandal and rejection. What is most helpful to the Church in
such cases is not only a frank and complete acknowledgment of the weaknesses of
her ministers, but also a joyful and renewed realization of the greatness of
God’s gift, embodied in the splendid example of generous pastors, religious
afire with love for God and for souls, and insightful, patient spiritual guides.
Here the teaching and example of Saint John Mary Vianney can serve as a
significant point of reference for us all. The Curé of Ars was quite humble,
yet as a priest he was conscious of being an immense gift to his people:
“A good shepherd, a pastor after God’s heart, is the greatest treasure
which the good Lord can grant to a parish, and one of the most precious gifts
of divine mercy”
.(3) He spoke of the priesthood as if incapable of fathoming
the grandeur of the gift and task entrusted to a human creature: “O, how
great is the priest! … If he realized what he is, he would die… God obeys him:
he utters a few words and the Lord descends from heaven at his voice, to be
contained within a small host…”.(4) Explaining to his parishioners the
importance of the sacraments, he would say: “Without the Sacrament of Holy
Orders, we would not have the Lord. Who put him there in that tabernacle? The
priest. Who welcomed your soul at the beginning of your life? The priest. Who
feeds your soul and gives it strength for its journey? The priest. Who will
prepare it to appear before God, bathing it one last time in the blood of Jesus
Christ? The priest, always the priest. And if this soul should happen to die
[as a result of sin], who will raise it up, who will restore its calm and
peace? Again, the priest… After God, the priest is everything! … Only in heaven
will he fully realize what he is”.(5) These words, welling up from the
priestly heart of the holy pastor, might sound excessive. Yet they reveal the
high esteem in which he held the sacrament of the priesthood. He seemed
overwhelmed by a boundless sense of responsibility: “Were we to fully
realize what a priest is on earth, we would die: not of fright, but of love…
Without the priest, the passion and death of our Lord would be of no avail. It
is the priest who continues the work of redemption on earth… What use would be
a house filled with gold, were there no one to open its door? The priest holds
the key to the treasures of heaven: it is he who opens the door: he is the steward
of the good Lord; the administrator of his goods … Leave a parish for twenty
years without a priest, and they will end by worshiping the beasts there … The
priest is not a priest for himself, he is a priest for you”.(6)

He arrived in Ars, a village of 230 souls, warned by his
Bishop beforehand that there he would find religious practice in a sorry state:
“There is little love of God in that parish; you will be the one to put it
there”. As a result, he was deeply aware that he needed to go there to
embody 

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Christ’s presence and to bear witness to his saving mercy: “[Lord,]
grant me the conversion of my parish; I am willing to suffer whatever you wish,
for my entire life!”: with this prayer he entered upon his mission.(7) The
Curé devoted himself completely to his parish’s conversion, setting before all
else the Christian education of the people in his care. Dear brother priests,
let us ask the Lord Jesus for the grace to learn for ourselves something of the
pastoral plan of Saint John Mary Vianney! The first thing we need to learn is
the complete identification of the man with his ministry. In Jesus, person and
mission tend to coincide: all Christ’s saving activity was, and is, an
expression of his “filial consciousness” which from all eternity
stands before the Father in an attitude of loving submission to his will. In a
humble yet genuine way, every priest must aim for a similar identification.
Certainly this is not to forget that the efficacy of the ministry is
independent of the holiness of the minister; but neither can we overlook the
extraordinary fruitfulness of the encounter between the ministry’s objective
holiness and the subjective holiness of the minister. The Curé of Ars
immediately set about this patient and humble task of harmonizing his life as a
minister with the holiness of the ministry he had received, by deciding to
“live”, physically, in his parish church
: As his first biographer
tells us: “Upon his arrival, he chose the church as his home. He entered
the church before dawn and did not leave it until after the evening Angelus.
There he was to be sought whenever needed”.(8)

The pious excess of his devout biographer should not blind
us to the fact that the Curé also knew how to “live” actively within
the entire territory of his parish: he regularly visited the sick and families,
organized popular missions and patronal feasts, collected and managed funds for
his charitable and missionary works, embellished and furnished his parish
church, cared for the orphans and teachers of the “Providence” (an
institute he founded); provided for the education of children; founded
confraternities and enlisted lay persons to work at his side.

His example naturally leads me to point out that there are
sectors of cooperation which need to be opened ever more fully to the lay
faithful. Priests and laity together make up the one priestly people (9) and in
virtue of their ministry priests live in the midst of the lay faithful,
“that they may lead everyone to the unity of charity, ‘loving one another
with mutual affection; and outdoing one another in sharing honour'”
(Rom
12:10).(10) Here we ought to recall the Second Vatican Council’s hearty
encouragement to priests “to be sincere in their appreciation and
promotion of the dignity of the laity and of the special role they have to play
in the Church’s mission. … They should be willing to listen to lay people, give
brotherly consideration to their wishes, and acknowledge their experience and
competence in the different fields of human activity. In this way they will be
able together with them to discern the signs of the times”.(11)

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Saint John Mary Vianney taught his parishioners primarily by
the witness of his life. It was from his example that they learned to pray,
halting frequently before the tabernacle for a visit to Jesus in the Blessed
Sacrament.(12) “One need not say much to pray well” – the Curé
explained to them – “We know that Jesus is there in the tabernacle: let us
open our hearts to him, let us rejoice in his sacred presence. That is the best
prayer”.13 And he would urge them: “Come to communion, my brothers
and sisters, come to Jesus. Come to live from him in order to live with him…(14) “Of course you are not worthy of him, but you need him!”.(15) This way
of educating the faithful to the Eucharistic presence and to communion proved
most effective when they saw him celebrate the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.
Those present said that “it was not possible to find a finer example of
worship… He gazed upon the Host with immense love”.(16) “All good
works, taken together, do not equal the sacrifice of the Mass” – he would
say – “since they are human works, while the Holy Mass is the work of
God”.(17) He was convinced that the fervour of a priest’s life depended
entirely upon the Mass: “The reason why a priest is lax is that he does
not pay attention to the Mass! My God, how we ought to pity a priest who
celebrates as if he were engaged in something routine!”.(18) He was
accustomed, when celebrating, also to offer his own life in sacrifice:
“What a good thing it is for a priest each morning to offer himself to God
in sacrifice!”.(19)

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This deep personal identification with the Sacrifice of the
Cross led him – by a sole inward movement – from the altar to the confessional.
Priests ought never to be resigned to empty confessionals or the apparent
indifference of the faithful to this sacrament. In France, at the time of the
Curé of Ars, confession was no more easy or frequent than in our own day, since
the upheaval caused by the revolution had long inhibited the practice of
religion. Yet he sought in every way, by his preaching and his powers of
persuasion, to help his parishioners to rediscover the meaning and beauty of
the sacrament of Penance, presenting it as an inherent demand of the
Eucharistic presence. He thus created a “virtuous” circle. By
spending long hours in church before the tabernacle, he inspired the faithful
to imitate him by coming to visit Jesus with the knowledge that their parish
priest would be there, ready to listen and offer forgiveness. Later, the
growing numbers of penitents from all over France would keep him in the
confessional for up to sixteen hours a day. It was said that Ars had become
“a great hospital of souls”.(20) His first biographer relates that
“the grace he obtained [for the conversion of sinners] was so powerful
that it would pursue them, not leaving them a moment of peace!”.(21) The
saintly Curé reflected something of the same idea when he said: “It is not
the sinner who returns to God to beg his forgiveness, but God himself who runs
after the sinner and makes him return to him”.(22) “This good Saviour
is so filled with love that he seeks us everywhere”.(23)

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We priests should feel that the following words, which he
put on the lips of Christ, are meant for each of us personally
: “I will
charge my ministers to proclaim to sinners that I am ever ready to welcome
them, that my mercy is infinite“.(24) From Saint John Mary Vianney we can
learn to put our unfailing trust in the sacrament of Penance, to set it once
more at the centre of our pastoral concerns, and to take up the “dialogue of
salvation” which it entails. The Curé of Ars dealt with different
penitents in different ways. Those who came to his confessional drawn by a deep
and humble longing for God’s forgiveness found in him the encouragement to
plunge into the “flood of divine mercy” which sweeps everything away
by its vehemence. If someone was troubled by the thought of his own frailty and
inconstancy, and fearful of sinning again, the Curé would unveil the mystery of
God’s love in these beautiful and touching words: “The good Lord knows
everything. Even before you confess, he already knows that you will sin again,
yet he still forgives you. How great is the love of our God: he even forces
himself to forget the future, so that he can grant us his forgiveness!”.(25) But to those who made a lukewarm and rather indifferent confession of sin, he
clearly demonstrated by his own tears of pain how “abominable” this
attitude was: “I weep because you don’t weep”,(26) he would say.
“If only the Lord were not so good! But he is so good! One would have to
be a brute to treat so good a Father this way!”.(27) He awakened repentance
in the hearts of the lukewarm by forcing them to see God’s own pain at their
sins reflected in the face of the priest who was their confessor. To those who,
on the other hand, came to him already desirous of and suited to a deeper
spiritual life, he flung open the abyss of God’s love, explaining the untold
beauty of living in union with him and dwelling in his presence:
“Everything in God’s sight, everything with God, everything to please God…
How beautiful it is!”.(28) And he taught them to pray: “My God, grant
me the grace to love you as much as I possibly can”.(29)

In his time the Curé of Ars was able to transform the hearts
and the lives of so many people because he enabled them to experience the
Lord’s merciful love
. Our own time urgently needs a similar proclamation and
witness to the truth of Love
: Deus caritas est (1 Jn: 4:8). Thanks to the word
and the sacraments of Jesus, John Mary Vianney built up his flock, although he
often trembled from a conviction of his personal inadequacy, and desired more
than once to withdraw from the responsibilities of the parish ministry out of a
sense of his unworthiness. Nonetheless, with exemplary obedience he never
abandoned his post, consumed as he was by apostolic zeal for the salvation of
souls. He sought to remain completely faithful to his own vocation and mission
through the practice of an austere asceticism: “The great misfortune for
us parish priests – he lamented – is that our souls grow tepid”; meaning
by this that a pastor can grow dangerously inured to the state of sin or of
indifference in which so many of his flock are living.(30) He himself kept a
tight rein on his body, with vigils and fasts, lest it rebel against his priestly
soul. Nor did he avoid self-mortification for the good of the souls in his care
and as a help to expiating the many sins he heard in confession. To a priestly
confrere he explained: “I will tell you my recipe: I give sinners a small
penance and the rest I do in their place”.(31) Aside from the actual
penances which the Curé of Ars practiced, the core of his teaching remains
valid for each of us: souls have been won at the price of Jesus’ own blood, and
a priest cannot devote himself to their salvation if he refuses to share
personally in the “precious cost” of redemption.

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In today’s world, as in the troubled times of the Curé of
Ars, the lives and activity of priests need to be distinguished by a forceful
witness to the Gospel. As Pope Paul VI rightly noted, “modern man listens
more willingly to witnesses than to teachers, and if he does listen to
teachers, it is because they are witnesses
“.(32) Lest we experience
existential emptiness and the effectiveness of our ministry be compromised, we
need to ask ourselves ever anew: “Are we truly pervaded by the word of
God? Is that word truly the nourishment we live by, even more than bread and
the things of this world? Do we really know that word? Do we love it? Are we
deeply engaged with this word to the point that it really leaves a mark on our
lives and shapes our thinking?”.(33) Just as Jesus called the Twelve to be
with him (cf. Mk 3:14), and only later sent them forth to preach, so too in our
days priests are called to assimilate that “new style of life” which
was inaugurated by the Lord Jesus and taken up by the Apostles.(34)

It was complete commitment to this “new style of
life” which marked the priestly ministry of the Curé of Ars. Pope John
XXIII, in his Encyclical Letter Sacerdotii nostri primordia, published in 1959
on the first centenary of the death of Saint John Mary Vianney, presented his
asceticism with special reference to the “three evangelical counsels”
which the Pope considered necessary also for priests: “even though priests
are not bound to embrace these evangelical counsels by virtue of the clerical
state, these counsels nonetheless offer them, as they do all the faithful, the
surest road to the desired goal of Christian perfection”.(35) The Curé of
Ars lived the “evangelical counsels” in a way suited to his priestly
state. His poverty was not the poverty of a religious or a monk, but that
proper to a priest: while managing much money (since well-to-do pilgrims
naturally took an interest in his charitable works), he realized that
everything had been donated to his church, his poor, his orphans, the girls of
his “Providence”,(36) his families of modest means. Consequently, he
“was rich in giving to others and very poor for himself”.(37) As he
would explain: “My secret is simple: give everything away; hold nothing
back
“.(38) When he lacked money, he would say aimiably to the poor who
knocked at his door: “Today I’m poor just like you, I’m one of you”.(39) At the end of his life, he could say with absolute tranquillity: “I no
longer have anything. The good Lord can call me whenever he wants!”.(40) His
chastity, too, was that demanded of a priest for his ministry. It could be said
that it was a chastity suited to one who must daily touch the Eucharist, who
contemplates it blissfully and with that same bliss offers it to his flock. It
was said of him that “he radiated chastity”; the faithful would see
this when he turned and gazed at the tabernacle with loving eyes”.(41) Finally, Saint John Mary Vianney’s obedience found full embodiment in his
conscientious fidelity to the daily demands of his ministry. We know how he was
tormented by the thought of his inadequacy for parish ministry and by a desire
to flee “in order to bewail his poor life, in solitude”.(42) Only
obedience and a thirst for souls convinced him to remain at his post
. As he
explained to himself and his flock: “There are no two good ways of serving
God. There is only one: serve him as he desires to be served”.(43) He
considered this the golden rule for a life of obedience: “Do only what can
be offered to the good Lord”.(44)

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In this context of a spirituality nourished by the practice
of the evangelical counsels, I would like to invite all priests, during this
Year dedicated to them, to welcome the new springtime which the Spirit is now
bringing about in the Church, not least through the ecclesial movements and the
new communities. “In his gifts the Spirit is multifaceted… He breathes
where he wills. He does so unexpectedly, in unexpected places, and in ways
previously unheard of… but he also shows us that he works with a view to the
one body and in the unity of the one body”.(45) In this regard, the
statement of the Decree Presbyterorum Ordinis continues to be timely:
While testing the spirits to discover if they be of God, priests must
discover with faith, recognize with joy and foster diligently the many and
varied charismatic gifts of the laity, whether these be of a humble or more
exalted kind
“.(46) These gifts, which awaken in many people the desire for a
deeper spiritual life, can benefit not only the lay faithful but the clergy as
well. The communion between ordained and charismatic ministries can provide
“a helpful impulse to a renewed commitment by the Church in proclaiming
and bearing witness to the Gospel of hope and charity in every corner of the
world”.47 I would also like to add, echoing the Apostolic Exhortation Pastores
Dabo Vobis
of Pope John Paul II, that the ordained ministry has a radical “communitarian
form” and can be exercised only in the communion of priests with their
Bishop.(48) This communion between priests and their Bishop, grounded in the
sacrament of Holy Orders and made manifest in Eucharistic concelebration, needs
to be translated into various concrete expressions of an effective and
affective priestly fraternity
.(49) Only thus will priests be able to live fully
the gift of celibacy and build thriving Christian communities in which the
miracles which accompanied the first preaching of the Gospel can be repeated.

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The Pauline Year now coming to its close invites us also to
look to the Apostle of the Gentiles, who represents a splendid example of a
priest entirely devoted to his ministry. “The love of Christ urges us
on” – he wrote – “because we are convinced that one has died for all;
therefore all have died” (2 Cor 5:14). And he adds: “He died for all,
so that those who live might live no longer for themselves, but for him who
died and was raised for them” (2 Cor 5:15). Could a finer programme could
be proposed to any priest resolved to advance along the path of Christian
perfection?

Dear brother priests, the celebration of the 150th
anniversary of the death of Saint John Mary Vianney (1859) follows upon the
celebration of the 150th anniversary of the apparitions of Lourdes (1858). In
1959 Blessed Pope John XXIII noted that “shortly before the Curé of Ars completed
his long and admirable life, the Immaculate Virgin appeared in another part of
France to an innocent and humble girl, and entrusted to her a message of prayer
and penance which continues, even a century later, to yield immense spiritual
fruits. The life of this holy priest whose centenary we are commemorating in a
real way anticipated the great supernatural truths taught to the seer of
Massabielle. He was greatly devoted to the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed
Virgin; in 1836 he had dedicated his parish church to Our Lady Conceived
without Sin and he greeted the dogmatic definition of this truth in 1854 with
deep faith and great joy.”(50) The Curé would always remind his faithful
that “after giving us all he could, Jesus Christ wishes in addition to
bequeath us his most precious possession, his Blessed Mother”.(51)

To the Most Holy Virgin I entrust this Year for Priests. I
ask her to awaken in the heart of every priest a generous and renewed
commitment to the ideal of complete self-oblation to Christ and the Church

which inspired the thoughts and actions of the saintly Curé of Ars. It was his
fervent prayer life and his impassioned love of Christ Crucified that enabled
John Mary Vianney to grow daily in his total self-oblation to God and the
Church. May his example lead all priests to offer that witness of unity with
their Bishop, with one another and with the lay faithful, which today, as ever,
is so necessary
. Despite all the evil present in our world, the words which
Christ spoke to his Apostles in the Upper Room continue to inspire us: “In
the world you have tribulation; but take courage, I have overcome the
world” (Jn 16:33). Our faith in the Divine Master gives us the strength to
look to the future with confidence. Dear priests, Christ is counting on you. In
the footsteps of the Curé of Ars, let yourselves be enthralled by him. In this
way you too will be, for the world in our time, heralds of hope, reconciliation
and peace!

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With my blessing,

From the Vatican, 16 June 2009.

BENEDICTUS PP. XVI