Archbishop Mauro Piacenza looks briefly at this question and explores some key points of what a priest’s identity is. Watch the video clip.
Tag: Year of the Priest
Saint Gaetano Catanoso –a saint for the Year of the Priest
Many think that Saint John Vianney is the only canonized
parish priest. Vianney is certainly the most known for his extraordinary life.
And it helps that popes and other notable authors have drawn our attention to
him. But there is another saint who has a persuasive personality who is also a
parish priest and worthy of our attention. In this Year of the Priest it fitting to have yet another intercessor before God. Today the Church celebrates the
liturgical memorial of Saint Gaetano Catanoso.
Pope Benedict XVI canonized him on October 23, 2005. In
the homily of the Mass of Canonization said:
Saint Gaetano
Catanoso was a lover and apostle of the Holy Face of Jesus. “The Holy Face,” he
affirmed, “is my life. He is my strength”. With joyful intuition he joined
this devotion to Eucharistic piety.
He would say: “If we wish to adore the real
Face of Jesus…, we can find it in the divine Eucharist, where with the Body
and Blood of Jesus Christ, the Face of Our Lord is hidden under the white veil
of the Host.”
Daily Mass and frequent adoration of the Sacrament of the Altar
were the soul of his priesthood: with ardent and untiring pastoral charity he
dedicated himself to preaching, catechesis, the ministry of confession, and to
the poor, the sick and the care of priestly vocations. To the Congregation of
the Daughters of Saint Veronica, Missionaries of the Holy Face, which he founded,
he transmitted the spirit of charity, humility and sacrifice which enlivened
his entire life.
More of Saint Gaetano can be read here.
The American cousin of the saint has a book on Saint Gaetano Catanoso, see it at this link.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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”.
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!”
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.
Basilica of St Paul outside the Walls
Priesthood is enlightened by reason & freedom, Archbishop Piacenza said
“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!”.
Year of the Priest internet links
The Year of the Priest, Annus Sacerdotalis –Congregation for the Clergy
FuturePriests.com: Praying & Tweeting for priestly vocations
A 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.
Seized by Christ, Saint Padre Pio leads the way for renewal, Pope said
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.'”
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.”
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 God. When 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