\n
\n<\/span><\/p>\n
This paragraph from the Pope’s homily for the May 3<\/span>rd<\/span><\/sup> This paragraph from the Pope’s homily for the May 3rd priesthood ordinations is a good example of the Pope’s holy agenda for priests, indeed, for all who are called to serve the Lord and His Church. As the Pope says, this is dear to his heart… …prayer and its ties with service. We have seen … Continue reading Pope asks priests to focus on Christ in prayer in order to serve<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[1791,1818],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24634"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24634"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24634\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24634"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24634"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24634"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\npriesthood ordinations is a good example of the Pope’s holy agenda for priests,
\nindeed, for all who are called to serve the Lord and His Church. As the Pope
\nsays, this is dear to his heart…<\/span><\/p>\n![\"priest](\"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/priest%20adoring.jpg\")
\nand its ties with service. We have seen that to be ordained priests means to
\nenter in a sacramental and existential way into Christ’s prayer for “his
\nown”. From this we priests derive a particular vocation to pray in a
\nstrongly Christocentric sense: we are called, that is, to “remain”
\nin Christ<\/u> as the evangelist John likes to repeat (cf. Jn 1: 35-39; 15:
\n4-10) and this abiding in Christ is achieved especially through prayer<\/b><\/span>. Our
\nministry is totally tied to this “abiding” which is equivalent to
\nprayer, and draws from this its efficacy<\/u>. In this perspective, we must
\nthink of the different forms of prayer of a priest, first of all daily Holy
\nMass. The Eucharistic Celebration is the greatest and highest act of prayer,
\nand constitutes the centre and the source from which even the other forms
\nreceive “nourishment”<\/i><\/span>: the Liturgy of the Hours,
\nEucharistic adoration, Lectio Divina, the Holy Rosary, meditation. All these
\nexpressions of prayer, which have their centre in the Eucharist, fulfill the
\nwords of Jesus in the priest’s day and in all his life: “I am the good
\nshepherd; I know my own and my own know me, as the Father knows me and I know
\nthe Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep” (Jn 10: 14-15). In fact,
\nthis “knowing” and “being known” in Christ and, through
\nhim, in the Most Holy Trinity, is none other than the most true and deep
\nreality of prayer<\/i><\/span>. The priest who prays a lot, and who prays well,
\nis progressively drawn out of himself and evermore united to Jesus the Good
\nShepherd and the Servant of the Brethren. In conforming to him, even the priest
\n“gives his life” for the sheep entrusted to him<\/b><\/span>. No one
\ntakes it from him: he offers it himself, in unity with Christ the Lord, who has
\nthe power to give his life and the power to take it back not only for himself,
\nbut also for his friends, bound to him in the Sacrament of Orders. Thus the
\nlife of Christ, Lamb and Shepherd, is communicated to the whole flock, through
\nthe consecrated ministers.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"