{"id":24857,"date":"2009-08-05T08:30:20","date_gmt":"2009-08-05T12:30:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/2009\/08\/holiness-is-to-live-as-lovers\/"},"modified":"2009-08-05T08:30:20","modified_gmt":"2009-08-05T12:30:20","slug":"holiness-is-to-live-as-lovers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/2009\/08\/holiness-is-to-live-as-lovers\/","title":{"rendered":"Holiness is to live as lovers of the Lord"},"content":{"rendered":"

Archbishop Mauro Piacenza writes that holiness is our concern for today, not something we should put off until tomorrow. His letter
\nto 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
\nabandon 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
\nJohn Paul II in his theology of the body, that of “self-gift,” is applied here in the context of the life of the priest
\nand 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
\nwhat we are made for–God.<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n


<\/span><\/font><\/div>\n

\"JMVianney1.jpg\"<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

The Curé of Ars stands before us as an outstanding
\nfigure of priestly holiness, demonstrated not<\/span><\/b> in the extraordinary nature of
\nhis works but<\/b><\/span> in his daily fidelity to the exercise of the Ministry; he became
\na model and a beacon for the France of the early nineteenth century, and for
\nthe whole Church, of every time and place; he is a source and consolation for
\neach one of us, even in the midst of various “exhaustions” which can touch our
\npriesthood.<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/font><\/div>\n
His total dedication is a spur to our joyful self-giving to Christ
\nand to the brethren, so that the Ministry may always be a luminous echo of that
\nconsecration from which comes the one apostolic mandate and, in it, every
\npastoral fecundity<\/span>.<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/font><\/div>\n
May his love for Christ, which was the bearer of his
\nhumanity and sincere affection, be for us an encouragement to love every more
\ndeeply “our Jesus”: may His be the sight we seek in the morning, the
\nconsolation which accompanies us in the evening, the memory and the
\ncompanionship of every breath we take by day. To live according to the example
\nof St. John Mary Vianney, as lovers of the Lord<\/b>, means to always maintain at a
\nhigh level of missionary tension, becoming progressively but concretely living
\nimages of the Good Shepherd and of him who proclaims to the world, “behold the
\nLamb of God”.<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/font><\/div>\n
May the real spiritual enrapture of the Curé of Ars during the
\ncelebration of Holy Mass be for each one of us an explicit invitation to always
\nhave a full consciousness of the great gift which has been entrusted to us: a
\ngift which leads us to sing with St. Ambrose: “And we can all, raised to a
\ndignity such as to consecrate the Body and Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ, hope
\nin Your Mercy!”<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/font><\/div>\n
May his heroic dedication to the confessional, nourishes by a
\nreal expiatory spirit and sustained by the consciousness of being called to
\nparticipate in a “vicarious substitution” of the one High Priest, spur us on to
\nrediscover the beauty and the necessity, even for us priests<\/i>, of the Sacrament
\nof Reconciliation. That sacrament is, as well we know, a place of real
\ncontemplation of the marvellous works of God<\/span> in souls which He delicately captivates,
\nguides and converts<\/b>. To deprive ourselves of such a “marvellous manifestation”
\nis an irreparable and unjustified privation for us, even more than for the
\nFaithful, and for our ministry which is fed by the wonder which is born of
\nevery miracle of human liberty<\/span> which says “yes!” to God!<\/span>
\n  <\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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 … Continue reading Holiness is to live as lovers of the Lord<\/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":[74],"tags":[32104],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24857"}],"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=24857"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24857\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24857"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24857"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24857"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}