Letter of His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI Proclaiming a Year for Priests | Ignatius Insight
Letter of His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI Proclaiming a Year for Priests on the 150th Anniversary of the "Dies Natalis" of the CurŽ of Ars | Pope Benedict XVI
http://ignatiusinsight.com/features2009/benxvi_yearofpriests_june09.asp
From the Vatican Information Service:
VATICAN CITY, 18 JUN 2009 (VIS) - The Pope has sent a Letter to the priests of
the world for the occasion of the Year for Priests, which has been called to
mark the 150th anniversary of the death of St. John Mary Vianney.
Tomorrow, Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and day of prayer for
the sanctification of the clergy, Benedict XVI will inaugurate this Jubilee
Year for Priests during Vespers in the Vatican Basilica.
The Letter has been published in Italian, French, Spanish, English, German,
Polish and Portuguese. The complete text of the English language version is
given below:
Dear Brother Priests,
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. 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 Cure of Ars would often say. 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 countries: men
generously dedicated to the daily exercise of their priestly ministry. Yet the
expression of St. 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 acknowledgement of the weaknesses of her ministers, but also a
joyful and renewed realisation 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 St. John Mary Vianney can serve as a significant point of reference for us
all. The Cure 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". 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
realised 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". 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 realise what he
is". 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 realise 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 worshipping the beasts there. ... The priest is not a priest for
himself, he is a priest for you".
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 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. The Cure
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 St. 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 Cure of Ars
immediately set about this patient and humble task of harmonising 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".
The pious excess of his devout biographer should not blind us to the fact
that the Cure also knew how to "live" actively within the entire
territory of his parish: he regularly visited the sick and families, organised
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 co-operation
which need to be opened ever more fully to the lay faithful. Priests and laity
together make up the one priestly people 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'". Here we ought to recall the
Vatican Council II'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".
St. 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. "One
need not say much to pray well" - the Cure 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". 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. ... "Of course you are not worthy
of him, but you need him!". 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". "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". 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!". 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!"
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 Cure 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". 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!". The saintly Cure 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".
"This good Saviour is so filled with love that He seeks us
everywhere".
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". From St. 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 Cure 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 Cure 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!". 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", 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!". 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!". And he taught
them to pray: "My God, grant me the grace to love You as much as I
possibly can".
In his time the Cure 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. 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. 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". Aside from the actual penances which the Cure of Ars practised,
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.
In today's world, as in the troubled times of the Cure 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". 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?". Just as Jesus called the Twelve to be with Him, 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.
It was complete commitment to this "new style of life" which
marked the priestly ministry of the Cure of Ars. Pope John XXIII, in his
Encyclical Letter "Sacerdotii nostri primordia", published in 1959 on
the first centenary of the death of St. 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". The Cure 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 realised that
everything had been donated to his church, his poor, his orphans, the girls of
his "Providence", his families of modest means. Consequently, he
"was rich in giving to others and very poor for himself". As he would
explain: "My secret is simple: give everything away; hold nothing
back". When he lacked money, he would say amiably to the poor who knocked
at his door: "Today I'm poor just like you, I'm one of you". 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!". 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".
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". 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". He
considered this the golden rule for a life of obedience: "Do only what can
be offered to the good Lord".
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". 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,
recognise with joy and foster diligently the many and varied charismatic gifts
of the laity, whether these be of a humble or more exalted kind". 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". 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. 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. 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.
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". 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". Could a finer programme 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 St. 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 Cure 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". The Cure 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".
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 Cure 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". 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 Cure 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!
With my blessing.
From the Vatican, 16 June 2009.
BENEDICTVS PP. XVI
CLICK HERE for footnoted letter from the Vatican website
• Biography of Joseph Ratzinger/Pope Benedict XVI
• All books by or about Joseph Ratzinger/Pope Benedict XVI
• Excerpts from books by Joseph Ratzinger/Pope Benedict XVI
• Articles about Joseph Ratzinger/Pope Benedict XVI
Related IgnatiusInsight.com Articles and Excerpts:
• Who Is A Priest? | Fr. Benedict Ashley, O.P.
• The Priest as Man, Husband, and Father | Fr. John Cihak
• Women and the Priesthood: A Theological
Reflection | Jean Galot, S.J. | From Theology of the Priesthood
• The Real Reason for the Vocation
Crisis | Rev. Michael P. Orsi
• Pray the Harvest Master Sends
Laborors | Rev. Anthony Zimmerman
• Priestly Vocations in America:
A Look At the Numbers | Jeff Ziegler
• Clerical Celibacy: Concept and Method |
Alfons Maria Cardinal Stickler | From
The Case for Clerical Celibacy
• The Religion of Jesus | Blessed Columba
Marmion | From Christ, The Ideal
of the Priest
• Satan and the Saint | The Feast Day of St. John Vianney | Carl E. Olson
• The Role of the Laity: An Examination of Vatican II and
Christifideles Laici | Carl E. Olson
Visit
the Insight Scoop Blog and read the latest posts and comments by
IgnatiusInsight.com staff and readers about current events, controversies,
and news in the Church!