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Pope Benedict XVI- Year for Priests |
LETTER OF HIS HOLINESS POPE BENEDICT XVI PROCLAIMING A YEAR FOR
PRIESTS
ON THE 150th ANNIVERSARY OF THE "DIES NATALIS"OF THE CURÉ OF ARS
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.[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 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 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]
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]
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]
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.
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 amiably 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]
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.
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 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!
With
my blessing.
From the Vatican, 16 June 2009.
BENEDICTVS PP. XVI
[1]
He was proclaimed as such by Pope Pius XI in 1929.
[2]
“Le Sacerdoce, c’est l’amour du cœur de Jésus” (in
Le curé d’Ars. Sa pensée – Son cœur. Présentés par
l’Abbé Bernard Nodet, éd. Xavier Mappus, Foi Vivante, 1966,
p. 98). Hereafter: NODET. The expression is also
quoted in the
Catechism of the Catholic Church, No. 1589).
[8]
MONNIN, A., Il Curato d’Ars. Vita di Gian.Battista-Maria
Vianney, vol. I, ed. Marietti, Turin, 1870, p. 122.
[12]
“Contemplation is a gaze of faith, fixed on Jesus. ‘I look
at him and he looks at me’: this is what a certain peasant
of Ars used to say to his holy Curé about his prayer before
the tabernacle” (Catechism
of the Catholic Church, No. 2715).
[16]
MONNIN, A., op. cit., II, pp. 430ff.
[20]
MONNIN, A., op. cit., II, p. 293.
[36]
The name given to the house where more than sixty abandoned
girls were taken in and educated. To maintain this house he
would do anything: “J’ai fait tous les commerces
imaginables”, he would say with a smile (NODET, p. 214).
[42]
Cf. ibid., pp. 82-84; 102-103.
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