Support Priests, especially in Moments of Difficulty

VATICAN CITY, 5 MAY 2010 (VIS) – In today’s general audience, which was celebrated in St. Peter’s Square, the Pope focused his remarks on the priest’s mission to sanctify humankind.

“Sanctifying a person means putting that person in contact with God”, said the Pope, noting how “an essential part of a priest’s grace is his gift, his task to establish such contact. This comes about through the announcement of the Word of God, … and particularly intensely in the Sacraments”.

“Over recent decades”, he went on, “various schools of thought have tried to make the aspect of announcement prevail in the priest’s mission and identity, separating it from sanctification. It has often been affirmed that there is a need to go beyond merely sacramental pastoral care”.

“Ordained ministers”, the Pope explained, “represent Christ, God’s envoy, they … continue His mission through the ‘Word’ and the ‘Sacrament’, which are the two main pillars of priestly service”. In this context he identified the need “to reflect whether, in certain cases, having undervalued the faithful exercise of ‘munus sanctificandi’ has not perhaps led to a weakening of faith in the salvific effectiveness of the Sacraments and, in the final analysis, in the real action of Christ and His Spirit, through the Church, in the world”.

“It is, therefore, important to promote appropriate catechesis in order to help the faithful understand the value of the Sacraments. But it is equally necessary, following the example of the saintly ‘Cure of Ars’, to be willing, generous and attentive in giving the faithful the treasures of grace that God has placed in our hands, treasures of which we are not masters but custodians and administrators. Especially in our own time – in which on the one hand, the faith seems to be weakening and, on the other, there is a profound need and widespread search for spirituality – it is necessary for each priest to remember that … missionary announcement and worship are never separate, and that he must promote a healthy sacramental pastoral care in order to form the People of God and help them to fully experience the liturgy … and the Sacraments as gratuitous gifts of God, free and effective aspects of His action of salvation”.

The Pope went on to highlight how “each priest knows he is a tool necessary for God’s salvific action, but nonetheless just a tool. This awareness must make him humble and generous in administering the Sacraments, respecting the canonical norms but also profoundly convinced that his mission is to ensure that mankind, united to Christ, can offer itself to God as a living and holy sacrifice acceptable to Him”.

Addressing himself directly to priests the Holy Father encouraged them “to practice liturgy and worship with joy and love”. He also renewed his call “to return to the confessional, as a place in which to celebrate the Sacrament of Reconciliation, but also as a place in which ‘to dwell’ more frequently, that the faithful may find mercy, counsel and comfort, feel themselves to be loved and understood by God, and experience the presence of Divine Mercy alongside the real presence in the Eucharist”.

“I would also like to invite each priest to celebrate and to live the Eucharist intensely”, said Benedict XVI. Priests “are called to be ministers of this great Mystery, in the Sacrament and in life”.

Likewise, “it is indispensable to strive after the moral perfection which must dwell in each authentically priestly heart”, because “there is an example of faith and a witness of sanctity that the People of God expect from their pastors”.

Pope Benedict concluded by calling on the faithful “to be aware of the great gift that priests represent for the Church and the world. Through their ministry the Lord continues to save mankind, to make Himself present, to sanctify. Give thanks to God and above all remain close to your priests with prayer and support, especially in moments of difficulty, that they may increasingly become pastors in keeping with God’s heart”.

神父講道 – 復活期第六週 (週三) (2010年5月12日)

聖迺仁(聶勒)及聖齊禮(亞基略)殉道
恭讀聖若望福音 16:12-15
那時候,耶穌對門徒說:「我本來還有許多事要告訴你們,然而你們現在不能擔負。當那一位真理之神來時,他要把你們引入一切真理,因為他不憑自己講論,只要他所聽到的講出來,並把未來的事傳告給你們。他要光榮我,因為他要把由我所領受的,傳告給你們。凡父所有的一切,都是我的;為此我說:他要由我領受而傳告給你們。」
—基督的福音。

(Wednesday of the 6th week of Easter)

A Reading from the Holy Gospel according to John 16:12-15

12 “I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. 14 He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. 15 All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.

—The Gospel of the Lord.

往神父講道目錄

司鐸年每日默想 (5月12日)

愛的反省(II)

4.    肉身:我如何看待痛苦?我懂得分擔別人的痛苦嗎?…… 我真的是基督奧體的肢體,正如聖經所言,一個肢體受苦,所有肢體一起受苦…… 嗎?在唯一愛內規範我的生活,包括我的肉身嗎?正是如此,我在主內去愛所有的人嗎?
5.    房屋、衣裝……:我如何裝束?我的居所簡潔清貧而非雜亂無章嗎?設有獨自靜修和款待客人的空間嗎?同時,具有嚴謹和開放的態度嗎?我的近人是否感受到猶如基督一樣被接待呢?
6.    智慧:我懂得在上智之光的光照下,抽時間反省信仰和人世間,教會和文化的事物嗎?我講話與思考的方式如何?我努力陶成自己擁有日益廣泛的文化,而不僅僅局限於……與我職務有關的知識嗎?
7.    通訊:我怎樣與他人保持聯繫……?我封閉自己,還是過多的消費時間與人聯繫?…… 我的信件、電話、旅行、邀請,都是源自於愛德,兄弟情誼,和作為教會之人的責任心嗎?

克勞斯•何邁樂(Klaus Hemmerle)

為人類被選(Scelto per gli uomini)
新城出版社,羅馬 1995, 第二版 198-199頁

(參閱: 司鐸年箴言薈萃 第四冊)