Novo incipiente
Celibacy and Priestly Life
Letter of Pope John Paul II to All the Priests
of the Church for Holy Thursday, 1979
1.
FOR YOU AM A BISHOP, WITH YOU I AM A PRIEST
As
I begin my new ministry in the Church, I think it my duty to address you—all of
you without exception: diocesan priests and religious priests alike—who are my
brothers through the Sacrament of Orders. At the very outset I want to attest
my faith in the vocation which unites you with your bishops in a special
fellowship of sacrament and ministry whereby the Church, the Mystical Body of
Christ, is built up. By a special grace and extraordinary gift from our Savior
you bear "the heat and burden of the day."1
Amid
the many cares of my priestly and pastoral office, my mind and heart have been
turning to all of you since the day when Christ called me to this See in which
St. Peter long ago by his life and death gave the ultimate response to Him who
has asked him: "Do you love me more than these?... Do you love me?"2
I
think constantly of you, I pray for you and with you. I seek with you ways
in which we may be spiritually united and work together, for in virtue of the
Sacrament of Orders, which I, too, received from the hands of my bishop (the
Metropolitan of Krakow, Adam Stephen Cardinal Sapieha, of unforgettable
memory), you are my brothers. I wish, therefore, to adapt some well-known
phrases of Augustine and to say to you today: "For you I am a bishop, with
you I am a priest."3
A
special occasion—I refer to the coming Holy Thursday and its commemoration of
the Lord’s Supper— impels me now to convey some thoughts to you by letter. This
annual feast of our priesthood brings the entire presbytery of each diocese
together around its own bishop for a concelebration of the Eucharist. On this day,
too, all priests are asked to renew, in the presence of and along with their
bishops, the promises they made on the day of their ordination.
As
a result, I will be able, in union with each of my brothers in the episcopate,
to be present in your midst due to the special bonds of unity that link us,
and, above all, to be present at the heart of the mystery of Jesus Christ in
which we all share.
The
Second Vatican Council, which so luminously explained the collegial role of
bishops in the Church, has also given a new form to the life of communities of
priests who are bound to each other by special fraternal ties and united with
the bishop of their local Church. The entire life and ministry of priests has
for its purpose the strengthening and deepening of these bonds. In dealing with
the various tasks of this life and ministry a special responsibility belongs to
the senates of priests which are to play an active role in each diocese,
according to the mind of the council and the apostolic letter motu proprio Ecclesiae
sanctae of Paul VI.4
The
aim of these provisions is that the individual bishops, in union with their
presbyteries, may more effectively serve the great cause of evangelization.
Through this service the Church carries on her specific work and fulfills the
requirements of her specific nature.
The
importance, therefore, of the union of priests with their bishops is confirmed
by the words of St. Ignatius of Antioch: "I exhort you to do everything in
a God-given harmony, under the leadership of the bishop who holds the place of
God, and of the presbyters who hold the place of the apostolic senate, and of
the deacons who are so dear to me and to whom the ministry of Jesus Christ has
been entrusted."5
2.
LOVE OF CHRIST AND THE CHURCH UNITES US
It
is not my intention in this letter to discuss everything that contributes to
the richness of the priestly life and ministry. In this regard I refer you to
the entire tradition of the Church’s teaching and especially to the teaching of
Vatican Council II as set forth in its documents. I refer you in particular to
the Constitution Lumen gentium and to the Decrees Presbyterorum
ordinis and Ad gentes divinitus. We should also go back to the
encyclical letter Sacerdotalis caelibatus of my predecessor Paul VI.
Finally,
I want to lay great emphasis on the document The Ministerial Priesthood which
Paul VI approved as being a quasi-summary of the discussion at the Synod of
Bishops 1971, for although the synodical meeting that produced the document had
a purely advisory function, we find in the text an extremely important
statement of all that concerns the specific character of priestly life and
ministry in the modern world.
Fidelity to Christ and the Church
It
is my intention in this letter to be faithful to all these sources, with which
you are already familiar, but to limit myself to a few points which
I regard as especially important at this time in the life of the Church and the
human race.
My
words are inspired by love for the Church which can meet its responsibilities
to the world only if it remains faithful to Christ despite the onslaught of
human weakness in its manifold forms.
I
know that I am speaking to men whom a common love of Christ has enabled to
devote themselves, in accordance with a special vocation, to the service of the
Church and, within the Church, the service of the human race and the solution
of the most important human problems, especially those that have to do with the
eternal salvation of the person.
Although
in beginning these reflections I have mentioned several written sources and
published documents, I wish above all to return to that living source which is
our common love for Christ and His Church. This love owes its existence to the
grace of our priestly vocation and to the supreme gift of the Holy Spirit.6
3.
"TAKEN FROM AMONG MEN...THEIR REPRESENTATIVE BEFORE GOD"7
The
Second Vatican Council gave an extended explanation of the concept of
priesthood, presenting it, in the context of its teaching as a whole, as the
expression of those inner forces or dynamisms that determine the mission of the
entire People of God in the Church. Here we must go back especially to the
constitution Lumen gentium and carefully reread the sections on this
subject. The People of God carry out their mission through participation in the
role and office of Jesus Christ himself.
As
is well known, this role and mission has three facets: it is a role and mission
as prophet, as priest and as king. If we examine carefully what the council has
to say in these passages, we will see clearly that we should speak rather of
three aspects of the ministry and office of Christ than of three different
offices. For the three are closely interconnected; each explains, conditions
and sheds light on the other two.
It
is from this threefold unity that our participation in the mission and role of
Christ flows. First as Christians and members of God’s people and then as
priests who are part of the hierarchic order, we have the source of our
existence in the entire mission and office of our Master who is prophet, priest
and king, and our goal is to bear special witness to Him in the Church and
before the world.
The priesthood in which we share through the sacrament of orders and which has been permanently
imprinted on our souls by a special God-given sign or character, is related in
the manner indicated to the universal priesthood of the faithful, that is, of
all the baptized, from which, nonetheless, it differs "in essence as well
as degree."8 In this way we see the full force of what the
author of the letter to the Hebrews says when he describes the priest as
"taken from among men" to be "their representative before
God."9
The major text of Vatican II
The
best thing we can do at this point is to reread in its entirety the splendid
text in which the council luminously explains the principal truths about our
vocation in the Church: "Christ the Lord, the high priest taken from among
men (cf. Heb 5, 1-15), made the new people ‘a kingdom and priests to God
His Father’ (Ap 1, 6; cf. Ap 5, 9-10). Through regeneration and
the anointing of the Holy Spirit, the baptized are consecrated as a spiritual
house and a holy priesthood so that through all their deeds they may offer the
spiritual oblations of a Christian and proclaim the power of Him who called
them out of darkness into His marvelous light (cf. 1 Pt 2, 4-10). Thus
all Christ’s disciples, persevering in prayer and praising God (cf. Acts 2,
42-47), must present themselves as a holy, living sacrifice, pleasing to God
(cf. Rom 12, 1). All over the earth they must bear witness to Christ;
and to those who seek it, they must render an account of the hope which is in
them, the hope of eternal life (cf. 1 Pt 3,15).
"Though
they differ in essence as well as degree, the common priesthood of the faithful
and the ministerial—or hierarchic—priesthood are ordered toward one another;
each in its own distinctive way is a participation in the one priesthood of
Christ. Through the sacred power which he enjoys, the ministerial priest shapes
and rules the priestly people, confects the eucharistic sacrifice in the person
of Christ, and offers it to God in the name of the whole people. By virtue of
their royal priesthood, however, the faithful join together in offering the
Eucharist. And they exercise that priesthood by receiving the sacraments, by
prayer and thanksgiving, by the testimony of a holy life, by self-denial and
active charity."10
4.
THE PRIEST, CHRIST’S GIFT TO THE COMMUNITY
We
should repeatedly meditate, and in depth, not only on the theoretical meaning
but also on the practical effect of that mutual relation which exists between
the hierarchic priesthood and the universal priesthood of the faithful. If
these two differ not in degree alone but in essence, this is certainly due to
the overflowing richness of the priesthood of Christ himself who is the sole
source and, as it were, the center of the participation proper to all the
baptized and of that further participation bestowed on us by a special
sacrament, the Sacrament of Orders.
Due
to its very nature and to the effect it has on our life and work, that
sacrament, which is special to us and is both the fruit of an exceptional grace
of vocation and the basis of our identity, causes the faithful to become more
fully aware of their own universal priesthood and to make it a reality in their
lives.11 It reminds them that they are the people of God and enables
them to offer those "spiritual sacrifices"12 by means of
which Christ himself in turn offers us to the Father as an eternal gift.13
This
latter offering takes place above all when "through the sacred power which
he enjoys, the ministerial priest... confects the eucharistic sacrifice in the
person of Christ and offers it to God in the name of the whole people,"14
as we read in the passage quoted above from the council.
Our special ministry
Our
sacramental priesthood, therefore, is a priesthood that is at once hierarchic
and ministerial. It is a special kind of ministry since it is a service
to the community of believers, but it does not have its origin in the community
as though it were up to the latter to call or to delegate. It is, however, a
gift for the good of the community and has its origin in Christ himself, that
is, in His fullness of priesthood.
This
fullness manifests itself by the fact that while Christ gives to all the
capacity to offer spiritual sacrifices, He also calls and prepares certain ones
to be ministers of the sacramental sacrifice of this same Lord—the Eucharist—in
the offering of which all the faithful take part and into which the spiritual
sacrifices of God’s people are integrated.
If
we bear all this in mind, we can understand in what sense our priesthood is
hierarchic—that is. bound tip with the power to shape and rule the priestly
people15—and for that very reason ministerial as well. We
carry out the office in which Christ himself constantly "serves" the
Father in the work of our salvation. Our entire life as priests is and should
be deeply pervaded by that kind of service if we wish to offer the eucharistic
sacrifice in the person of Christ in a suitable manner.
A priest’s integrity
The
priesthood requires a special integrity of us in our life and ministry; such
integrity supremely befits us in our identity as priests. It expresses both our
great dignity and the readiness that is appropriate to the latter, for what we
are speaking of is a soul that is humbly and eagerly ready to receive the gifts
of the Holy and dispense the fruits of love and peace to others and to give
others that certitude of faith which will enable them to grasp the profound meaning
of human life and to bring moral order into individual lives and the social
relations of human beings.
Since
the priesthood is bestowed or us in order that we may constantly serve others
as Christ the Lord did. we may not renounce it because of the difficulties we
encounter or the sacrifices we are required to make. Like the apostles "we
have left everything and followed Christ."16 Therefore, we must
persevere at His side, even when the way lies through the cross.
5.
IN THE SERVICE OF THE GOOD SHEPHERD
A special concern for souls
As
I write. I think of the vast and varied areas of human life to which. dear
brothers, we are sent as into the vineyard of the Lord.17 Another
parable that applies to you is that of the flock,18 for, by reason
of the priestly character, you share in the pastoral charism which is
the sign of a special relation of likeness to Christ the Good Shepherd. You
are signed with this relationship in an entirely special way for, although
concern for the salvation of others is and should be the duty of each member in
the great community of God’s people—and therefore of all our lay brothers and
sisters, as the Second Vatican Council explained at length19—nonetheless
a concern and a commitment are expected of you priests that are greater and
different from those of any lay-persons’. This is because your participation in
the priesthood of Jesus Christ differs from theirs "in essence as well as
degree."20
Our model
In
fact, the priesthood of Jesus Christ is both the primal source and the expression
of that persevering and always active concern for our salvation which allows us
to look upon Him as our Good Shepherd. Do not His words: "The good
shepherd lays down his life for the sheep"21 refer to the
sacrifice of the cross which is Christ’s final priestly act? Do they not show
the way all of us, too, must travel to whom Christ the Lord has given a share
in His priesthood through the sacrament of orders? Do they not teach us that we
too are called to a special concern for the salvation of our neighbor? That
this concern is the peculiar reason for our living a priestly life?
That
this concern, finally, gives point to our life and only through it can we find
the full meaning of our life and thus our perfection and salvation? This matter
is discussed in several passages of the conciliar decree Optatam totius.22
But
this point can be better understood in the light of the Master’s own words:
"Whoever would preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life
for my sake and the gospel’s will preserve it."23 These words
are mysterious and even seem contrary to common sense but they cease to be
mysterious once we endeavor to put them into practice. For then all that is
strange in them disappears and their utterly simple meaning becomes clear. May
this grace be granted to all of us in our priestly life and our zealous
ministry.
6.
"THE ART OF ARTS IS THE GOVERNMENT OF SOULS"24
This
special solicitude for the salvation of others, for the truth, love and
holiness of the entire People of God, and for the spiritual unity of the
Church—a solicitude which Christ has made ours along with the power of
priesthood—finds expression in various fashions. The ways in which you, dear
brothers, pursue your priestly vocation are undoubtedly diverse. Some of you
are involved in the daily pastoral work of a parish; others are in mission
fields; still others toil in the area of education, teaching and forming the
young, devoting yourselves to the various organizations and associations
entrusted to your care, and contributing to the progress of social and cultural
life; others of you, finally, work among the sick, the suffering, the
abandoned, with you yourselves being at times confined to a sickbed. Varied
indeed are the ways you walk, and they cannot be listed here in detail. They
are necessarily many and quite different, because the conditions of human life
are themselves so varied, as are social circumstances, historical traditions,
and the heritage of so many cultures and civilizations.
Yet,
despite all these differences, you are always and above all men marked by
your special vocation for you possess the grace of Christ the eternal
priest and the charism of the Good Shepherd. That is something you may never
forget, but must bring to fruition in every time, place and manner. For your
work is "the art of arts" to which Christ has called you:
"The
art of arts is the government of souls," said St. Gregory the Great.
Men of our time
Accordingly
I tell you: endeavor to be "artists" in pastoral work. There have
been many such in the history of the Church. Need I mention names? To each of
us a St. Vincent de Paul, a St. John of Avila, a John Mary Vianney, a St. John
Bosco, and Blessed Maximilian Kolbe—to name but a few—have something to say, as
do so many others. Each of them was distinct from the rest; each was a child of
his own age and was "up-to-date" in relation to his times.
But
this "being a man of the times" was a specific response to the
Gospel, the kind of response the times required: a response of holiness and
apostolic zeal. That is the only rule in accordance with which we can, in our
priestly life and activity, be "up-to-date" in response to our times
and to the world of today. Beyond any doubt, the various plans and attempts to
laicize priestly life cannot be regarded as a fitting kind of
"accomodation" to the times.
7.
DISPENSER AND WITNESS
Signs and guideposts
Priestly
life has its foundation in the sacrament of orders which impresses on our soul
the indelible sign we call the character. This sign, which is imprinted in the
depths of our human reality, has a personalizing dynamism for the priestly
personality must be a crystal-clear sign and guidepost to others.
This
is the first condition for our pastoral ministry. The human beings from among
whom we have been taken and whom we represent before God25 desire to
find in us above all that kind of sign and guidepost; and they have a right to
find it!
At
times it may seem that they do not want it or even that they prefer us to be
"like them" in every way. Sometimes they seem actually to demand this
of us. It is precisely here that we need a keen sense of faith and a gift of
discernment, for a man can easily let himself be guided by appearances and be
profoundly deluded.
Those
who call for the laicization of priestly life and who applaud the various signs
of such a change will certainly abandon us once we yield to their solicitation.
Then we will cease to be needed and popular. Our age is characterized by
various kinds of manipulation and instrumentalization of man, but we may not
yield to such abuses 26
In
the last analysis, the only priest who will always prove necessary to human
beings is the one who is conscious of the full meaning of his priesthood: the
priest who is a profound believer and professes his faith courageously; who
prays fervently, teaches with deep conviction and serves; who follows the
principles of the beatitudes in his own life; who is able to love unselfishly
and is always available to everyone, especially the more needy.
A priestly perspective in all things
Our
pastoral work requires that we be available to people in all their
difficulties, individual, familial and social. It also bids us be concerned
about these problems and cases as priests. Only then will we continue to
be ourselves amid all the activity.
If,
then, we really want to be of help in these human situations that are often so
complex, let us maintain our own proper character and be truly faithful to our
calling.
We
must show great perspicacity in joining the rest of mankind in the search for
truth and justice; we will find the true and changeless reality of these values
only in the Gospel and in Jesus Christ himself. Our role, then, is to serve truth
and justice under the conditions of man’s temporal life but always
in the perspective of eternal salvation.
This
approach respects the temporal victories of the human spirit in the area of
conscience and moral doctrine, as the Second Vatican Council has taught in an
admirable way,27 but it is not concerned solely with these
victories. It looks beyond them: "Eye has not seen, ear has not heard what
God has prepared for those who love Him."28 The human beings
who are our brothers and sisters in the faith, and even those others who are
not believers, look to us to open up this perspective to them at all times.
They expect us to be authentic witnesses, dispensers of grace, and ministers of
God’s word. They expect us to be men of prayer.
Contribution of contemplative priests
In
our ranks are to he found some who combine their priestly vocation in a special
way with a life of constant prayer and penance in the strictly contemplative
context of certain religious orders. Let these men keep in mind that even when
lived in this way their priestly ministry is in a remarkable way ordered to the
main concern of the Good Shepherd: His solicitude for the salvation of every
person.
All
of us must bear in mind that no one may permit himself to deserve the name of
"hireling," that is, one ‘‘who is no... owner of the sheep," one
who "catches sight of the wolf coming and runs away, leaving the sheep to
be snatched and scattered by the world. That is because he works for pay; he
has no concern for the sheep."29 The concern of every good
shepherd is that men and women "might have life and have it to the
full"30 and that none of them may be lost’ but may obtain
eternal life.
Let
us see to it, then, that this same concern permeates deep into our hearts. Let
us endeavor to make it a reality in our lives. Let it mold our person and be
the basis of our identity as priests.
8.
THE MEANING OF CELIBACY
Allow
me at this point to address the question of priestly celibacy. I shall touch on
it in only a summary way since it has received a profound and complete
treatment in the encyclical letter Sacerdotalis caelibatus and, most
recently, at the regular meeting of the Synod of Bishops in 1971. That kind of
full discussion was required in order to present the whole question in a more
mature way and to confirm with surer reasons the meaning of the decision which
the Latin Church made so many centuries ago and to which it endeavors to be
faithful now and intends to be faithful in the future.
This
question is so important and serious and is so clearly connected with the very
language of the Gospel that we cannot afford to think about it except in the
categories and formulas which the council, the Synod of Bishops, and that great
pontiff Paul VI have used. We will succeed in penetrating more deeply into the
question and in giving a more mature response to it only if we free ourselves
of the influence exerted by the various objections always raised, today no less
than in the past, against priestly celibacy, and by the various interpretations
of it which are based on norms of judgment alien to the Gospel and tradition
and the teaching of the Church. They are norms, I may add, whose
anthropological accuracy and solidity prove quite doubtful and of uncertain
value.
Celibacy difficult to understand
In
any event, we should not be too surprised at all the objections and criticisms
that reached a pitch of high intensity after the council but that already seem
to be weakening everywhere today. When Jesus Christ proposed to His disciples
the renunciation of marriage "for the sake of God’s reign," did He
not add these significant words: "Let him accept this teaching who
can"?32
It
was and is the will of the Latin Church that, in accordance with the example of
the Lord Christ himself, the teaching of the apostles, and its own special
tradition, all those who receive the sacrament of orders must embrace this
renunciation for the sake of God’s reign. This tradition is compatible with
respect for the diver gent traditions of other churches.
It
is rather a characteristic mark and heritage of the Latin Catholic Church; to
it this Church owes a great deal, and it is determined to per severe in it in
spite of all the difficulties in the way of such fidelity and in spite of the
fact that individual priests are showing many signs of weakness and crisis, for
while we are all quite convinced that "we possess this treasure in earthen
vessels,"33 the same time we know for certain that it is,
indeed, a treasure!
Celibacy a treasure
In
what sense is it a treasure? When we give it this name are we at tempting to
play down the value of marriage or the vocation to family life? Are we the
victims of a Manichean contempt for the human body and its functions? Is it our
wish to show scorn in any way for the love which leads a man and a woman into
marriage and the conjugal union of bodies whereby they become "two in me
flesh"?34
How
could we think any of these; things or argue in such a manner when we know and
believe and reach with St. Paul that marriage is a "great
foreshadowing" with reference to Christ and the Church?35 No
there is no truth in any of the arguments used to persuade us that the celibacy
which the Church extols and endeavors to make part of her life by means of the
commitment and bur den which priests take on themselves before sacred
ordination is undesirable.
The
essential, proper and adequate reason for celibacy is to be found in the truth
which Christ revealed when speaking of the renunciation of marriage for the
sake of God’s reign and which St. Paul proclaimed when he wrote that each
person has his or her own gift from God.36 Celibacy is precisely
such a "gift of the Spirit."
A
comparable, though different gift is contained in the vocation to the true
faithful conjugal love that in the context of the sacrament of matrimony is
directed to fleshly procreation. Everyone knows how important this latter gift
is in building the great community of the Church, God’s people.
But
if this community really wants to do full justice to its vocation in Jesus
Christ, then there must be due room in it for this other gift: the gift of
celibacy "for the sake of God’s reign."37
But
why does the Latin Church link this gift not only with the life of those who
follow the austere way of life of the evangelical counsels in religious
institutes, but also with the vocation to the hierarchic ministerial priesthood
generally?
She
does so because celibacy "for the sake of God’s reign" is not only an
eschatological sign but also has great social importance in our present life
for the service of God’s people. The priest’s celibacy makes him a "man
for others," although in a way different from that of the man who through
conjugal union with a woman likewise becomes, husband and father, a "man
for others," especially within the home and family, that is, for his wife
and, with her, for the children to whom he gives life.
The
priest renounces the kind of fatherhood proper to married men and seeks another
kind of fatherhood and even another kind of motherhood, for he is mindful of
the apostle’s words about the children whom he begot and brought to birth.38
These are his spiritual children, the persons whom the Good Shepherd has
entrusted to his care, and they are many, more numerous than any ordinary
family could comprise. The pastoral vocation of priests is great, indeed, and
the council teaches that it is even universal, since it embraces the entire
Church,39 and is, therefore, missionary as well.
This
vocation is normally associated with a ministry to a specific community in the
People of God, where Christians seek the loving care and attentive kindness of
a Driest. But celibacy itself is the sign of a certain freedom for service.
Because of this sign, the hierarchic, that is, ministerial priesthood is,
according to the Church’s tradition, more closely ordered to the universal
priesthood of the faithful.
9.
A TESTED SENSE OF RESPONSIBILITY
There
is a widespread view which is the result of ambiguity, if not of bad faith. It
maintains that priestly celibacy is nothing but a custom imposed by law on
those who receive the Sacrament of Orders. We all know that this is not so.
Every
Christian who is about to receive the Sacrament of Orders accepts the duty of
celibacy with full awareness and freedom after many years of preparation and
after giving careful reflection and much prayer to the subject. He decides on a
life of celibacy only after being firmly convinced that Christ is bestowing
this gift on him for the benefit of the en tire Church and the service of
others. Only then does he accept a celibacy which he must maintain for the rest
of his life.
It
is clear, then, that a decision thus taken obliges him not only in virtue of a
law the Church has passed but also because he is aware of a personal
responsibility. The issue, then, is fidelity to promises made to Christ and
the Church. Fidelity to the promise the priest has made is a proof of his
interior maturity and an expression of his personal dignity.
All
this is clearly manifested whenever the fidelity promised to Christ in the
conscious and free commitment to perpetual celibacy runs into difficulties, is
put to the test, or is even, at times, exposed to temptation. The priest is not
spared any of these trials any more than is any other human being and
Christian.
Victory through prayer
In
these periods of crisis the individual must win the help he needs by fervent
prayer. Through prayer he must find within himself the attitude of humility and
sincerity toward God and his own conscience that will be a source of strength
to support him in his weakness. Then he will discover a confidence such as St.
Paul was expressing when he said: "In Him who is the source of my strength
I have strength for everything."40
The
truth of what I have been saying is confirmed by the experience of many priests
and is attested to by real life. The acceptance of it is the basis for fidelity
to the promises made to Christ and the Church. It is at the same time, the
proof of authentic fidelity to oneself, one’s own conscience, one’s own human
dignity. It is of this that one must think especially in moments of crisis and
not immediately take refuge in a dispensation that is thought of simply in terms
of an "administrative intervention," as though there were no question
of an important issue of conscience and a test of one’s humanity.
God
has the right to subject each of us to such tests, if, indeed, it be true that
earthly life is a time of struggle for every human being. God also wants us to
emerge victorious from such struggles. Therefore, He gives us the help we need.
Perhaps
there is good reason to add here that the duty of conjugal fidelity which is
based on the sacrament of matrimony carries with it comparable obligations and
becomes at times the focus of analogous trials and experiences for the spouses
both men and women who in such "testings by fire" have the
opportunity to prove the strength of their love. For in all its dimensions love
is not only a vocation but a duty.
Finally,
let us admit that our married brothers and sisters can rightly expect of us priests
and bishops a good example and the witness of a fidelity unto the end in our
vocation, a fidelity to the calling we chose in the sacrament of orders
just as they chose their calling in the sacrament of matrimony.
In
this area, too, and in this way we should understand our ministerial priesthood
to be subordinated to the priesthood of all the faithful and specifically of
the laity and, in particular, of those who live a married life and raise a
family. In this way we help "to build up the body of Christ."41
It
we act otherwise, not only do we not contribute to the building up of the body
but we even weaken its spiritual structure.
Closely
connected with the building up of Christ’s body is the true advancement and
development of the human personality of each Christian and each priest which is
accomplished according to the measure of the grace Christ bestows. The
breakdown of the Church’s spiritual structure certainly does not foster the
progress of the human person or make the person what he or she ought to he.
10.
NEED OFD ALLY CONVERSION
The Church lives by faith and hope
"What
ought we to do?"42 Here, dear brothers, you have the question
the disciples and hearers of Christ so often put to Him. At a time when there
seems to be a lack of priests and when this shortage is affecting especially
certain regions and areas of the world, what is the Church to do? How shall we
meet the vast needs of evangelization and satisfy the hunger for the word and
the body of the Lord?
In
her concern to retain priestly celibacy as a gift for the sake of God’s reign,
the Church professes her faith and hope in her Master, Redeemer and Spouse who
is also "master of the harvest" and "giver of the gift,"43
for ‘‘every worthwhile gift... comes from above, descending from the
Father of the heavenly luminaries."44
It
is not right that we should weaken this faith and hope by our human doubts or
faintheartedness.
We
must, therefore, undergo a daily conversion, knowing that such is the basic
requirement which the Gospel makes incumbent on every person,45 realizing
also that it applies much more to us. If our function is to help others be
converted, we must be constantly doing as much for ourselves throughout our
lives. To be converted is simply to return to the grace of our calling and to
meditate on the infinite mercy and love of Christ for us. He turned to each of
us, called us by name, and said: "Follow me!"
To
be converted is to give an account to the Lord of our hearts regarding our
ministry, our diligence, our fidelity, for we are "servants of Christ and
administrators of the mysteries of God."46 It is, also, to give
an account of our negligences and sins, our faintheartedness, our lack of faith
and hope, our "merely human" rather than "divine" way of
thinking.
Let
us recall Christ’s warning to Peter!47 Conversion requires that we
have recourse to the Sacrament of Reconciliation and seek over and over again
the forgiveness and strength of God, so that we may begin ever anew to make
daily progress, conquer ourselves, win spiritual victories and be cheerful
givers, "for God loves a cheerful giver."48
To
be converted means to "pray always and not lose heart."49 Prayer
is, in a way, the first and last condition of conversion, spiritual
progress, and holiness. In recent years, at least in some milieus and groups,
there has, perhaps, been too much discussion of the priesthood, the
"identity" of the priest, the importance of his presence in the
modern world. and similar matters, while there has been too little prayer.
There
has not been enough effort to make the priesthood a reality for oneself through
prayer, to put its true evangelical dynamism into operation and, thus, to
verify a "priestly identity."
Prayer
reveals the essential priestly attitudes; without prayer these become
distorted.
Prayer
helps us to find ever anew the light that guided us from the beginning of our
priestly vocation and continues to guide us even though it seems at times to be
lost in darkness.
Prayer
allows us to be constantly converted to God and to persist in that constant
thrust of the soul toward God that we all need if we are to lead others to Him.
Prayer
helps us to believe, hope and love even when our human weakness is a stumbling
block to us.
In
addition, when we pray without ceasing we grasp the real nature of that kingdom
for whose coming we pray daily in the words Christ taught us. Then we
understand our role in bringing to fulfillment the petition "Thy
kingdom come" and we see how necessary a part we play in making it
come to pass. In prayer, too, we shall perhaps perceive more clearly those
"fields that are white for the harvest"50 and grasp the
meaning of the words Christ spoke as He looked out on them: "Beg the
harvest master to send out laborers to gather the harvest."51
Ongoing formation needed
To
prayer must be added the constant effort to exercise ourselves, an effort which
is an ongoing formation. As the document which the Sacred Congregation
for the Clergy published on this subject52 rightly warns, this
formation must be interior, that is, geared to the deepening of the priest’s
spiritual, pastoral and intellectual (philosophical and theological) life.
If,
then, our pastoral action, our preaching of the word, and our entire priestly
ministry depend on the fervor of our interior life, this life, in turn, must be
supported by diligent study. We may not be satisfied with what we once learned
in the seminary, even if we did our studies in a university setting, as the
Sacred Congregation for Catholic Education strongly urges. This intellectual
formation must go on throughout our entire lives, especially in the modern age
which has seen a general improvement in the level of public education and culture
at least in many parts of the world. It is to men and women who enjoy the
advantages of this progress that we must be intellectually competent
witnesses to Jesus Christ. As teachers of truth and morality we must give
these people a persuasive and effective account of the hope that spurs us on.53
This is part of the daily conversion to love that is brought about by means of
the truth.
Dear
brothers! You who "bear the heat and burden of the day,"54 who
have put your hand to the plow and do not look back,55 you who
perhaps are filled with doubt about the meaning of your vocation and the value
of your ministry: think of the places where people look eagerly for a priest
and where, for many years now, they have felt the lack and continue to desire
his presence! It may be that at times they gather in an abandoned church, place
on the altar the stole they have preserved, and recite all the prayers of the
eucharistic liturgy. Then, at the moment when the transubstantiation should
occur, there is a profound silence, broken occasionally by the sound of
weeping. So ardently do they long to hear the words which only a priest’s lips
can effectively pronounce! So deeply do they yearn for the Lord’s Supper in
which they can share only through a priest’s ministry!
With
equal fervor they long to hear the divine words of forgiveness: "I absolve
you of your sins." That is how deeply they desire the priest whom they do
not have!
There
are certainly such places in the world. If, then, any of you doubt the
importance of your priesthood, if you think it "socially"
unprofitable and useless, reflect on what I have just been saying!
We
must be daily converted, daily lay hold anew of the gift Christ himself gave us
in the Sacrament of Orders by realizing the importance of the Church’s mission
of salvation and by reflecting, in the light of this mission, on the profound
meaning of our vocation.
11.
THE MOTHER OF PRIESTS
My
dear brothers! As I enter on my ministry, I commend you to the Mother of God
who is, in a special way, our Mother, too, the Mother of priests. When Christ
was hanging on the cross He commended to His own Mother the disciple whom He
loved and who, as one of the 12, had heard the Lord saying in the upper room,
"Do this as a remembrance of me."56 Regarding this
disciple He said to her: "There is your son."57 The man
who on the day of the Supper had received power to celebrate the Eucharist now
found the dying Redeemer entrusting him to His own Mother ‘‘as her son."
All
of us, therefore, who have received the same power through priestly ordination
also enjoy beyond other people the right to have that Mother as our own. For
that reason I desire that all of you would join me in acknowledging Mary as
Mother of the priesthood we have received from Christ.
It
is my wish, too, that you would entrust your priesthood in a special way to the
Mother of God. Allow me to do this by entrusting each of you without
exception to the Mother of Christ in a solemn yet simple and humble way. I
ask too, dear brothers, that each of you would do the same in private according
to the urging of your own heart and especially your love of Christ the Priest
and your own weakness that accompanies your desire to serve and to strive for
holiness. That is what I ask of you.
The
present-day Church describes herself chiefly in the dogmatic constitution Lumen
gentium. In the final chapter of this document she professes that she looks
to Mary as Mother of Christ, because she calls herself a mother as well and
desires to be a mother who begets men and women to new life in God.58
My
dear brothers, how closely you are connected with this divine enterprise! What
a very important part it plays in your vocation, ministry and mission! That is
why, amid the people of God who raise their eyes to Mary with profound love and
hope, you must look to Mary with exceptional hope and love.
It
is your duty to preach Christ, her Son: Who can better acquaint you with the
truth about Him than His Mother?
It
is your duty to feed the hearts of men by giving Christ to them: Who can make
you more aware of this obligation that is yours than she who fed Him?
"Hail, true body, born of the Virgin Mary!"
Our
ministerial priesthood contains a marvelous and stirring dimension of
closeness to the Mother of Christ. Let us endeavor to live this dimension
of our lives! If I may refer here to my own experience, I can assure you that
in writing as I do it is chiefly on my own experience that I am drawing.
The pope’s prayer for priests
In
communicating these reflections to you at the beginning of my ministry to the
universal Church, I constantly ask God to fill you, the priests of Jesus
Christ, with every blessing and grace. As a pledge and confirmation of this
prayerful communion I bless you with all my heart in the name of the Father and
of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Accept
this blessing! Accept these words of the new successor of St. Peter whom the
Lord commanded: "You in turn must strengthen your brothers."59 Do
not cease to join the universal Church in praying for me that I may respond to
the demands of that primacy of love which the Lord willed should be the
foundation of St. Peter’s mission, when He said to him:
"Feed
my sheep."60 Amen.
The
Vatican, April 8, Palm Sunday (Passion Sunday), 1979, the first year of my
pontificate.
John Paul II, Pope
NOTES:
1 See Mt 20, 12.
2 See Jn 21, 15-16.
3 In Sermo 340, 1 (PL 38:1483), St.
Augustine writes: "Vobis enim sum episcopus, vobiscum sum christianus [For
you I am a bishop, with you I am a Christian]."
4 Ecclesiae Sanctae (August 6,1966); see Part I, no.
15.
5"Ad Magnesios VI, 1 (Funk, Patres Apostolici 1:235).
6 See Rm 5, 5;1; Cor 12, 31; 13.
7 Heb 5,1.
8 Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, no. 10 [TPS X, 266].
9 Heb 5,1.
10 Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, no. 10 [TPS
X, 366].
11 See Eph 4,11-12.
12 1 Pt 2, 5.
13 See I Pt 3, 18.
14 Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, no 10 [TPS
X, 366].
15 Ibid.
16See Mt 19. 27.
17 See Mt 20, 1-6.
18 See Jn 10, 1-16.
19 See the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church. chapter
2.
20 Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, no. 10 [TPS
X, 366].
21 Jn 10, 11.
22 See nos. 8-11, 19-20.
23Mk 8.,35.
24 Gregory the Great Regula pastoralis I, I 1 (PL
74,14).
25 See Heb 5, 1.
26 See Pope John Paul II, Address to the Clergy of Rome
(November 9, 1978): "Let us not deceive ourselves that we are serving the
Gospel if we attempt to ‘dilute’ our priestly charism by an excessive concern
for the vast field of temporal problems; if we want to ‘laicize’ our manner of
life and action; if we eliminate even the external signs of our priestly vocation.
We must maintain a sense of our singular vocation, and its ‘extraordinariness’
should find expression even in our external garb. Let us not be ashamed of it!
Yes, let us be in the world! But let us not be of the world!" [TPS XXIV,
47].
27 See the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the
World of Today, nos. 38-39, 42.
28 1Cor 2, 9.
29 Jn 10, 12-13.
30 Jn 10, 10.
31 See Jn 17, 12.
32 Mt 19, 12.
33 2 Cor 4,7.
34 See Gn 2, 24; Mt 19,6.
35 See Eph 5, 32.
36 See 1 Cor 7, 7.
37 Mt 19, 12.
38 See 1 Cor 4, 15; Gal 4, 19.
39 See the Decree on the Priestly Ministry and
Life, nos. 3, 6, 10, 12.
40 Phil 4, 13.
41 Eph 4, 12.
42 Lk 3, 10.
43 See Mt 9, 38; 1 Cor 7, 7.
44 Jas 1, 17.
45 See Mt 4, 17; Mk 1, 15.
46 1 Cor 4, 1.
47 See Mt 16, 23.
48 2 Cor 9, 7.
49 See Lk 18, 1.
50 See Jn 4, 35.
51 Mt 9, 38.
52 See the circular of November 4, 1969: AAS 62
(1970) 123ff.
53 See 1 Pt 3, 15.
54 See Mt 20, 12.
55 See Lk 9, 62.
56 See Lk 22, 19.
57 Jn 19, 26.
58 See the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church,
chapter 8.
59 Lk 22, 32.
60 Jn 21, 16.