CONGREGATIO PRO CLERICIS

Universalis Presbyterorum Conventus

“Priests, formator of saints

for the new millennium”

in the shadow of the apostle Paul

"Do you love me more than these?"

Cardinal Ivan Bias, Archbishop of Bombay (India)

Homily

Malta

20^th october 2004

As I meditated on the theme of this Retreat and considered the important trait of our priestly identity to be forgers of saints in the new millennium, I was struck by two thoughts which I would like to share with you.

In the first place was the fact that we, priests, are tools in the hands of the Divine Smith who alone can forge simple human mortals into saints. In the history of the Church we have had many priests who were such collaborators of God in the forging of saints. Who can forget the saintly bishop Ambrose of Milan whom God used to turn an agnostic Augustine into a Christian, a bishop and an eminent doctor of the Church. Or a humble Cure of Ars or a Padre Pio of Pietrelcina through whom thousands of souls were reconciled with God and entered the way of saintliness. Of course, I do not mean "saints" who were officially declared blessed or canonized by the Church, but those whom we meet in everyday life and who often walk unnoticed in our midst: mothers and fathers who toil silently from morn till night for the spiritual and material well-being of their families; young men and women who are battling against the invasion of immoral values and the worldly spirit into their lives; priests who dedicate themselves humbly and selflessly to spreading God's word and His kingdom of love without making headlines in the newspapers, and so many others. It is to forge "saints" like these that we have been ordained as priests. Great then is our responsibility to be available at all times to the Divine Smith who has called us to be his close collaborators - His "servant-friends" (Jn 15:12) -as His forging touch of sanctity passes through our priestly ministry.

It is a happy coincidence that this Retreat is being held at the beginning of the Year of the Eucharist proclaimed by Our Holy Father. It gives us an important clue to how saints can be forged in the new millennium. The Eucharist, in fact, is the font and summit of all holiness. It is there that the Divine Smith is present body, blood, soul and divinity. Of course, He can use anyone as His instrument to forge saints out of believers, unbelievers, and even sinners. But as priests, we

are His qualified co-workers equipped with sacred instruments, like the Sacraments and sacramentals, the Word of God, our personal talents and various spiritual, educational and social ministries. God's Holy Spirit wishes to use all these to prepare - in the words of St. Peter - "a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's own people" (1 Pt 2:9).

Since this Retreat speaks of "saints for the new millennium", I would like to mention a priest and pastor in our recent times, who was gifted with extraordinary talents of mind and heart and who used them zealously for the greater glory of God and the good of souls. I speak of Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen, at first Auxiliary Bishop of New York and then Bishop of Rochester, who died just twenty-five years ago. He wrote many books which are being read with much spiritual profit even today. His gift of communication was proverbial, and he used it unstintingly in the written and spoken media. His national radio broadcast The Catholic Hour, which lasted for 22 years, had about four milhon listeners. And when he started his television series Life is Worth Living, other stations would tune in to his program, and every week he had an estimated audience of some thirty million people. Besides this, he had many persons of all strata of society, including actors and actresses, who came to him for spiritual direction. He was able to be a channel of sanctity to millions, because - as a true priest - he was a man of God, a man of prayer and a man for others. He himself explained the secret underlying the success of his untiring apostolate: on the day of his sacerdotal ordination (1919) he made a promise to spend one hour everyday before the Blessed Sacrament, and he was faithful to it during the sixty years of his priesthood till his death in 1979. It was from the Blessed Eucharist that Archbishop Fulton Sheen drew the wisdom to lead others on the way of holiness, besides finding the strength to face the many difficulties he had to encounter. He was aware that, in order to be an agent of sanctity to others, he needed to be personally in constant touch with the All Holy Himself, for without Him he could do nothing (Jn 15:5). Archbishop Fulton Sheen's Cause for canonization has been introduced four years ago. He could well be a role model for us priests called to be God's co-workers in the forging of saints in a world dominated by information technology and declining ethical values. I repeat, not necessarily forging saints who would be raised to the honors of the altar, but the simple, everyday, hidden saints in our streets and slums, in our offices, supermarkets and homes.

A second thought which stuck me during my meditation on the theme of this Retreat was that God forges saints on the anvil of love. In fact, true sanctity is measured by love, and love alone. "Love is the seed of sanctity" (Cardinal J. H. Newman, "Faith and Love", Parochial and Plain Sermons). But it is not any trite or commonplace love which Jesus expects of those to whom He entrusts His flock, but a special love. It is significant that before Jesus gave Peter the keys of His kingdom saying: "feed my lambs" and "feed my sheep" (cf. Jn 15:15-17), He asked him a poignant question: "Do you love me more than these"? He did not say: "Do you love me just as much as the others around you love me"? No, He asked him: "Peter, son of John, do you love me more than these"? This was indeed a very challenging question. Peter, at first, was quick to reply: 'Tes, Lord, I do love you", and he gave the same reply when Jesus made the query a second time. But, when the Lord insisted a third time, Peter, conscious of his own weaknesses and past failures, replied humbly: "Lord, you know everything, you know that I love you". Peter's first reply was surely enthusiastic, but the last one was humbly realistic. "Do you love me more than these"? Yes, the Lord requires more love of us, His priests, than of His other disciples. It was the same when Jesus questioned the Apostles as to who people said He was. After they told Him what people were gossiping about, He asked them a straight question: "And who do you say I am"? (Mt 16:15). The Lord surely expects something special, something more from His close collaborators, from those He no longer calls servants, but His friends (Jn 15:12).

Dear brother priests: let us go down memory lane to the day of our sacerdotal ordination. On that solemn occasion, like Peter, we had told the Lord enthusiastically that we loved Him and readily offered ourselves to be His instruments in the forging of saints. He in turn expected us to love Him more than those He would entrust to our pastoral care. Today, we must ask ourselves realistically in what measure we have corresponded with the confidence which the Lord placed in us when He beckoned us to follow Him, and in what measure have we remained united to Him, as branches to the vine (Jn 15:5): for it is only in that measure that we shall produce fruits of holiness in ourselves and become useful instruments in the hands of the Divine Smith as He forges saints through our priestly ministry in the new millennium.