(International Conference of Priests, Malta, October 18^th - 23^rd 2004)

DOCTRINAL SUMMARY

(Prof. Juan Esquerda Bifet) 

During the International Conference of Priests held in Malta, the sanctity of priests was presented as an existing reality within the Church, as a joyful requirement, as a possibility and also as a ministry: "Saintly priests, the forgers of Saints for the new millennium" , in the footsteps of the Apostle Paul.

 This dual aspect (saints and forgers of saints) was explained during conferences and meditations, but mainly it was liturgically celebrated and experienced as a sharing and a brotherly welcoming among the more than one thousand priests present. This event of grace was also an ecclesial sign, a special implementation of the communion of saints, bearing in mind that from all five continents (and therefore from the whole Church) we receive encouragement and prayers for the sanctity of priests and for the implementation of the ministry as a service of sanctity.

 It is impossible to briefly summarise the doctrinal contents in a few minutes. One could however establish a central fulcrum around which all speeches turned, hence the feelings of Christ the Good Pastor, made manifest through Jesus’ priestly prayer during the last supper: "And I consecrate myself for them, so that they also may be consecrated in truth" (John 17,19). It is profound desire expressed by Christ the Priest and the Victim, the Good Shepherd who gives His life for His flock and makes possible his ministers’ generous answer. Paul is a model of this syntony with Christ’s feelings.

 Paul’s footsteps were often traced in all the conferences and meditations. The sanctity experienced and described by Paul is one that could be qualified as relational, hence the relation and syntony with the Father’s plans, as the configuration in Christ and transformation in Him guided by the Holy Spirit. In Paul, sanctity is a Christian vocation, precisely of those known as "saints" because they are represented in Christ. However, it is in a special way a call for those who have received the grace of the Holy Spirit, through the imposition of the hands, to be able to serve the saintly, immaculate Church, Christ’s bride, and a mother. Paul’s doctrine and testimony appears in all the dimensions of priestly sanctity, as an experienced event and as a ministry.

 Paul was a forger of saints (see Gal 4, 19). This is how he summarises his sanctifying work: "My children, for whom I am again in labor until Christ be formed in you!" (Gal 4, 19). "For I am jealous of you with the jealousy of God, since I betrothed you to one husband to present you as a chaste virgin to Christ" (2 Cor 11, 2)

 Sanctity in the lives and ministries of priests has a Trinitarian dimension. While all Christians become involved in the dynamism of expressing Trinitarian life in their hearts and their lives (Eph 2,18: "in the Spirit for Christ to the Father"), the minister is called upon in a special way to be the transparency of this mystery of love and to announce this to all people and the mystery made manifest in Christ (see. Ef 3).

 The Trinitarian dimension of sanctity is the source for analysing in depth other dimensions: Christological, pneumatological, ecclesiological, missionary, contemplative and anthropological-cultural. On each dimension, Paul’s words and life provide is with guidelines, always as an imitation of Christ, a relationship with Him and a configuration in Him.

 The Christological dimension of sanctity is the one most emphasised in Paul’s writings. The path to priestly sanctity is embarked on allowing oneself to conquer Christ’s love: "yet I live, no longer I, but Christ lives in me; insofar as I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who has loved me and given himself up for me" (Gal 2, 20). And it is this same love that leads to the mission: "For the love of Christ impels us" (2 Cor 5, 14).

 The pneumatological dimension appears in Paul’s life and ministry, as he describes and summarises all is work saying that he was "compelled (a prisoner of) by the Spirit" (Acts 20,22). Hence he warned his disciple Timothy: "Do not neglect the gift you have, which was conferred on you through the prophetic word with the imposition of hands of the presbyterate" (1Tim 4,14). During or conference we sang the "Veni Creator Spiritus", determined to embark upon a new stage of priestly life.

 The Holy Spirit, especially received on the day of ordination, makes one capable of transferring to others one’s own experience with Jesus. Through "character", which is grace permeated by the Holy Spirit, received thanks to the sacrament of Holy Orders, we participate in Christ’s priestly unction (sent by the Father and by the Spirit), extending His own mission within the Church and throughout the world and, consequently, we are called upon to live in syntony with the same gestures of Christ’s life.

 Pastoral charity (the engine of the missionary dimension) is the imitation of the life of the Good Shepherd (see John 10,18), following in the footprints of the Holy Spirit’s work (see Luke 10, 1, 14, 18). "God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the holy Spirit and power" (Acts 10, 38).

 The ministerial work that consists in anointing, animating and supporting the community, always in the spirit of service, has as its objective "that each believer should be led through the Holy Spirit to develop his personal vocation according to the Gospel, and to practice a sincere and active charity and to exercise that freedom with which Christ released us". (see PO 6).

 The Christological and pneumatological dimension of priestly sanctity includes loyal, sincere and unconditional love for the Church. And hence a ecclesiological dimension. The Apostle Paul, in inviting us to conjure ourselves in Christ, exhorts us to experience his same feelings (see Phil 2, 5) and his same expressions of love: "Christ loved the Church and gave Himself up for her" (see Eph 5, 25). "For every missionary loyalty to Christ cannot be separated from loyalty to His Church" (see RMi 89).

The Christological dimension of sanctity is therefore an Eucharistic dimension. Paul transfers what he received, but above all he implements the reality of the Eucharistic mystery that is central in priestly life and ministry: "For I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you" (see 1Cor 11,23ss). "We were born from the Eucharist... ministerial priesthood: it is born, lives, works and bears fruit "de Eucharistia"... There can be no Eucharist without the priesthood, just as there can be no priesthood without the Eucharist" (John Paul II, Letter for Holy Thursday 2004, no. 2).

 The Marian dimension appears in Paul when, after having spoken of the "woman" (Jesus’ Mother), the instrument of our adoptive filiation by the Holy Spirit (see Gal 4,4-7), he compares his ministry to motherhood (see Gal 4,19), as the concretising of the Church’s motherhood (see Gal 4,26).

 To guarantee the Christological dimension of priestly sanctity it is necessary for it to be linked to the Marian dimension. Christ the Priest and the Good Shepherd is not an abstraction, He was born from the Virgin Mary and associated her to His redeeming work. Mary, the Mother of Christ the Priest and our Mother, sees in each of us a "living Jesus" (according to the expression used by Saint John Eudes), hence, using the Council’s words, "Christ the Priest’s living instruments" (PO 12) who wish to live "in a living communion" with her con lei like the beloved disciple (see. RMa 45, note 130). We need to live our Christological priestly dimension "at the school of Mary Most Holy" (Holy Thursdy Letter 2004, no. 7).

 These dimensions of sanctity, experienced with authenticity, are the key for an authentic insertion of the Gospel in cultures (the cultural dimension), also and especially in our social-cultural and historical situation.

 During the conference, I was able to observe that doctrinal subjects were welcomed with great receptivity and syntony. In the joy and peace shown by the many priests present (also during liturgical, Eucharistic, Marian and penitential celebrations) I see not only the testimony of priests totally devoted to loving Christ and ensuring He is loved, but also a new season for vocations, for the priestly life and ministry.