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"A Year of Prayer by Priests, With Priests and for Priests" Letter For Year for Priest
VATICAN CITY, MAY 27, 2009 (Zenit.org).- The prefect for the Congregation for Clergy is urging the local churches to plan events to celebrate and show appreciation for priests.
He expressed the hope that this year will be a time of "intense appreciation of the priestly identity" and of the "extraordinary meaning of the vocation and mission of priests within the Church and in society."
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Cardinal Cláudio Hummes affirmed this in a letter released today for the Year of Priests, which will be inaugurated June 19, the feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the World Day of Prayer for the Sanctification of Priests.
To this end, he called for reflection on the priesthood through study opportunities, days of recollection, spiritual exercises, conferences and seminars, research and publications.
Benedict XVI announced this year as a celebration of the 150th anniversary of the death of St. John Mary Vianney, the Curé of Ars.
The prefect affirmed that this year must be "a year of prayer by priests, with priests and for priests, a year for the renewal of the spirituality of the presbyterate and of each priest."
The cardinal noted that this year should be "both positive and forward looking," a time for the Church to say to its priests, "but also to all the faithful and to wider society by means of the mass media, that it is proud of its priests, loves them, honors them, admires them and that it recognizes with gratitude their pastoral work and the witness of the their life."
At the heart of this priestly spirituality, he said, is the Eucharist. Cardinal Hummes called for attention to the material sustenance of clergy "since they live, at times, in situations of great poverty and hardship in many parts of the world." Celebration
He affirmed that priests are important "not only for what they do but also for who they are." "Sadly," the prefect said, "it is true that at the present time some priests have been shown to have been involved in gravely problematic and unfortunate situations." However, he noted, it is important to remember that these pertain to a "very small portion of the clergy." Sacred ministry The cardinal continued: "The overwhelming majority of priests are people of great personal integrity, dedicated to the sacred ministry; men of prayer and of pastoral charity, who invest their entire existence in the fulfillment of their vocation and mission, often through great personal sacrifice, but always with an authentic love towards Jesus Christ, the Church and the people, in solidarity with the poor and the suffering.
He also encouraged the Catholic community to "pray, to reflect, to celebrate, and justly to give honor to their priests." May it be an opportunity, he said, "to develop the communion and friendship between priests and the communities entrusted to their care." The prefect urged the local churches and dioceses to establish a program for the year "at the earliest opportunity" and to plan a "notable event" for its inauguration. He invited the churches to join the Pope on June 19 "to participate in the opening of the year, ideally by some particular liturgical act and festivity." The cardinal added an invitation to "those who are able" to come to Rome for the inauguration, "to manifest their own participation in this happy initiative of the Pope." — --- —
"It is for this reason that the Church is proud of her priests wherever they may be found."
Here is the text of the letter Cardinal Cláudio Hummes, prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy, wrote ahead of the Year for Priests, which will begin June 19.
Dear Priests, The Year for Priests, announced by our beloved Pope Benedict XVI to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the death of the saintly Curé of Ars, St. John Mary Vianney, is drawing near. It will be inaugurated by the Holy Father on the 19th June, the feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the World Day of Prayer for the Sanctification of Priests. The announcement of the Year for Priests has been very warmly received, especially amongst priests themselves. Everyone wants to commit themselves with determination, sincerity and fervor so that it may be a year amply celebrated in the whole world -- in the Dioceses, parishes and in every local community -- with the warm participation of our Catholic people who undoubtedly love their priests and want to see them happy, holy and joyous in their daily apostolic labors. It must be a year that is both positive and forward looking in which the Church says to her priests above all, but also to all the Faithful and to wider society by means of the mass media, that she is proud of her priests, loves them, honors them, admires them and that she recognizes with gratitude their pastoral work and the witness of the their life. Truthfully priests are important not only for what they do but also for who they are. Sadly, it is true that at the present time some priest have been shown to have been involved in gravely problematic and unfortunate situations. It is necessary to investigate these matters, pursue judicial processes and impose penalties accordingly. However, it is also important to keep in mind that these pertain to a very small portion of the clergy. The overwhelming majority of priests are people of great personal integrity, dedicated to the sacred ministry; men of prayer and of pastoral charity, who invest their entire existence in the fulfillment of their vocation and mission, often through great
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KATOLIK INDO NEWS personal sacrifice, but always with an authentic love towards Jesus Christ, the Church and the people, in solidarity with the poor and the suffering. It is for this reason that the Church is proud of her priests wherever they may be found. May this year be an occasion for a period of intense appreciation of the priestly identity, of the theology of the Catholic priesthood, and of the extraordinary meaning of the vocation and mission of priests within the Church and in society. This will require opportunities for study, days of recollection, spiritual exercises reflecting on the Priesthood, conferences and theological seminars in our ecclesiastical faculties, scientific research and respective publications. The Holy Father, in announcing the Year in his allocution on the 16th March last to the Congregation for the Clergy during its Plenary Assembly, said that with this special year it is intended “to encourage priests in this striving for spiritual perfection on which, above all, the effectiveness of their ministry depends”. For this reason it must be, in a very special way, a year of prayer by priests, with priests and for priests, a year for the renewal of the spirituality of the presbyterate and of each priest. The
Eucharist is, in this perspective, at the heart of priestly spirituality. Thus Eucharistic adoration for the sanctification of priests and the spiritual motherhood of religious women, consecrated and lay women towards priests, as previously proposed some time ago by the Congregation for the Clergy, could be further developed and would certainly bear the fruit of sanctification. May it also be a year in which the concrete circumstances and the material sustenance of the clergy will be considered, since they live, at times, in situations of great poverty and hardship in many parts of the world. May it be a year as well of religious and of public celebration which will bring the people -the local Catholic community -- to pray, to reflect, to celebrate, and justly to give honor to their priests. In the ecclesial community a celebration is a very cordial event which expresses and nourishes Christian joy, a joy which springs from the certainty that God loves us and celebrates with us. May it therefore be an opportunity to develop the communion and friendship between priests and the communities entrusted to their care.
mentioned that could enrich the Year for Priests, but here the faithful ingenuity of the local churches is called for. Thus, it would be good for every Dioceses and each parish and local community to establish, at the earliest opportunity, an effective program for this special year. Clearly it would be important to begin the Year with some notable event. The local Churches are invited on the 19th June next, the same day on which the Holy Father will inaugurate the Year for Priests in Rome, to participate in the opening of the Year, ideally by some particular liturgical act and festivity. Let those who are able most surely come to Rome for the inauguration, to manifest their own participation in this happy initiative of the Pope. God will undoubtedly bless with great love this undertaking; and the Blessed Virgin Mary, Queen of the Clergy, will pray for each of you, dear priests. Cardinal Cláudio Hummes Archbishop Emeritus of São Paulo Prefect, Congregation for the Clergy
Many other aspects and initiatives could be
“Our Holy Father .. Knows the importance of Holiness” Cardinal Regali on The Year of Priests
PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania, JUNE 13, 2009 (Zenit.org).- Here is a reflection by Cardinal Justin Rigali, archbishop of Philadelphia and chairman of the U.S. bishops' Committee on Pro-life Activities, regarding the upcoming Year for Priests. The article was originally presented June 4 in the archdiocesan newspaper, The Catholic Standard and Times. *** Pope Benedict XVI has declared a "Year of the Priest," which will begin on June 19. Since this will be a time of special prayer by and for our priests, this week we will dwell on this topic given to us by our Holy Father. Saint John Vianney Saint Pius X (1903-1914) was the first Pope to be photographed regularly. Some of the photographs show him giving an instruction on the Gospel to the faithful of Rome, which he liked to do each Sunday. Others show him
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explaining the catechism to children, which was also a favorite apostolate of his. Some photographs show him seated at his desk in the Vatican. Looking at the photographs of the Pope at his desk, we see something quite interesting. On his desk, along with the crucifix, is a large statue. It is not an image of one of the Apostles or of a great Doctor of the Church. It is a statue of John Marie Vianney, a humble French parish priest, whom Pius X beatified in 1905. It was another Pope, Pius XI (1922-1939) who declared Saint John Vianney the Patron of Parish Priests throughout the world. This year is the 150th anniversary of Saint John Vianney's death in 1859 and Pope Benedict is using this occasion to declare a Year dedicated to the mission of the priest. It is interesting to note that Pope Benedict XVI, who is universally acknowledged as one of the greatest minds of our time, has brought such attention to Saint John Vianney, a priest who came very close to never being ordained because of his poor marks
in the Seminary. This is because our Holy Father not only possesses intellectual knowledge but also knows the importance of holiness, especially for the priest. Saint John Vianney is a great model and example of that holiness and that is why all the popes of this century have called attention to him as a model for priests. This includes Saint Pius X, who had been a parish priest himself, and Pope Benedict XVI, who never served in a parish on a regular basis. Saint John Vianney was born at a very unfortunate time in the history of his native France. Three years after his birth in 1786, the French Revolution broke out. The spirit of this Revolution was filled with a hatred for the Church. Many French churches were destroyed and bishops, priests and Religious Sisters were massacred. He received his First Holy Communion in secret as the public celebration of the Mass by loyal priests was forbidden. When he first expressed his desire to be a
KATOLIK INDO NEWS priest, his father would not allow it because young John was needed to work on the farm. He was twenty when he was finally able to pursue his studies for the priesthood, under the direction of a priest who ran a small school. Once the Revolution and the subsequent Napoleonic wars were over, he eventually was able to enroll in a seminary. He found the studies very difficult and, although the authorities recognized his goodness and made special provision for his slowness in learning, after doing poorly in his studies, he was about to be dismissed from the seminary. The Vicar General of the Diocese allowed his studies to continue by asking the Rector: "Is Monsieur Vianney good?" The Rector replied: "He is a model of goodness." The Vicar General said: "Let him be ordained. The grace of God will do the rest." Later, at John Vianney's ordination in 1815, the same Vicar General said: "The Church wants not only learned priests but, even more, holy ones." In 1817, young Father Vianney was sent to the small town of Ars, whose parish consisted of 230 people. He took upon himself a life of great penance and prayer as one of the means of drawing the people of his village away from sin and closer to God. He became a great apostle of the confessional and his fame for sanctity and for being a wise but challenging confessor eventually made it necessary for him to spend upward of eighteen hours a day in the confessional. The little town of Ars became famous throughout France and, eventually, throughout the world because of the holiness of its Pastor. It is this necessity for priestly holiness that Pope Benedict wants to draw attention to during this Year of the Priest. The Heart of Jesus It is appropriate that Pope Benedict will begin the Year of the Priest on June 19 which, this year, is the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Saint John Vianney said: "The Priesthood is the love of the Heart of Jesus," and so we see the intimate connection among these concepts of the Sacred Heart, the Priesthood and Saint John Vianney. The love of the Heart of Jesus culminates in the events of the Last Supper and the Death of Jesus. With great anxiety, Jesus approaches His "hour," as He calls it. He says to His Apostles: "I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer" (Luke
22:15). The Gospel of Saint John tells us that Jesus "loved His own in the world and he loved them to the end" (John 13:1). His love overflowed when He gave to the Apostles, and to all of us, the gift of His very self in the Holy Eucharist. This reminds us that the love of Jesus is not a static love. It is living and enduring. Likewise, we are reminded that we do not believe only in a book or in a set of rules, nor do we believe only in an institution. We believe above all in a Person, Jesus who loves us with an everlasting love and asks that we love Him in return with an individual and personal love. We love His words, His commandments and His Church because they are an extension of Him. Since the love of Jesus is living and perduring, it must continue in the world until the end of time. The Eucharist is the ongoing gift of the love of Jesus. According to God's plan, the Eucharistic Presence is brought about through the Priesthood. Jesus chose a marvelous means to give us His love in the Holy Mass, in Holy Communion and in the Tabernacle. He makes use of human instruments, imperfect men, whom He calls to continue the role and mission of the Apostles, to do what He did. For two thousand years, this "gift and mystery," as Pope John Paul II called the priesthood, has been transmitted to those whom God mysteriously calls so that His love may be known in the world through His Word and through the Word made Flesh in the most Blessed Sacrament. The priest in relation to Christ and the Church The theme of the Year of the Priest, according to the wishes of our Holy Father, is: "Faithfulness of Christ, Faithfulness of Priests." In this way, the ongoing love of Christ and His fidelity to His promises, which are manifested in the Eucharist, given to us through the Priesthood, are also seen as a challenge to the priest to live a life worthy of the calling to which he has received (cf. Ephesians 4:1). The Year of the Priest is not a "pep rally" for individuals or groups; it is a loving challenge to follow the example of Saint John Vianney, whose intense love for Jesus expressed itself in his zealous and faithful living out of his priestly vocation.
explained what it means for the priest to live out his vocation in the midst of and at the service of, the Church. He said: "The priest's mission is carried out ‘in the Church.' This ecclesial, communal, hierarchical and doctrinal dimension is absolutely indispensable to every authentic mission and alone guarantees its spiritual effectiveness. The four aspects mentioned must always be recognized as intimately connected: the mission is ‘ecclesial' because no one proclaims himself in the first person. Every priest must be well aware that he is bringing to the world Another, God himself. God is the only treasure which people ultimately desire to find in a priest. The mission is ‘communal' because it is carried out in unity and communion (with the Church). Moreover, these derive essentially from that divine intimacy in which the priest is called to be an expert, so that he may be able to lead the souls entrusted to him humbly and trustingly to the same encounter with the Lord. Lastly, the ‘hierarchical' and ‘doctrinal' dimensions suggest reaffirming the importance of discipline, doctrinal training and theological and continuing formation" (Address to the members of the Congregation for the Clergy announcing the Year of the Priest, 16 March 2009). Throughout this year, the priests and bishops of the Archdiocese, along with me, will reflect more deeply on the calling to which we have been called. We will make use of the example of Saint John Vianney and attempt to follow his example of prayer, penance, humility and apostolic zeal in the service of Jesus and you, our people. At the same time, we ask you to pray for us. As Cardinal Claudio Hummes, the Prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy, recently wrote in reflecting on this upcoming Year of the Priest: "May this year be an occasion for a period of intense appreciation of the priestly identity, of the theology of the Catholic priesthood, and of the extraordinary meaning of the vocation and mission of priests within the Church and in society with the warm participation of our Catholic people who undoubtedly love their priests and want to see them happy, holy and joyous in their daily apostolic labors." © Innovative Media, Inc.
In announcing this special year, Pope Benedict
Priest Urged to Open Their Hearts Wide Clergy Dicastery Prepares to Celebrate the Priesthood
VATICAN CITY, JUNE 5, 2009 (Zenit.org).- As the Year for Priests is set to begin, the Congregation for Clergy is encouraging priests to enter the celebration with a "wide open heart." Archbishop Mauro Piacenza, secretary of the Congregation for Clergy, wrote this in a letter he sent to the priests of the world ahead of the
June 19 inauguration. Benedict XVI will open the year with a celebration of vespers on the solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. The theme for the priestly year is "Faithfulness of Christ, Faithfulness of Priests." The year coincides with the 150th anniversary
of the death of St. Jean Marie Vianney, the Curé of Ars, and the inauguration event will be held in the presence of the relic of the Curé of Ars, to be brought to Rome by Bishop Guy Bagnard of Belley-Ars. The Year for Priests will conclude with an International Convention in Rome, to be held June 9-11, 2010.
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KATOLIK INDO NEWS The archbishop said the Year for Priests promises to be "an intense moment of faith" for the priests of the world, together with Benedict XVI. He said priests are called every day -- and much more so during this year -- "to be ever more authentically that which we already are, [to] conversion to our ecclesial identity of which our ministry is a necessary consequence, so that a renewed and joyous awareness of our 'being' will determine our 'acting,' or rather will create the space allowing Christ the Good Shepherd to live in us and to act through us.” "Our spirituality must be nothing other than the spirituality of Christ himself," the prelate added, "the one and only supreme High Priest of the New Testament." Archbishop Piacenza noted that the main work of the Year for Priests will be to "concentrate on the identity of Christ the Son of God [...] and
on his mission to reveal the Father and his wondrous plan of salvation. This mission of Christ carries with it the building up of the Church: Behold the Good Shepherd who gives his life for the Church." The archbishop urged priests to take up the challenge so that "Christ’s manner of life may be the manner of life made ever more manifest in each one of us." He continued: "We must exist for others, we must undertake to live with the People in a union of holy and divine love -- which clearly presupposes the richness of holy celibacy -which obliges us to live in authentic solidarity with those who suffer and who live in a great many types of poverty. "We must be laborers for the building up of the one Church of Christ, for which we must live purposefully and faithfully the communion of love with the Pope, with the bishops, with our brother priests and with the faithful. We must
live this communion with the unbroken pilgrimage of the Church within the very sinews of the Mystical Body." "[R]un spiritually in this year with a 'wide open heart,'" the archbishop urged, "so as to inwardly conform to our vocation the better to say, in truth 'it is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me.'” Archbishop Piacenza invited all Church faithful to celebrate the opening of the Year for Priests, which will take place June 19 at St. Peter's Basilica. The basilica will open at 4 p.m., and the reliquary of St. Jean Marie Vianney will arrive at 5:30 p.m. Vespers will follow. He asked those unable to attend to join themselves spiritually to the occasion. --- --- —
Year for Priest Initiatives Flood Internet Cardinal Reports Global Positive Response VATICAN CITY, JUNE 19, 2009 (Zenit.org).- The Congregation for Clergy is launching a new Web site for the Year for Priests, which begins today. The enthusiasm surrounding this occasion is echoing in initiatives across the globe.
Father Brendan Kilcoyne, president of St. Jarlath's College in Tuam will preside over this Mass that will be broadcast by the RTE national television station. Vocational renewal
A letter from Cardinal Cláudio Hummes, prefect of the congregation, expressed the hope that "this may be a time of grace that will produce great apostolic fruit, especially of fidelity and intense renewal in the work of the ministry."
National initiatives in England and Wales are available through the new online portal created by the bishops' conference there.
He explained that their new site offers spiritual resources and documents for priests and lay people to celebrate the year, in English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish. The cardinal affirmed that the Year for Priests "has been warmly received throughout the world" and the "positive effects will make themselves felt very quickly." He invited ordained ministers to "participate in it with every effort and creativity" and to "be unconditional disciples and audacious missionaries" for Christ. Another initiative was organized by WorldPriest, a group of Catholic communications professionals based on both the United States and Ireland. In addition to online resources, the group coordinated four Masses which will be celebrated on different points of the globe today, uniting English-speaking Catholic communities to pray for priests. Each Mass will take place at 3 p.m. local time, beginning with one in Sydney, Australia, celebrated by the archbishop of that city, Cardinal George Pell. Next, Carmelite Father Sebastian Koodappattu will preside over a Mass in Kerala, India, followed by Archbishop Michael Neary of Tuam in Ireland's Knock Shrine. Monsignor Michael Curran will complete the circle with a Eucharistic Celebration in New York. In addition, a special Mass will be televised by WorldPriest on Sunday in honor of the World Day of Prayer for Priests, which the group promotes every year.
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This Web site contains resources for priests, and allows users to browse through the online offerings of each of the 22 dioceses in the conference. Thus, for example, one can access the new Web site from the Archdiocese of Birmingham that features a multimedia "virtual seminary," posters, prayer cards, priestly testimonials and a seminary blog. Father Eddie Clare, committee chairman of the National Office for Vocation, affirmed that one
important outcome of this year will be a "renewed emphasis on vocations." He added, "The more we value our priests and their irreplaceable presence at the heart of the Church, more men may consider that this may be their calling in life." One institution that is offering visual demonstrations of the irreplaceable role of priestly ministry is the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. In a new Web site launched for the Year for Priests, it is featuring slide show presentations about its ordained alumni and the ways they have served the Church. The year will run until June 19, 2010, and will center on the theme: "Faithfulness of Christ, Faithfulness of Priests." --- --- —
KATOLIK INDO NEWS www.worldpriestday.com
www.annussacerdotalis.org
http://yearforpriests.cua.edu
www.ukpriest.org
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KATOLIK INDO NEWS
Cure D'ars: Model Priest Confessor Knew the Importance of the Basics
By Karna Swanson
to leave the Church.
NEW YORK, JUNE 19, 2009 (Zenit.org).- After more than 2,000 years of existence, there isn't much the Church hasn't addressed, faced or witnessed.
The road to the priesthood wasn't an easy path for Vianney. After finally getting his father's permission to pursue his calling, he still needed to get caught up on his studies, as the revolution had interrupted his education. If he wanted to be a priest, he'd have to go back to school with children half his age to learn the basics of reading, writing, and Latin.
Granted, times change. New challenges continually present themselves. Progress is made. And while the Church continually works to keep step with the twists and turns of history, it sometimes breaks step and simply returns to the basics. This is what Benedict XVI did recently when he declared a yearlong celebration of one of the most basic and fundamental elements of the Catholic Church: the priesthood. Beginning today, the Church will dedicate one full year to remembering what it is to be a priest. This will not only be an opportunity for priests to rediscover their vocation, mission and passion for Christ, but it's also a chance for the rest of us to rediscover what a gift the priesthood is for our own lives. The Pontiff chose as the occasion for this jubilee year the 150th anniversary of the death of St. John Mary Vianney, known as the Curé d'Ars. By linking the Year for Priests with St. Vianney, who is also the patron of parish priests, the jubilee not only celebrates the basics of the Church, but also the basics of the priesthood itself. As a priest, Father Vianney took upon himself many of the projects parish priests take on. He set about to restore the parish church, he founded an orphanage and did acts of charity for the poor. He also did some pretty extraordinary things. He had supernatural knowledge of the future and the past, and he performed healing miracles, particularly on children. But it was in the basic duties of parish life that he excelled, namely preaching, offering spiritual direction, and, most notably, hearing confessions. Rocky road John Mary Vianney was born in Dardilly, near Leon, in 1786. His early faith formation took place within the context of the French Revolution, which pushed the practice of the Catholic faith underground. Later in his ministry, he would deal with the consequences of the revolution, which led many of the faithful
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Almost nine years later, in 1815, Vianney was ordained. He was 29. Less than three years later, in 1818, the young priest was assigned as the assistant pastor of the church in Ars, a small country village located about 25 miles from Lyon in eastern France. This is where he would spend the rest of his priestly life. Arriving in Ars, the young priest noticed the loss of Christian faith and morals around him, a lingering by-product of the French Revolution. Father Vianney soon began to awaken the faith of his parishioners through his preaching, but most of all by his prayer and his way of life. His notoriety as a holy priest grew slowly, and Father Vianney soon became known as, simply, the Curé d'Ars (priest of Ars). Not paparazzi, penitents By the 1830s, his popularity swelled to the extent that the holy priest became somewhat of a prisoner in the confessional, held there by the hundreds of faithful arriving daily to the village to see the holy curé. Between 1830 and 1845, sometimes as many as 300 people a day would pass through Ars for a chance to confess with Father Vianney. Overwhelmed with his own sense of unworthiness and weakness in the face of such a great mission, the holy priest tried three times to escape, but all attempts failed. On the third attempt his parishioners actually sent out a search crew in the middle of the night to find him and put him back in the confessional. He stayed there until the wee hours of the morning -- hearing confessions. In 1853, a group of diocesan missionaries came to the aid of the overworked parish priest, who couldn't seem to get out of his confessional, let alone out of his own parish to take a holiday. His own bishop even told him not to attend diocesan retreats, as Father Vianney had too many souls to attend to in Ars. By 1855, the number of pilgrims had reached 20,000 a year, and some 100,000 in 1858. There are reports that during the last 10 years of his life, he spent as many as 18 hours a day in the confessional, and that toward the end of
his life, he confessed up to 80,000 penitents a year. Father Vianney spent the last five days of his life hearing his confessions from his deathbed. Exhausted, the Curé d'Ars died Aug. 4, 1859. He was 73. The parish priest was beatified in 1905, and declared the patron of the priests of France that same year. He was canonized 20 years later in 1925, and declared the patron saint of all parish priests in 1929. A hero In 1959, Pope John XXIII wrote a 13,000-word encyclical on St. John Mary Vianney on the centenary of the saint's death. He hailed the holy priest an "outstanding model of priestly asceticism, of piety, especially in the form of devotion to the Eucharist, and, finally, of pastoral zeal." He was a "tireless worker for God," the Holy Father continued, and "a hero." "His only motives were the love of God and the desire for the salvation of the souls of his neighbors," the Pontiff affirmed. John XIII offered St. Vianney as a model for other priests because the saint was a man of God. This, he said, was the secret to the priesthood: "A man who is filled with Christ will not find it hard to discover ways and means of bringing others to Christ." The Curé d'Ars is also a model for priests because he, like few others, knew what being a priest was all about. "Holy Orders," he wrote in his Catechism on the Priesthood, "is a sacrament which seems to relate to no one among you, and which yet relates to everyone." A priest, he continued, is "a man who holds the place of God -- a man who is invested with all the powers of God." "Everything has come to us through the priest; yes, all happiness, all graces, all heavenly gifts," St. Vianney affirmed. "If we had not the sacrament of orders, we should not have Our Lord. "Who placed him there, in that tabernacle? It was the priest. Who was it that received your soul, on its entrance into life? The priest. Who nourishes it, to give it strength to make its
KATOLIK INDO NEWS pilgrimage? The priest. Who will prepare it to appear before God, by washing that soul, for the last time, in the blood of Jesus Christ? The priest -- always the priest." St. Vianney spoke of the priest as the doorway to the treasures of heaven, "He is the steward of the good God, the distributor of his wealth." "Oh, how great is a priest," he exclaimed. So great, he noted, that it would be impossible for a priest to "understand the greatness of his office till he is in heaven. If he understood it on earth, he would die, not of fear, but of love."
And a priest, he continued, "is not a priest for himself." It's often overlooked that a priest does not confess himself or administer the sacraments for himself. All of his priestly duties and functions are done for others. "He is not for himself," the holy CurĂŠ reminds us. "He is for you." When you see a priest, you should say, "There is he who made me a child of God, and opened heaven to me by holy baptism; he who purified
me after I had sinned; who gives nourishment to my soul." "The priesthood is the love of the heart of Jesus," he added. "When you see the priest, think of Our Lord Jesus Christ." This year, we have the opportunity to just do that. *** Karna Swanson is the editor of ZENIT's English edition.
Mengenal Santo Yohanes Maria Vianney oleh Romo Yono
Mulanya ia dianggap remeh karena kelambanannya dan kebodohannya. Setelah ditabhiskan menjadi imam, ia tidak diperkenankan uskup melayani sakramen pengakuan dosa karena dianggap tidak mampu memberi bimbingan rohani. Setelah beberapa, ia ditempatkan di paroki Ars, sebuah paroki yang terpencil, dan tak terurus. Di paroki ini Yohanes Maria Vianney mengabdikan dirinya dan menjadikan desa Ars sebuah tempat ziarah bagi umat di segala penjuru. Yohanes Maria Vianney lahir pada tanggal 8 Mei 1786 di desa Dardilly, Lyon-Prancis. Ayahnya, Mateus Vianney, seorang petani miskin. Ibunya serorang yang taat beragama. Masyarakat setempat kagum dan suka pada mereka karena cara hidup mereka yang benar-benar mencerminkan kebiasaan hidup Kristiani. Semenjak kecil, Yohanes sudah terbiasa dengan kerja keras dan doa yang tekun berkat telandan orangtuanya. Dibandingkan dengan kelima orang saudaranya, ia memang trampil dan rajin bekerja namun lamban dan bodoh. Ia baru bisa membaca pada usia 18 tahun. Meskipun begitu, ia bercita-cita menjadi imam. Pada umur 20 tahun, ayahnya dengan berat hati mengizinkan dia masuk Seminari di desa tetangganya, Ecully. Hal ini bukan karena ayahnya tidak mengijinkan dia menjadi imam tetapi semata-mata karena kelambanan dan kebodohannya. Pendidikannya sempat tertunda karena kewajiban masuk militer yang berlaku di Prancis pada masa itu. Baru pada tahun 1812, ia melanjutkan lagi studinya. Ia mengalami kesulitan besar sepanjang masa studinya di Seminari. Hampir semua mata pelajaran, terutama bahasa Latin, sangat sulit dipahaminya. Namun ia tidak putus asa. Ia rajin berziarah ke Louveser untuk berdoa dengan perantaraan Santo Fransiskus Regis agar bisa terbantu dalam mempelajari semua bidang studi. Berkat doa-doanya, ia berangsurangsur mengalami kemajuan hingga menamatkan pendidikan Seminari Menengah Verriores dan masuk Seminari Tinggi. Di jenjang Seminari Tinggi, ia harus berjuang lebih keras lagi agar lolos dari kegagalan.
Meskipun begitu ia terus menerus harus mengulangi setiap ujian. Pemimpin seminari sangat meragukan dia, namun mereka pun tidak bisa mengeluarkan dia karena kehidupan rohaninya sangat baik. Ia seorang calon imam yang saleh. Akhirnya Yohanes pun dianggap layak dan ditabhiskan menjadi imam pada tahun 1815. Setelah menjadi imam, ia belum diperkenankan melayani sakramen pengakuan dosa karena dianggap tidak mampu memberikan bimbingan rohani kepada umat. Kecuali itu, ia dinilai tidak bisa menjadi pastor di paroki-paroki kota. Oleh karena itu ia ditempatkan di paroki Ars. Ars adalah sebuah desa terpencil dan terbelakang di Prancis. Paroki ini dianggap cocok bagi dia karena tingkat pendidikan umatnya tidak seberapa. Pada 8 Februari 1818, Yohanes mulai menyadari karyanya di Paroki Ars. Di satu pihak ia sungguh menyadari bahwa kemampuannya tidak seberapa bila dibandingkan dengan beratnya tugas mengembalakan umat Allah; tetapi di pihak lain ia pun sadar bahwa dirinya bukanlah pelaku utama karya pengembalaan umat melainkan Allah melalui Roh Kudus-Nyalah pelaku utama karya besar itu. Kesadaran itu mendorong dia untuk senantiasa mempersembahkan karyanya kepada Tuhan. Tahap demi tahap ia membenahi parokinya dengan coba membangkitkan semangat iman umat. Semangat kerja kerasnya semenjak kecil mendorongnya untuk berkhotbah dan mengajar umat tanpa mengenal lelah. Yohanes yang dahulu dianggap remeh dan dipandang dengan sebelah mata oleh banyak imam, kini dikagumi dan disanjung. Desa Ars yang dahulu sepi, sekarang menjadi tempat ziarah terkenal bagi umat dari segala penjuru Prancis. Dari mana-mana umat datang ke Ars untuk merayakan Ekaristi dan mendengarkan khotbah pastor desa yang saleh itu. Khotbahkhotbah tajam, keras dan mengena sehingga menggetarkan hati umat terutama para pendosa. Namun di kamar pengakuan, ia ramah dan dengan hati yang ikhlas memberi
bimbingan rohani kepada umatnya. Oleh rahmat Allah yang diperkuat dengan keluhuran budi dan kesalehan hidupnya, Yohanes mampu menghantar kembali umat kepada pertobatan dan penghayatan iman yang benar. Pastor Ars yang saleh ini dikarunia karisma mengetahui berbagai hal sebelum terjadi. Karisma ini dapat dilihat dalam pengalaman Nyonya Pauze dari St. Etienne. Pauze datang mengaku dosanya di gereja paroki. Pastor yang melayani sudah tua, kurus dan lemah. Dialah Yohanes Vianney. Dalam hatinya ia berpikir: "Tentu ini kesempatan terakhir bagiku untuk menerima berkatnya". Namun pastor tua itu tiba-tiba berkata: "Bukan begitu anakku! Tiga minggu lagi kita akan bertemu kembali". Nyonya Pauze terperanjat dan pulang dengan seribu tanda tanya. Ia menceritakan kata-kata pastor itu kepada teman-temannya. Dan persis tiga minggu kemudian, nyonya Pauze meninggal dunia bersamaan dengan pastor tua itu. Mereka bertemu lagi di surga. Meskipun ia saleh, ia tidak luput dari gangguan setan. Ia sering tidak bisa tidur karena gangguan setan di malam hari. Ia tidak takut karena yakin sesudah kejadian itu selalu akan datang pendosa berat yang mau bertobat. Di samping penyembuhan luka-luka batin umatnya, banyak pula penyembuhan jasmani yang terjadi secara ajaib melalui perantaraannya. Tugas hariannya yang berat itu sangat menguras tenanganya. Beberapa kali ia meninggalkan Ars untuk beristirahat di sebuah biara. Tetapi ia selalu diseret kembali oleh umatnya di dusun Ars. Ini suatu tanda bahwa umat sungguh mencintainya dan tidak rela kalau pastornya meninggalkan mereka. Yohanes Maria Vianney mendampingi umatnya di Ars sampai maut menjemputnya pada tanggal 3 Agustus 1859. Pada tahun 1925, ia dinyatakan sebagai 'santo' oleh Paus Pius XI (1922-1939) dan diangkat sebagai pelindung surgawi bagi 'para pastor paroki'. sumber http://fxsuyana.wordpress.com/
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KATOLIK INDO NEWS
"The Priesthood Is the Love of the Heart of Jesus� Pope’s Letter on Year For Priest
VATICAN CITY, JUNE 18, 2009 (Zenit.org).Here is a Vatican translation of the letter Benedict XVI sent to the priests of the world on the occasion of the Year for Priests, which has been called to mark the 150th anniversary of the death of St. John Mary Vianney. On Friday, the solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and day of prayer for the sanctification of the clergy, Benedict XVI will inaugurate this Jubilee Year for Priests during Vespers in the Vatican Basilica. *** 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. 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 Cure of Ars would often say. 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 St. John Mary also makes us think of Christ's pierced Heart
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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 acknowledgement of the weaknesses of her ministers, but also a joyful and renewed realisation 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 St. John Mary Vianney can serve as a significant point of
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After God, the priest is everything! ------------------------------------reference for us all. The Cure 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". 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 realised 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". 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 realise what he is". 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 realise 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 worshipping the beasts there. ... The priest is not a priest for himself, he is a priest for you". 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. The Cure 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 St. 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 Cure of Ars immediately set about this patient and humble task of harmonising 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
KATOLIK INDO NEWS 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". The pious excess of his devout biographer should not blind us to the fact that the Cure also knew how to "live" actively within the entire territory of his parish: he regularly visited the sick and families, organised 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 co-operation which need to be opened ever more fully to the lay faithful. Priests and laity together make up the one priestly people 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'". Here we ought to recall the Vatican Council II'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". St. 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. "One need not say much to pray well" - the Cure 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". 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. ... "Of course you are not worthy of him, but you need him!". 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". "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". 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!". 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!" 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 Cure 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". 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!". The saintly Cure 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". "This good Saviour is so filled with love that He seeks us everywhere". 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". From St. 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 Cure 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 Cure 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!". 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", 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!". 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!". And he taught them to pray: "My God, grant me the grace to love You as much as I possibly can". In his time the Cure 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. 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
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KATOLIK INDO NEWS dangerously inured to the state of sin or of indifference in which so many of his flock are living. 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". Aside from the actual penances which the Cure of Ars practised, 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 Cure 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". 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?". Just as Jesus called the Twelve to be with Him, 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. It was complete commitment to this "new style of life" which marked the priestly ministry of the Cure of Ars. Pope John XXIII, in his Encyclical Letter "Sacerdotii nostri primordia", published in 1959 on the first centenary of the death of St. 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". The Cure 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 realised that everything had been donated to his church, his poor, his orphans, the girls of his "Providence", his families of modest means. Consequently, he "was rich in giving to others and very poor for himself". As he would explain: "My secret is simple: give everything away; hold nothing back". 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". 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!". 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". 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". Only obedience and a thirst for souls
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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". He considered this the golden rule for a life of obedience: "Do only what can be offered to the good Lord". 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". 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, recognise with joy and foster diligently the many and varied charismatic gifts of the laity, whether these be of a humble or more exalted kind". 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". 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. 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. 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". 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". 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 St. 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 Cure of Ars completed his long and admi rab
le 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". The Cure 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". 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 selfoblation to Christ and the Church which inspired the thoughts and actions of the saintly Cure 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". 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 Cure 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! Š Copyright 2009 -- Libreria Editrice Vaticana