What People
Expect of Priests
Cardinal Castrillón
Courtesy of Zenit
Cardinal Castrillón on What
People Expect of Priests
To Encounter Christ, He Says at Videoconference
VATICAN CITY, DEC. 14, 2004 (Zenit.org).- People today seek one thing
from a priest: to encounter Christ, contemplating in him the face of God, says
the prefect of the Congregation for Clergy.
Cardinal Darío Castrillón Hoyos made that point during a theologians
videoconference organized by the Vatican dicastery he heads.
The theme of the videoconference, "Priests, Forgers of Saints in the Third
Millennium," was the same as that of the International Congress of Priests held
last month in Malta.
Introducing the 32nd International Theological Conference, the cardinal said
that the priest, "loved by God and a St. by vocation, ... has been
qualified to speak with the 'I' of Christ. In his gesture of blessing and his
hands raised in the Eucharistic sacrifice flow the life and salvific action of
Christ himself, for the good of humanity."
"With his life, the priest attests that the object of holiness is not found in
itself, but that it is a journey toward God, who is holy, and toward men, who
thirst for God," the cardinal said. "Contemporary man has as his only great
expectation to encounter Christ. People ask to be able to contemplate in him
[the priest] the merciful face of God."
The relators of the videoconference -- Monsignors Juan Esquerda Bifet and
Antonio Miralles and Legionary Father Paolo Scarafoni -- emphasized that the
priestly ministry, called to be in constant contact with the transcendent
holiness of God, becomes, in Christ, the bearer of this holiness in the world.
Monsignor Esquerda Bifet, professor at Rome's Urban University, presented the
priest's life of holiness as key "so that the Gospel can penetrate in a genuine
way in cultures and also, in a special way, in our sociocultural and historical
situation."
Monsignor Miralles, professor at the University of the Holy Cross, said that the
Church' pastors "are credible in the measure that they reveal Christ."
According to the prelate, it is necessary to carry out pastoral service in three
ways. First, "not out of obligation, almost wishing to be rid of it as a heavy
burden, but willingly, according to Jesus' example, obedient to the Father unto
death."
"In the second place, not for profit but with a good heart," he said. "It is the
contrast between the hireling and the good shepherd. The hireling 'cares nothing
for the sheep'; his interest is earnings. Instead, 'the good shepherd lays down
his life for his sheep.'"
In the third place, not behaving as masters of the faithful who have been
entrusted to them, but being "models for the flock," Monsignor Miralles said.
"The shepherds are not the owners of the flock, because the flock is God's."
In his address, Father Paolo Scarafoni, rector of the Regina Apostolorum
Pontifical University, illustrated the "new means for the formation of the
clergy." This includes the need for more-frequent presbyterial meetings; the use
of the new means of communication to promote ecclesial communion, in particular
between bishops and priests; and permanent formation.
Cardinal Castrillón said: "In this long winter of an anthropology without Christ
and a spiritualist humanism, celebrated by an esoteric and pantheistic
religiosity, the Church does not remain inactive or indifferent. With the
faithfulness of her priests she wishes to illuminate the darkness of a culture
that dispenses with God and to be guide toward the dawn of a spring of holiness
among men."
ZE04121405
Courtesy of
ZENIT
 Printer
Friendly Version
|
