0
0
Illustration: Vocation of the Apostles, a fresco in the Sistine Chapel by Domenico Ghirlandaio, 1481-82
Pope Francis’ Message to the seminarians of France
(signed by Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin)
I am happy, dear seminarians of France, to be able to address you on the occasion of your meeting, and to convey to you the cordial thoughts that His Holiness Pope Francis forms for each one of you in prayer. He gives thanks for the unique call that the Lord has addressed to you, chosening you from among so many others, loving you with a privileged love and setting you apart.
He also gives thanks for the courageous response you wish to give to this call.
Pope Francis’ Message.
It is, indeed, a cause for thanksgiving, hope and joy to note that many young people – and not so young – still dare, with the generosity and boldness of faith, and in spite of the difficult times that our Churches and our secularized Western societies are going through, to commit themselves to following the Lord in his service and in the service of their brothers and sisters. That’s why I say thank you! Thank you for giving joy and hope to the Church of France which awaits you and needs you.
And it needs you so that you may be what the priest should be, what he has always been and what he will always be according to the divine will: “To share in the power by which Christ builds up, sanctifies and governs his Body“; and this in an inexpressible configuration to Christ, the Head of his Church, who places him in relation to the People of God – even though he is always part of it – in order to teach them with authority, guide them with security and effectively transmit grace to them through the celebration of the sacraments. At the highest point, the source and summit of the Church’s life and of her personal life, the priest celebrates the Mass where, making Christ’s sacrifice present, he offers himself in union with him on the altar and there places the offering of the whole People of God and of each of the faithful.
I invite you, dear seminarians, to root firmly in your souls those fundamental truths which will be the foundation of your life and your very identity.
And at the heart of this identity, configured to the Lord Jesus, is celibacy. The priest is celibate – and he wants to be – because Jesus was, quite simply.
The requirement of celibacy is not primarily theological, but mystical: understand who can! (Mt 19:12 – There are eunuchs who have made themselves so for the sake of the kingdom of Heaven. Let anyone accept this who can.’). We hear a lot about priests today, but the priestly figure is often distorted in some circles, relativized, sometimes considered subordinate. Do not be too frightened: no one has the power to change the nature of the priesthood and no one will ever change it, even if the modalities of its exercise must necessarily take into account the changes in today’s society and the condition of serious vocational crisis that we are experiencing.
And one of these social developments, relatively new in France, is that the ecclesiastical institution, and with it the figure of the priest, is no longer recognized.
In the eyes of most people he has lost all prestige, all natural authority, and unfortunately he is even soiled.
So we don’t have to rely on recognition anymore to find an audience with the people we meet. For this reason, the only possible way to continue with the new evangelization called for by Pope Francis, so that everyone can have a personal encounter with Christ, is the adoption of a pastoral style of closeness, compassion, humility, gratuitousness, patience, gentleness, radical self-giving to others, simplicity and poverty.
A priest must know the “scent of his sheep” and walk with them at their own pace. In this way the priest will touch the hearts of his faithful, gain their trust and lead them to an encounter with Christ. This is nothing new, of course; countless holy priests have adopted this style in the past, but today it has become a necessity for fear of not being credible or heard.
In order to live this demanding, and sometimes hard, priestly perfection, and to face the challenges and temptations that you will encounter on your way, there is only one solution, dear seminarians: to nourish a personal, strong, living and authentic relationship with Jesus.
Love Jesus above all else, may his love be enough for you, and may you will emerge victorious from all crises, from all difficulties.
Because:
if Jesus is enough for me, I do not need great consolations in the ministry, nor great pastoral successes, nor to feel myself at the center of extensive relational networks;
if Jesus is enough for me, I have no need for unruly affections, nor for fame, nor for great responsibilities, nor for a career, nor for shining in the eyes of the world, nor for being better than others;
if Jesus is enough for me, I don’t need great material goods, nor to enjoy the temptations of the world, nor security for my future.
If, on the other hand, I succumb to one of these temptations or weaknesses, it is because Jesus is not enough for me and I lack love.
Therefore, dear seminarians, “God is faithful, he has called you to live in communion with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord” (1 Cor 1:3-9).
Be sure that your first concern is to respond to this call and to strengthen your union with the One who deigns to make you his friend (Jn 15:15 – No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you).
He is faithful and will make you happy.
And I can only recommend to you, as a teacher of the spiritual life, Saint Teresa of the Child Jesus and of the Holy Face, on this 150th anniversary of her birth, Doctor of Scientia Amoris, whose admirable doctrine you have the privilege of being able to read in its original language. She who “breathed” without ceasing the Name of Jesus, her “only love” (cf. This Is Trust, n. 8 – The name of Jesus was constantly on her lips, as an act of love, even to her last breath. She had also written these words in her cell: “Jesus is my one love”. It was her interpretation of the supreme statement of the New Testament: “God is love”) will guide you on the path of trust that will sustain you every day and make you stand before the Lord’s gaze when he calls you to himself (cf. Ibid, 3).
Pope Francis entrusts you to his intercession and to the protection of Our Lady of the Assumption, Patroness of France, as well as all the members of your seminary communities. He cordially imparts to you the Apostolic Blessing.
Cardinal Pietro Parolin
Secretary of State to His Holiness
