Theme for the World Day Of Prayer for the Santification
of Priests
Eucharist, Priesthood and Ecclesial Communion
- 3 June 2005 -
Solemnity of the Sacred Heart
1. The Legacy of John Paul II and the Exhortation of Benedict XVI
The church events which we have lived through during the month of April
of this Year of the Eucharistic (2005) have been an unrepeatable grace
in our Christian and priestly lives. Pope John Paul II has left us a
priestly inheritance with his Holy Thursday letter to priests of 14
March 2005, which is a synthesis of his previous documents on priesthood.
Pope Benedict XVI has called us to live this Year of the Eucharist rediscovering
the friendship of Christ and making it the key of our priestly existence
(Discourse to the Parish Priests of Rome, 13 May 2005).
The exhortations of John Paul II and Benedict XVI stand as a prolongation
of the invitation of Christ himself "stay in my love… you
are my friends" (Jn 15:9-14). This invitation has a relational
sense to live in harmony with the mind of Christ, heart to heart, as
St. Paul said: "have the same mind of Christ." (Phil 2:5).
Our priestly "existence" is called to be: a grateful existence,
giving, saving, memorable, consecrated, held out to Christ, Eucharistic
at the school of Mary (cf. John Paul II, Holy Thursday Letter 2005).
Thus our priestly existence profoundly related to Christ, is apprehended
through the means of an experience of lived faith: "to stand before
the Eucharistic Jesus, to profit in a certain sense, from our ‘solitudes’
to fill up with this Presence, means to give to our consecration all
the warmth of the intimacy with Christ, from which our life takes joy
and meaning" (Holy Thursday Letter 2005, n. 6).
The secret or the key of priestly life is the passionate love of Christ
which brings with it Christ’s passionate announcement "its
secret lies in the ‘passion’ which he lives through Christ.
Saint Paul says ‘for me to live is Christ’ (Phil 1:21)"
(Holy Thursday Letter 2005, n. 7).
The priest discovers and lives profoundly his identity when he decides
to place nothing before the love of Christ and to make Him the center
of his life. We are called to "always return again to the root
of our priesthood. This root, as we well know is a single thing, Our
Lord Jesus Christ (Benedict XVI, Discourse of 13 May 2005).
This experience of a relationship with Christ means to enter in his
friendship, to the point of not being able to exclude Him, never to
feel alone, not to doubt his love. "The Lord calls us friends,
he makes us his friends, he gives himself to us, he gives himself to
us in his body in the Holy Eucharist, he entrusts us to his Church.
And thus we must truly be his friends, to have with him only one desire,
to want that which He wants and not to want that which He does not want.
Jesus himself says: ‘you are my friends if you do that which I
command’ (Jn 15:14)" (Benedict XVI, Discourse of 13 May 2005).
2. Priesthood and the Holy Eucharist
John Paul II in the encyclical Ecclesiae de Eucharistia and the Apostolic
Exhortation Mane nobiscum Domine, lays out for us certain lines of "Eucharistic
spirituality" for all vocations. In re-reading these texts we feel
profoundly touched, especially if we have had this experience before
the Tabernacle. Christ continues to speak today, from heart to heart.
The words of Eucharistic consecration which mould and transform us
are a "formula of life"; through them we are "involved
in this spiritual movement" of transformation in Christ (Holy Thursday
Letter, n. 1 & 3).
Our Christian and priestly spirituality is relational or of friendship,
it is a giving in union with the charity of the Good Shepherd, it is
transforming so that it makes us a clear sign of Jesus himself, it is
Marian in that it approaches the school of Mary, it is of ecclesial
communion, it is ministerial or of service, it is missionary….
It is nearly always an attitude of thanksgiving "Eucharistic",
of one who feels loved by the Lord and as a consequence, wants to love
all and wants to be loved by all.
In this sense, all of our life is centered on the Eucharist, as the
Paschal Mystery, which is announced, celebrated, lived and communicated
to the others. Through this "if the Eucharist is the center and
summit of the life of the Church, likewise it is the cnter of priestly
ministry. (Ecclesiae de Eucharistia, n. 31).
The consequence of a relational life on our part is very logical, that
as all the faithful, we are called to be: "souls enamored of him,
ready to wait patiently to hear his voice and, as it were, to sense
the beating of his heart" (Mane nobiscum Domine n. 18).
When we enter into the mind of Christ, in his heart, especially in
the celebration of the Most Holy Eucharist, we experience the call to
continue this intimate relationship during the day, without being able
to exclude "spending a certain amount of time in dialogue with
the Eucharistic Lord" (Mane nobiscum Domine, n. 30).
If we do not experience this intimacy with Christ, priestly identity
or existence vanishes and does not find sense in life anymore: "Jesus
in the tabernacle wants you to be at his side, so that he can fill your
hearts with the experience of his friendship, which alone gives meaning
and fulfillment to your lives" (ibidem).
Pope Benedict XVI speaking to priests on 13 May, invites us with some
insistence to consider this intimacy with Christ as a "pastoral
priority": "So that the time to remain in the presence of
God is a true pastoral priority, and in the final analysis the most
important" (Benedict XVI, Discourse of 13 May 2005).
Our relationship with the Holy Eucharist grounds our relationship with
the Church as the ecclesial Body of Christ. From this is born our pastoral
charity which constitutes our fundamental attitude and our principle
of service, one could say "the office of love": "ministerial
priesthood has a constitutive relationship with the Body of Christ,
in its dual and inseparable dimension of Eucharist and Church, of the
Eucharistic body and of the ecclesial body. Therefore our ministry is
"amoris Officium" (Saint Augustine, Johannes Evangelium Tractatus,
123, 5), it is the office of the Good Shepherd, who offers his life
for his sheep (cf. Jn 10:14-15)" (Benedict XVI, 13 May 2005).
3. Eucharist and Priesthood in "Ecclesial Communion"
The love of the Church, as mystery of communion through mission, is
learnt from the love of Christ himself, "who loved the Church and
was offered in sacrifice for her" (Eph 5:15). Citing John Paul
II, when he affirmed that "the holy Mass is in an absolute way
the center of my life and every day" (Discourse of 27 October 1995,
on the 30th Anniversary of the Decree Presbyterorum Ordinis) Pope Benedict
XVI comments "in the same way, obedience to Christ, which corrects
the disobedience of Adam, is found in ecclesial obedience, which for
the priest is in his daily work, above all in obedience to his Bishop"
(Benedict XVI, Discourse 13 May 2005).
The Year of the Eucharist (2004-2005) is therefore a strong invitation
to enter into the mind of Christ, to love the Church as he did and to
live with him in the communion of the Church. The Petrine Ministry has
been experienced in our hearts as never before in the month of April
of this year, with two Popes who have invited us to a life centered
on Christ in the Most Holy Eucharist, through experience, eating that
"same bread" which in which we are "one body" (1
Cor 10:17).
Ecclesial Communion is made real for us in this "listening"
or should we say lived "obedience" (obaudire) in the ministry
of the Apostles, of which we are part. The early community was "of
one heart and one body" (Acts 4:32) because at the celebration
of the "breaking of the bread" (Eucharist), it knew how to
"listen" with fidelity in an attitude of prayer to the apostolic
teaching "they devoted themselves to the Apostles’ teaching
and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers" (Acts
2:42).
Our own "ecclesial communion" is born from the love of Christ
and his Church. And such love can be learnt only in the intimacy with
the same Christ, present in the Holy Eucharist and hidden in the preached
word of the Apostles. Therefore, "communion" is listening
or loving obedience, an effective and affective life.
When we have meditated this year on the question of Christ to Peter
"do you love me?" to communicate to him the primacy of shepherding,
we have felt more than ever, we who are personally called, like shepherds
of the same flock. It is as if our response has been like that of Peter
"you know that I love you". In fact, if we live in communion
with him who "who is the head of universal charity" that is
to live also in communion with Peter and his successors.
Our "obedience" lived with love is an essential part of our
priestly spirituality, since as pastors we are inserted in the same
ecclesial "communion" which the Petrine ministry serves.
If we live this ecclesial communion ("one body"), in relation
to the Eucharistic Christ ("one bread"), our priestly life
proceeds as it should. Communion with our own bishop forms part of the
same Eucharistic and priestly life so as to construct a "sacramental
fraternity" in the presbyterate as called for by the Second Vatican
Council (Presbyterorum Ordinis n. 8).
The celebration of the Most Holy Eucharist unites us to Christ, leaving
us transformed by Him in his obedience to the Father. Through this,
our obedience "mirrors the obedience of Christ" (Benedict
XVI, Discourse 13 May 2005).
4. The Missionary Testament of John Paul II and the Message
of Benedict XVI.
Pope John Paul II has left us a great missionary testament in his last
message for the World Missionary Day of the current year (October 2005),
which will conclude the Year of the Eucharist. He signed the message
on 22 February the feast of the Chair of St. Peter, and it was published
in the middle of April after his death.
It is his true missionary testament that invites us to imitate Christ
"broken bread", "bread of life for the life of the world"
(Jn 6:51). His Apostles are also made "broken bread" by means
of pastoral charity and are servants of a community which must make
itself "broken bread" for all of mankind.
In his Holy Thursday letter he said to us "above all in the context
of the new evangelization, the people have the right to present themselves
to the priests with the hope of seeing Christ in them (cf. Jn 12:21)"
(Holy Thursday Letter 2005, n. 7).
Pope Benedict XVI, during his inauguration Mass in St. Peter’s
square made an appeal to everybody, remembering however at the same
time "the work of the shepherd, as fisher of men". After having
repeated the appeal of John Paul II, made at the inauguration of his
pontificate ("open wide the doors to Christ"), he added "whoever
lets Christ enter will not loose anything, nothing that will render
life free, beautiful and great. No! Only in this friendship are the
doors of life opened wide. Only in this friendship is the great potential
of the human conditioned opened up. Only in this friendship do we experience
what is good and free." (Benedict XVI, Homily 24 April 2005).
In truth there is nothing more beautiful than to be conquered by Christ.
Living faithfully in communion with the petrine charism and ministry,
rediscovering this reality of our pastoral vocation as sources of the
paschal joy of Christ in us and others "There is nothing more beautiful
than to know Him and to speak to others of our friendship with Him.
The task of the shepherd, the task of the fisher of men, can often seem
wearisome. But it is beautiful and wonderful, because it is truly a
service to joy, to God’s joy which longs to break into the world"
(ibidem).
This Eucharistic, priestly and missionary life in communion with the
Church is learnt by living in the "cenacle" with Mary the
Mother of Jesus (Acts 1:14). Now we can imitate her oneness with the
priestly heart of Christ, because she is our mother, because of the
fact that she is the "Mother of the unique High Priest. Truly in
our union to Christ and to the Virgin we are nourished by that serenity
and that faith of which we all have need, either for our apostolic work
or for our personal existence" (Benedict XVI, 13 May 2005).
