At 12:25pm today, in the Clementine Hall at the Vatican Apostolic Palace, the Holy Father, Pope Francis received in audience the community of the Pontifical Spanish College San José in Rome. The community is celebrating the 125th anniversary of its establishment.
Dear brothers and sisters,
I want to extend my greetings to the entire community of the Pontifical Spanish College of San José and to thank Cardinal Ricardo Blázquez Pérez for the kind words that he has addressed to me as co-patron of the College in your name on the occasion of this commemoration. I give thanks to God for the beautiful work that Blessed Manuel Domingo y Sol - the founder of the Brotherhood of Diocesan Preists, Workers for the Sacred Heart of Jesus - began, and for the work that has continually been provided by this community throughout these many years.
This Institution was born with the vocation of being a reference for the formation of clergy. To train yourself means being capable of approaching the Lord with humility and asking him: What is your will? What do you want of me? We know the answer, but perhaps it will do us well to recall it, and for this purpose I propose the three words of the Shemá with which Jesus responded to the Levite: You will love the Lord with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your strength (Mk 12:30).
To love with all your heart means to do so with no reservations, without bending, without insincere interests, without seeking one's own advancement through personal success or career advancement. Pastoral charity means going out to meet the other, understanding the other person, accepting him and forgiving him with all your heart. That is pastoral charity. But on our own, it is not possible to grow in charity. This is the reason why the Lord calls us to live in community, so that charity will bring together all priests with a special bond in their ministry and in fraternity. This requires the help of the Holy Spirit but also personal spiritual combat (cf Ratio Fundamentalis Institutionis Sacerdotalis, 87). This is not out of fashion, it is still as current as it was in the early years of the Church. It is a matter of a permanent challenge to overcome individualism, to live diversity as a gift, seeking the unity of the presbyterate, which is a sign of the presence of God in the live of a community. In fact, a priesthood that does not maintain unity denies God its witness. It is not a witness of the presence of God. It sends Him out. In this way, gathered in the name of the Lord, especially when they celebrate the Eucharist, they demonstrate sacramentally that He is the love of their heart.
Second: to love with all your soul. This means being willing to offer life. This attitude must persist through time, and embrace our entire being. This was proposed by the Founder of your College: Lord, I offer and place at your disposal my body, my soul, my memory, understanding, will, my health and even my life (Writings III, volume 6, document 111, p.1). For this reason, the formation of priests cannot be only academic, although this is very important and necessary, but it must be an integral process that encompasses all facets of life. Formation must help them to grow and, at the same time, to draw close to God and their brothers. Please, do not settle for compromise, but be committed disciples, ready to proclaim the message of the gospel to the world today in a credible and understandable way (Ratio, 116). At this point, it is important to grow in the habit of discernment, which allows them to evaluate every instant and action, including those that seem opposed and contradictory, and to sift that which comes from the Spirit; a grace that we should pray for on our knees. Only from this basis, throughout the multiple tasks that are part of the exercise of the ministry, will you be able to train others the art of discernment that leads to the Resurrection and to Life, and allow them to give a conscious and generous response to God and to their brothers (cf Meeting with priests and consecrated persons, Milan, 25 March 2017). I said that the formation of a priest cannot be solely academic and conformed to this alone. From such a restricted outlook all ideologies are born with an odour that permeates the Church, with one sign or another of clerical academics. Formation must fit into four columns: academic formation, spiritual formation, community formation and apostolic formation. And all four have to interact. If one of them is missing, the formation is lacking and ends up paralyzing the priest. So please, make sure that all four dimensions are present, interacting with one another.
Finally, the third of Jesus' responses: to love with all your strength, requires our hearts to be there, where the treasure of our hearts is (cf Mt 6:21), and that it is in our little things, our securities and our affections, that we find the capability to say yes to the Lord or to turn our backs on him like the rich young man did. We cannot be content to have an orderly and comfortable life that allows us to live without preoccupations, without feeling the need to cultivate a spirit of poverty rooted in the heart of Christ who, having been rich, made himself poor out of love for us (cf 2 Cor 8:9) or, as the text says, to make us rich. If we are asked to acquire the true freedom of the children of God, through an adequate relationship with the world and with earthly things, we follow the example of the Apostles, those who Jesus invited to trust in Providence and to follow him without losing ourselves or any of our own worth (cf Lk 9:57-62; Mk 10:17-22). Do not forget this: the devil always enters through the pocket, always. In addition, it is good to learn to give thanks for all that we have, giving generously and voluntarily of our abundance, to be closer to the poor and the weak. Blessed Domingo y Sol said that in order to satisfy this need, we should be prepared to sell our shirts. I will not ask you to do this: to divest yourselves of your priesthood, no, but simply that you be witnesses of Jesus, through the simplicity and the austerity of your lives, in order that you become credible promoters of a true social justice (cf John Paul II, Pastores dabo vobis, 30). And please - and I say this as a brother, as a father, as a friend - please, flee from ecclesiastical clericalism: it is a plague. Run away from it.
Dear superiors, students and alumni of the Spanish College of San José: let us entrust to the holy Patriarch, Protector of the Church, our preoccupations and concerns, that he may accompany them, together with Blessed Mary, invoked through the tradition of the College as the Most Clement Mother, that we may grow in wisdom and grace, and be beloved disciples of the Good Shepherd. May God bless you all.
Greetings of the Holy Father, Pope Francis
for the members of the community from the
Pontifical Spanish College San José (Rome)
Dear brothers and sisters,
I want to extend my greetings to the entire community of the Pontifical Spanish College of San José and to thank Cardinal Ricardo Blázquez Pérez for the kind words that he has addressed to me as co-patron of the College in your name on the occasion of this commemoration. I give thanks to God for the beautiful work that Blessed Manuel Domingo y Sol - the founder of the Brotherhood of Diocesan Preists, Workers for the Sacred Heart of Jesus - began, and for the work that has continually been provided by this community throughout these many years.
This Institution was born with the vocation of being a reference for the formation of clergy. To train yourself means being capable of approaching the Lord with humility and asking him: What is your will? What do you want of me? We know the answer, but perhaps it will do us well to recall it, and for this purpose I propose the three words of the Shemá with which Jesus responded to the Levite: You will love the Lord with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your strength (Mk 12:30).
To love with all your heart means to do so with no reservations, without bending, without insincere interests, without seeking one's own advancement through personal success or career advancement. Pastoral charity means going out to meet the other, understanding the other person, accepting him and forgiving him with all your heart. That is pastoral charity. But on our own, it is not possible to grow in charity. This is the reason why the Lord calls us to live in community, so that charity will bring together all priests with a special bond in their ministry and in fraternity. This requires the help of the Holy Spirit but also personal spiritual combat (cf Ratio Fundamentalis Institutionis Sacerdotalis, 87). This is not out of fashion, it is still as current as it was in the early years of the Church. It is a matter of a permanent challenge to overcome individualism, to live diversity as a gift, seeking the unity of the presbyterate, which is a sign of the presence of God in the live of a community. In fact, a priesthood that does not maintain unity denies God its witness. It is not a witness of the presence of God. It sends Him out. In this way, gathered in the name of the Lord, especially when they celebrate the Eucharist, they demonstrate sacramentally that He is the love of their heart.
Second: to love with all your soul. This means being willing to offer life. This attitude must persist through time, and embrace our entire being. This was proposed by the Founder of your College: Lord, I offer and place at your disposal my body, my soul, my memory, understanding, will, my health and even my life (Writings III, volume 6, document 111, p.1). For this reason, the formation of priests cannot be only academic, although this is very important and necessary, but it must be an integral process that encompasses all facets of life. Formation must help them to grow and, at the same time, to draw close to God and their brothers. Please, do not settle for compromise, but be committed disciples, ready to proclaim the message of the gospel to the world today in a credible and understandable way (Ratio, 116). At this point, it is important to grow in the habit of discernment, which allows them to evaluate every instant and action, including those that seem opposed and contradictory, and to sift that which comes from the Spirit; a grace that we should pray for on our knees. Only from this basis, throughout the multiple tasks that are part of the exercise of the ministry, will you be able to train others the art of discernment that leads to the Resurrection and to Life, and allow them to give a conscious and generous response to God and to their brothers (cf Meeting with priests and consecrated persons, Milan, 25 March 2017). I said that the formation of a priest cannot be solely academic and conformed to this alone. From such a restricted outlook all ideologies are born with an odour that permeates the Church, with one sign or another of clerical academics. Formation must fit into four columns: academic formation, spiritual formation, community formation and apostolic formation. And all four have to interact. If one of them is missing, the formation is lacking and ends up paralyzing the priest. So please, make sure that all four dimensions are present, interacting with one another.
Finally, the third of Jesus' responses: to love with all your strength, requires our hearts to be there, where the treasure of our hearts is (cf Mt 6:21), and that it is in our little things, our securities and our affections, that we find the capability to say yes to the Lord or to turn our backs on him like the rich young man did. We cannot be content to have an orderly and comfortable life that allows us to live without preoccupations, without feeling the need to cultivate a spirit of poverty rooted in the heart of Christ who, having been rich, made himself poor out of love for us (cf 2 Cor 8:9) or, as the text says, to make us rich. If we are asked to acquire the true freedom of the children of God, through an adequate relationship with the world and with earthly things, we follow the example of the Apostles, those who Jesus invited to trust in Providence and to follow him without losing ourselves or any of our own worth (cf Lk 9:57-62; Mk 10:17-22). Do not forget this: the devil always enters through the pocket, always. In addition, it is good to learn to give thanks for all that we have, giving generously and voluntarily of our abundance, to be closer to the poor and the weak. Blessed Domingo y Sol said that in order to satisfy this need, we should be prepared to sell our shirts. I will not ask you to do this: to divest yourselves of your priesthood, no, but simply that you be witnesses of Jesus, through the simplicity and the austerity of your lives, in order that you become credible promoters of a true social justice (cf John Paul II, Pastores dabo vobis, 30). And please - and I say this as a brother, as a father, as a friend - please, flee from ecclesiastical clericalism: it is a plague. Run away from it.
Dear superiors, students and alumni of the Spanish College of San José: let us entrust to the holy Patriarch, Protector of the Church, our preoccupations and concerns, that he may accompany them, together with Blessed Mary, invoked through the tradition of the College as the Most Clement Mother, that we may grow in wisdom and grace, and be beloved disciples of the Good Shepherd. May God bless you all.
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