At 9:30 last Thursday morning, in the Sala Bologna at the Vatican Apostolic Palace, the Holy Father, Pope Francis presided at a meeting of the Congregation for Bishops. During the meeting, the Holy Father shared with those who were present, the following considerations.
What is essential to the mission of the Congregation
In the celebration of the Ordination of a Bishop, after invoking the Holy Spirit, the Church which is gathered together asks that the candidate who has been presented might be ordained. This is why the one who presides asks: Do you have the mandate? In this question, the work of the Lord resounds: He called to himself the twelve and sent them out two by two ... (Mk 6:7). At its deepest level, this question can also be worded: Are you certain that his name has been pronounced by the Lord? Are you sure that it was the Lord who numbered him among those who are called to be with Him in a unique way and to whom He has chosen to entrust a mission which is not of his own choosing, but the work of the Lord, entrusted to him by the Father?
This Congregation exists in order to assist with the writing of this mandate, so that it might resonate in many Churches announcing joy and hope to the Holy People of God. This Congregation exists in order to ensure before anything else that the name of the one who is chosen has been pronounced by the Lord. This is the great mission entrusted to the Congregation for Bishops, your most challenging task: identify the ones who the Holy Spirit places in leadership roles within his Church.
From the lips of the Church, this request is heard in every time and place: give us a Bishop! The Holy People of God continue to speak: we need someone to guide us; we need someone to will look at us with the open heart of the Lord; we do not need a manager, an administrator who has been sent from an agency, and neither do we need one who is only able to see the world from our limited point of view. We need someone who can raise us up to the level of God's gaze and guide us to Him. Only in the gaze of God can we discover our future. We need those who know and appreciate the broad scope of God's actions and concerns compared with the limited scope of our vision, so that we might come to believe that our hearts can hope in something other than empty promises.
People are concerned with everyday tasks, and they need to be guided by those who can see things from above. Therefore, we must never lose sight of the needs of the particular Churches for which we must provide. There is no such thing as a standard Pastor for every Church. Christ knows the Pastor that every Church requires, the one who can respond to each one's needs and help it to realize the fullness of its potential. Our challenge is to understand Christ's perspective, taking into account the particular needs of each of the particular Churches.
God's horizon determines the mission of the Congregation
In order to choose such ministers, we must all aim higher, we must raise ourselves to an upper level. We cannot settle for inferior measures, but must always aim higher. We must look beyond our own particular preferences, sympathies, allegiances or tendencies and enter into the wider horizon of God in order to find those who are meant to bear his gaze from on high. These are not men who are conditioned by fear, but Pastors, gifted with the wisdom that is able to ensure the sacrament of unity in the world (Dogmatic Constitution, Lumen Gentium, 1) so that humanity will not lose sight of its ultimate destination, and believe itself destined for disarray and confusion.
It is this great goal, outlined by the Spirit, that determines how this most challenging and generous task is to be accomplished, a task for which I am immensely grateful to each of you, beginning with your Cardinal Prefect, Marc Ouellet and including each one of you, Cardinals, Archbishops and Bishop members of the Congregation. I should like also to offer a special word of gratitude to the officials of this Dicastery, for the generosity with which they work, silently and patiently contributing to the success of this service of providing the Church with the Pastors it needs.
As I sign the appointment of each Bishop, my intention is to reveal your discernment and the vastness and maturity of your cooperation in helping me to make such appointments. Therefore, the spirit that presides over your work, from the daunting tasks of Officials to the discernment of Superiors and Members of the Congregation, cannot be anything other than a humble, quiet and laborious process carried out in the light that comes from above. Professionalism, service and holiness of life: if we deviate from this triad, we diminish the greatness to which we are called.
The Apostolic Church at the source
Where then do we find this light? The height of the Church can always be found in the deepest depths of its foundations. The Apostolic Church is both high and deep. The Church's future can always be found in its origins.
Therefore, I invite you to remember and to visit the Apostolic Church in order to seek there certain criteria. We know that the Episcopal College, in which the Bishops are inserted, is derived from the Apostolic College. The world needs to know that this uninterrupted succession exists. At least in the Church, this relationship with divine succession has been uninterrupted. People are already familiar with the suffering and brokenness that is experienced by so many; they need to find in the Church the grace of indelible permanence.
The Bishop as a witness of the Risen Christ
Let us consider, therefore, the moment in which the Apostolic Church needed to recompose the College of the Twelve after the betrayal of Judas. Now as then, without the Twelve, the fullness of the Spirit cannot descend. We must find a successor among those who have followed from the beginning the journey of Jesus and who now can be, along with the Twelve, a witness of the Resurrection (cf. Acts 1:21-22.) We must choose from the followers of Jesus those who will be witnesses of the Risen Christ.
From here derives the essential criterion to sketch the face of the Bishops we wish to have. Who is a witness of the Risen Christ? It is he who has followed Jesus from the beginning and is constituted with the Apostles a witness of his Resurrection. Also for us, this is the unifying criterion: the Bishop is the one who is able to make current all that befell Jesus and above all, who knows, along with the Church, how to bear witness to His Resurrection. The Bishop is first of all a martyr of the Risen One. Not an isolated witness, but together with the Church. His life and his ministry must render the Resurrection credible. Uniting himself to Christ on the cross of the true giving of himself, he makes the very life that does not die flow for the benefit of the Church herself. The courage to die, the generosity of offering his own life and of consuming himself with the flock is inscribed in the DNA of the Episcopate. I would like to emphasize that renouncement and sacrifice is inherent in the episcopal mission. The Episcopate is not for oneself, it is for the Church, for the flock, for others, especially for those who according to the world should be excluded.
Therefore, to identify a Bishop, it is not necessary to list his human, intellectual, cultural or even pastoral skills. The profile of a Bishop is not the algebraic sum of his virtues. Certainly there is a need for someone who excels; whose human integrity ensures a capacity for healthy, balanced relationships, so as not to project his shortcomings onto others and to become a destabilizing factor; his Christian solidity is essential to promote fraternity and communion; his upright behaviour attests to the lofty measure of the disciples of the Lord; his cultural preparation must enable him to enter into dialogue with men and their cultures; his orthodoxy and faithfulness to the complete Truth held by the Church makes him a pillar and a point of reference; his interior and exterior discipline enables him to be self-possessed and opens room for the welcome and guidance of others; his capacity to govern with paternal firmness ensures confidence in the authority which helps to grow; his transparency and detachment when managing community assets must confer authority and merit the esteem of all.
All these indispensable skills must be, however, in support of his central witness to the Risen Christ, and must be subordinate to this central commitment. It is the Spirit of the Risen Christ that makes his witnesses, that integrates and elevates the qualities and the values that edify the Bishop.
The Sovereignty of God, Responsible for the Decision
Let us return to the apostolic text. After the tiring task of discernment, the Apostles pray: Lord, who knowest the hearts of all men, show which one of these … thou hast chosen (Acts 1:24) and they cast lots (Acts 1:26). We learn the climate of our work and the true Author of our choices. We cannot elude that show us, Lord. It is always indispensable to ensure the sovereignty of God. The decisions cannot be conditioned by our claims for any groups, cliques or hegemonies. To guarantee this sovereignty two attitudes are fundamental: conscience before God, and collegiality. And this is certain.
From the first steps of our complex work (from the Nunciatures to the work of the Officials, Members and Superiors), these two attitudes are indispensable: the conscience before God and the collegial commitment. Not discretion, but the discernment of all. No one can have everything on hand; each person must humbly and honestly add his tile to a mosaic which belongs to God. Such a fundamental vision drives us to abandon the small coasting of our boats to follow the route of the great ship of the Church of God, her universal horizon of salvation, her firm compass in the Word and in the Ministry, the certainty of the breath of the Spirit that pushes her and the safety of the port that awaits her.
Kerygmatic Bishops
Acts 6:1-7 teaches another criterion: the Apostles impose their hands upon those who must serve the tables because they cannot give up preaching the Word of God. Since faith comes from proclamation we need kerygmatic Bishops, men who render accessible that for you of which Saint Paul speaks. Men who are guardians of doctrine, not so as to measure how far the world is from doctrinal truth, but in order to fascinate the world, to enchant it with the beauty of love, with the freedom offered by the Gospel. The Church does not need apologists for her causes or crusades for her battles, but humble and trusting sowers of the truth, who know that it is always given to them anew and trust in its power; men who are patient because they know that the darnel will never fill the field. The human heart is made for the seed; it was the enemy who in a hidden way flung the bad seed. The time of the darnel, however, is already irrevocably fixed.
I would like to underline this well: the Church needs patient men! They say that Cardinal Siri used to repeat: Five are the virtues of a Bishop: first patience, second patience, third patience, fourth patience and last patience with those who invite us to have patience. Hence it is necessary to commit oneself to the preparation of the earth, to the abundance of the sowing. To act like confident sowers, avoiding the fear of the one who deludes himself that the harvest depends only on himself, or the desperate attitude of the schoolboys who, having neglected to do the tasks, cry out that now there is nothing more to do.
Praying Bishops
The same text of Acts 6:1-7 refers to prayer as one of two essential tasks of the Bishop:
Therefore, brethren, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may appoint to this duty. But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the Word (vv. 3-4). I have spoken of kerygmatic Bishops: now I will move on to the other trait typical of the Bishop: he must be a man of prayer. The same parrhesia he must have in the proclamation of the Word, must be present in his prayer, in speaking with God our Lord of the good of his people, the salvation of his people. Courageous in the prayer of intercession as Abraham, who negotiated with God the salvation of that people (cf. Genesis 18:22-23); as Moses when he felt impotent to lead the people (Numbers 11:10-15), when the Lord was annoyed with His people (cf. Numbers 14:10-19), or when He tells him that he is about to destroy the people and promises him to make him the head of another people. The courage to say no, I do not negotiate my people, before Him! (cf. Exodus 32:11-14.30-32). A man who does not have the courage to argue with God on behalf of his people cannot be a Bishop – I say this from my heart, I am convinced of it -- nor can he who is unable to assume the mission of guiding the people of God to where He, the Lord, indicates (cf. Exodus 32:33-34).
And this also applies to apostolic patience: the same hypomone which he must exercise in the preaching of the Word (cf. 2 Corinthians 6:4), he must also have in his prayer. The Bishop must be able to go with patience before God, looking and letting himself be looked at, seeking and letting himself be sought, finding and letting himself be found, patiently before the Lord. Many times falling asleep before the Lord, but this is good, it does good!
In prayer, parrhesia and hypomone forge the heart of the Bishop and accompany him in the parrhesia and in the hypomone that he must have in the proclamation of the Word in the kerygma. I understand this when I read verse 4 of chapter 6 of the Acts of the Apostles.
Bishop-Pastors
In the words I addressed to the Papal Representatives, I sketched the profile of candidates to the Episcopate thus: May Bishops be shepherds, close to the people; fathers and brothers, may they be gentle, patient, merciful; may they love poverty, interior poverty, as freedom for the Lord, and exterior poverty, as well as simplicity and a modest lifestyle; may they not have the mindset of ‘princes.’ Be careful that they are not ambitious, that they are not in quest of the Episcopate, that they are espoused to the Church, without constantly seeking another; this is called adultery. May they be overseers of the flock that has been entrusted to them, to take care of everything that is needed to keep it united; ... capable of watching over the flock (June 21, 2013). I wish to emphasize again that the Church needs genuine Pastors. Look at the testament of the Apostle Paul (cf. Acts 20:17-38). It is the only address pronounced by the Apostle in the Book of the Acts that is directed to Christians. He does not speak to his Pharisee adversaries, or to the wise Greeks, but to his own. He speaks directly to us. He commits the pastors of the Church to the Word of grace that has the power to build you up and give you an inheritance. Therefore, not masters of the Word, but committed to it, servants of the Word. Only in this way is it possible to edify and obtain the inheritance of the Saints. To those who are plagued with questions about their legacy: What is the legacy of a Bishop, gold or silver? Paul answers, Holiness. The Church remains when God’s holiness spreads to her members. When from the depth of her heart, which is the Most Holy Trinity, this holiness gushes and reaches the whole Body. It is necessary that the anointing from on high run down to the hem of the mantle. A Bishop can never give up the anxiety for the oil of the Spirit of holiness to reach the last strip of the garment of his Church.
Vatican Council II states that the pastoral office or the habitual and daily care of their sheep is entrusted completely to Bishops (Lumen Gentium, 27). We should reflect longer on these two qualifications of the care of the flock: habitual and daily. In our times, regularity and the everyday are often associated with routine and boredom. Therefore we often try to escape to a permanent elsewhere. This is a temptation of Pastors, of all Pastors. Spiritual fathers should explain this well, so that we understand it and do not fall. Unfortunately even in the Church we are not exempt from this risk. Therefore it is important to confirm that the mission of the Bishop exacts the habitual and daily. I think that in this time of meetings and congresses the decree of the Council of Trent is very current, and it would be good for the Congregation for Bishops to write something about this. The flock needs to find a place in the heart of its Pastor. If this is not solidly anchored in himself, in Christ and His Church, the Bishop will continually be at the mercy of the waves, in search of ephemeral compensations, and will offer no shelter to his flock.
Conclusion
At the end of these words, I wonder: where can we find such men? It is not easy. Are there any? How should they be selected? I think of the prophet Samuel in search of Saul’s successor (cf. 1 Samuel 16:11-13), who asks the elderly Jesse: Are all your sons here? and, hearing that little David was outside in the field grazing the sheep, demands Send for him. We too must search among the fields of the Church for men to present to the Lord, in order that He say: Arise, anoint him; for this is he! I am sure that they are there, since the Lord does not abandon his Church. Perhaps we are not seeking well enough in the fields. Perhaps we need to heed Samuel’s warning: We will not sit down till he comes here. I would like this Congregation to live in this state of holy restlessness.
Speech of the Holy Father, Pope Francis
for the Meeting of the Congregation for Bishops
What is essential to the mission of the Congregation
In the celebration of the Ordination of a Bishop, after invoking the Holy Spirit, the Church which is gathered together asks that the candidate who has been presented might be ordained. This is why the one who presides asks: Do you have the mandate? In this question, the work of the Lord resounds: He called to himself the twelve and sent them out two by two ... (Mk 6:7). At its deepest level, this question can also be worded: Are you certain that his name has been pronounced by the Lord? Are you sure that it was the Lord who numbered him among those who are called to be with Him in a unique way and to whom He has chosen to entrust a mission which is not of his own choosing, but the work of the Lord, entrusted to him by the Father?
This Congregation exists in order to assist with the writing of this mandate, so that it might resonate in many Churches announcing joy and hope to the Holy People of God. This Congregation exists in order to ensure before anything else that the name of the one who is chosen has been pronounced by the Lord. This is the great mission entrusted to the Congregation for Bishops, your most challenging task: identify the ones who the Holy Spirit places in leadership roles within his Church.
From the lips of the Church, this request is heard in every time and place: give us a Bishop! The Holy People of God continue to speak: we need someone to guide us; we need someone to will look at us with the open heart of the Lord; we do not need a manager, an administrator who has been sent from an agency, and neither do we need one who is only able to see the world from our limited point of view. We need someone who can raise us up to the level of God's gaze and guide us to Him. Only in the gaze of God can we discover our future. We need those who know and appreciate the broad scope of God's actions and concerns compared with the limited scope of our vision, so that we might come to believe that our hearts can hope in something other than empty promises.
People are concerned with everyday tasks, and they need to be guided by those who can see things from above. Therefore, we must never lose sight of the needs of the particular Churches for which we must provide. There is no such thing as a standard Pastor for every Church. Christ knows the Pastor that every Church requires, the one who can respond to each one's needs and help it to realize the fullness of its potential. Our challenge is to understand Christ's perspective, taking into account the particular needs of each of the particular Churches.
God's horizon determines the mission of the Congregation
In order to choose such ministers, we must all aim higher, we must raise ourselves to an upper level. We cannot settle for inferior measures, but must always aim higher. We must look beyond our own particular preferences, sympathies, allegiances or tendencies and enter into the wider horizon of God in order to find those who are meant to bear his gaze from on high. These are not men who are conditioned by fear, but Pastors, gifted with the wisdom that is able to ensure the sacrament of unity in the world (Dogmatic Constitution, Lumen Gentium, 1) so that humanity will not lose sight of its ultimate destination, and believe itself destined for disarray and confusion.
It is this great goal, outlined by the Spirit, that determines how this most challenging and generous task is to be accomplished, a task for which I am immensely grateful to each of you, beginning with your Cardinal Prefect, Marc Ouellet and including each one of you, Cardinals, Archbishops and Bishop members of the Congregation. I should like also to offer a special word of gratitude to the officials of this Dicastery, for the generosity with which they work, silently and patiently contributing to the success of this service of providing the Church with the Pastors it needs.
As I sign the appointment of each Bishop, my intention is to reveal your discernment and the vastness and maturity of your cooperation in helping me to make such appointments. Therefore, the spirit that presides over your work, from the daunting tasks of Officials to the discernment of Superiors and Members of the Congregation, cannot be anything other than a humble, quiet and laborious process carried out in the light that comes from above. Professionalism, service and holiness of life: if we deviate from this triad, we diminish the greatness to which we are called.
The Apostolic Church at the source
Where then do we find this light? The height of the Church can always be found in the deepest depths of its foundations. The Apostolic Church is both high and deep. The Church's future can always be found in its origins.
Therefore, I invite you to remember and to visit the Apostolic Church in order to seek there certain criteria. We know that the Episcopal College, in which the Bishops are inserted, is derived from the Apostolic College. The world needs to know that this uninterrupted succession exists. At least in the Church, this relationship with divine succession has been uninterrupted. People are already familiar with the suffering and brokenness that is experienced by so many; they need to find in the Church the grace of indelible permanence.
The Bishop as a witness of the Risen Christ
Let us consider, therefore, the moment in which the Apostolic Church needed to recompose the College of the Twelve after the betrayal of Judas. Now as then, without the Twelve, the fullness of the Spirit cannot descend. We must find a successor among those who have followed from the beginning the journey of Jesus and who now can be, along with the Twelve, a witness of the Resurrection (cf. Acts 1:21-22.) We must choose from the followers of Jesus those who will be witnesses of the Risen Christ.
From here derives the essential criterion to sketch the face of the Bishops we wish to have. Who is a witness of the Risen Christ? It is he who has followed Jesus from the beginning and is constituted with the Apostles a witness of his Resurrection. Also for us, this is the unifying criterion: the Bishop is the one who is able to make current all that befell Jesus and above all, who knows, along with the Church, how to bear witness to His Resurrection. The Bishop is first of all a martyr of the Risen One. Not an isolated witness, but together with the Church. His life and his ministry must render the Resurrection credible. Uniting himself to Christ on the cross of the true giving of himself, he makes the very life that does not die flow for the benefit of the Church herself. The courage to die, the generosity of offering his own life and of consuming himself with the flock is inscribed in the DNA of the Episcopate. I would like to emphasize that renouncement and sacrifice is inherent in the episcopal mission. The Episcopate is not for oneself, it is for the Church, for the flock, for others, especially for those who according to the world should be excluded.
Therefore, to identify a Bishop, it is not necessary to list his human, intellectual, cultural or even pastoral skills. The profile of a Bishop is not the algebraic sum of his virtues. Certainly there is a need for someone who excels; whose human integrity ensures a capacity for healthy, balanced relationships, so as not to project his shortcomings onto others and to become a destabilizing factor; his Christian solidity is essential to promote fraternity and communion; his upright behaviour attests to the lofty measure of the disciples of the Lord; his cultural preparation must enable him to enter into dialogue with men and their cultures; his orthodoxy and faithfulness to the complete Truth held by the Church makes him a pillar and a point of reference; his interior and exterior discipline enables him to be self-possessed and opens room for the welcome and guidance of others; his capacity to govern with paternal firmness ensures confidence in the authority which helps to grow; his transparency and detachment when managing community assets must confer authority and merit the esteem of all.
All these indispensable skills must be, however, in support of his central witness to the Risen Christ, and must be subordinate to this central commitment. It is the Spirit of the Risen Christ that makes his witnesses, that integrates and elevates the qualities and the values that edify the Bishop.
The Sovereignty of God, Responsible for the Decision
Let us return to the apostolic text. After the tiring task of discernment, the Apostles pray: Lord, who knowest the hearts of all men, show which one of these … thou hast chosen (Acts 1:24) and they cast lots (Acts 1:26). We learn the climate of our work and the true Author of our choices. We cannot elude that show us, Lord. It is always indispensable to ensure the sovereignty of God. The decisions cannot be conditioned by our claims for any groups, cliques or hegemonies. To guarantee this sovereignty two attitudes are fundamental: conscience before God, and collegiality. And this is certain.
From the first steps of our complex work (from the Nunciatures to the work of the Officials, Members and Superiors), these two attitudes are indispensable: the conscience before God and the collegial commitment. Not discretion, but the discernment of all. No one can have everything on hand; each person must humbly and honestly add his tile to a mosaic which belongs to God. Such a fundamental vision drives us to abandon the small coasting of our boats to follow the route of the great ship of the Church of God, her universal horizon of salvation, her firm compass in the Word and in the Ministry, the certainty of the breath of the Spirit that pushes her and the safety of the port that awaits her.
Kerygmatic Bishops
Acts 6:1-7 teaches another criterion: the Apostles impose their hands upon those who must serve the tables because they cannot give up preaching the Word of God. Since faith comes from proclamation we need kerygmatic Bishops, men who render accessible that for you of which Saint Paul speaks. Men who are guardians of doctrine, not so as to measure how far the world is from doctrinal truth, but in order to fascinate the world, to enchant it with the beauty of love, with the freedom offered by the Gospel. The Church does not need apologists for her causes or crusades for her battles, but humble and trusting sowers of the truth, who know that it is always given to them anew and trust in its power; men who are patient because they know that the darnel will never fill the field. The human heart is made for the seed; it was the enemy who in a hidden way flung the bad seed. The time of the darnel, however, is already irrevocably fixed.
I would like to underline this well: the Church needs patient men! They say that Cardinal Siri used to repeat: Five are the virtues of a Bishop: first patience, second patience, third patience, fourth patience and last patience with those who invite us to have patience. Hence it is necessary to commit oneself to the preparation of the earth, to the abundance of the sowing. To act like confident sowers, avoiding the fear of the one who deludes himself that the harvest depends only on himself, or the desperate attitude of the schoolboys who, having neglected to do the tasks, cry out that now there is nothing more to do.
Praying Bishops
The same text of Acts 6:1-7 refers to prayer as one of two essential tasks of the Bishop:
Therefore, brethren, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may appoint to this duty. But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the Word (vv. 3-4). I have spoken of kerygmatic Bishops: now I will move on to the other trait typical of the Bishop: he must be a man of prayer. The same parrhesia he must have in the proclamation of the Word, must be present in his prayer, in speaking with God our Lord of the good of his people, the salvation of his people. Courageous in the prayer of intercession as Abraham, who negotiated with God the salvation of that people (cf. Genesis 18:22-23); as Moses when he felt impotent to lead the people (Numbers 11:10-15), when the Lord was annoyed with His people (cf. Numbers 14:10-19), or when He tells him that he is about to destroy the people and promises him to make him the head of another people. The courage to say no, I do not negotiate my people, before Him! (cf. Exodus 32:11-14.30-32). A man who does not have the courage to argue with God on behalf of his people cannot be a Bishop – I say this from my heart, I am convinced of it -- nor can he who is unable to assume the mission of guiding the people of God to where He, the Lord, indicates (cf. Exodus 32:33-34).
And this also applies to apostolic patience: the same hypomone which he must exercise in the preaching of the Word (cf. 2 Corinthians 6:4), he must also have in his prayer. The Bishop must be able to go with patience before God, looking and letting himself be looked at, seeking and letting himself be sought, finding and letting himself be found, patiently before the Lord. Many times falling asleep before the Lord, but this is good, it does good!
In prayer, parrhesia and hypomone forge the heart of the Bishop and accompany him in the parrhesia and in the hypomone that he must have in the proclamation of the Word in the kerygma. I understand this when I read verse 4 of chapter 6 of the Acts of the Apostles.
Bishop-Pastors
In the words I addressed to the Papal Representatives, I sketched the profile of candidates to the Episcopate thus: May Bishops be shepherds, close to the people; fathers and brothers, may they be gentle, patient, merciful; may they love poverty, interior poverty, as freedom for the Lord, and exterior poverty, as well as simplicity and a modest lifestyle; may they not have the mindset of ‘princes.’ Be careful that they are not ambitious, that they are not in quest of the Episcopate, that they are espoused to the Church, without constantly seeking another; this is called adultery. May they be overseers of the flock that has been entrusted to them, to take care of everything that is needed to keep it united; ... capable of watching over the flock (June 21, 2013). I wish to emphasize again that the Church needs genuine Pastors. Look at the testament of the Apostle Paul (cf. Acts 20:17-38). It is the only address pronounced by the Apostle in the Book of the Acts that is directed to Christians. He does not speak to his Pharisee adversaries, or to the wise Greeks, but to his own. He speaks directly to us. He commits the pastors of the Church to the Word of grace that has the power to build you up and give you an inheritance. Therefore, not masters of the Word, but committed to it, servants of the Word. Only in this way is it possible to edify and obtain the inheritance of the Saints. To those who are plagued with questions about their legacy: What is the legacy of a Bishop, gold or silver? Paul answers, Holiness. The Church remains when God’s holiness spreads to her members. When from the depth of her heart, which is the Most Holy Trinity, this holiness gushes and reaches the whole Body. It is necessary that the anointing from on high run down to the hem of the mantle. A Bishop can never give up the anxiety for the oil of the Spirit of holiness to reach the last strip of the garment of his Church.
Vatican Council II states that the pastoral office or the habitual and daily care of their sheep is entrusted completely to Bishops (Lumen Gentium, 27). We should reflect longer on these two qualifications of the care of the flock: habitual and daily. In our times, regularity and the everyday are often associated with routine and boredom. Therefore we often try to escape to a permanent elsewhere. This is a temptation of Pastors, of all Pastors. Spiritual fathers should explain this well, so that we understand it and do not fall. Unfortunately even in the Church we are not exempt from this risk. Therefore it is important to confirm that the mission of the Bishop exacts the habitual and daily. I think that in this time of meetings and congresses the decree of the Council of Trent is very current, and it would be good for the Congregation for Bishops to write something about this. The flock needs to find a place in the heart of its Pastor. If this is not solidly anchored in himself, in Christ and His Church, the Bishop will continually be at the mercy of the waves, in search of ephemeral compensations, and will offer no shelter to his flock.
Conclusion
At the end of these words, I wonder: where can we find such men? It is not easy. Are there any? How should they be selected? I think of the prophet Samuel in search of Saul’s successor (cf. 1 Samuel 16:11-13), who asks the elderly Jesse: Are all your sons here? and, hearing that little David was outside in the field grazing the sheep, demands Send for him. We too must search among the fields of the Church for men to present to the Lord, in order that He say: Arise, anoint him; for this is he! I am sure that they are there, since the Lord does not abandon his Church. Perhaps we are not seeking well enough in the fields. Perhaps we need to heed Samuel’s warning: We will not sit down till he comes here. I would like this Congregation to live in this state of holy restlessness.
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