At 12:45pm today (6:45am EDT), in the Consistory Hall at the Vatican Apostolic Palace, the Holy Father, Pope Francis received in audience the priests and members of the Archdiocesan Curia from Valencia (Spain), who were accompanied by His Eminence, Antonio Cañizares Llovera.
Dear brothers,
With joy I stand among you, welcoming the request of Cardinal Antonio Cañizares Llovera, Archbishop of Valencia, to receive his leadership team in an audience and to present to me the initiative of the Coordinator of newly ordained priests. I greet the priests who are present here with affection and in a special way.
Valencia, a land of saints, is celebrating this year's jubilee for one of them, Saint Vincent Ferrer, who worked and committed himself with all his strength to unity in the ecclesial community. This saint proposes to priests three fundamental means to preserve friendship and union with Jesus Christ: the first is prayer, as food for every priest; the second, obedience to the vocation of the preaching of the Gospel to every creature (cf Sermon on the commemoration of Saint Paul, Apostle, 7-10), the third, freedom in Christ, so that he can drink the cup of the Lord in any circumstance (Mt 20:22) (Sermon on the Feast of Saint Bartholomew, 10). In a way, the Church in Valencia, by keeping the relic of the holy chalice in its cathedral, becomes a witness and a bearer of the truth of salvation.
The priest is a man of prayer, he is the one who entreats God on behalf of others, begging at his feet for his life and also for that of his people. A priest without a life of prayer does not go very far; he is already defeated and his ministry suffers, going adrift. The faithful people have a good sense of smell and perceive whether their pastor prays and has dealings with the Lord. Praying is the first task of the bishop and the priest. From this relationship of friendship with God is received the strength and light necessary to face any apostolate and mission, because the one who has been called is increasingly identified with the Lord's feelings and thus his words and deeds exude that pure taste of the love of God (Treatise on the Spiritual Life, 13).
Saint Vincent Ferrer offers a simple prayer: Lord, forgive me. I have such a defect or sin, help me (Sermon on the Feast of Saint Bartholomew, 5). A sincere and real request, which is done in silence, and which has a community sense. The interior life of the priest reverberates throughout the church, beginning with the faithful. We need the grace to continue on the path and to travel with those who have been entrusted to us. The priest, like the bishop, goes before his people, but also among them and behind them, where you are needed, and always with prayer. We need to have present in our lives those who taught us to pray: our grandparents, our parents, that priest or religious, the catechist ... They preceded us and passed on their love for the Lord; Now we have to do the same.
The second aspect is obedience to preaching the gospel to every creature. The Lord calls us to the priesthood to be his witnesses before the world, to transmit the joy of the Gospel to all men; this is the reason for our existence. We are not proprietors of the Good News, nor entrepreneurs of the divine, but custodians and dispensers of what God entrusts to us through his Church. This supposes a great responsibility, since it involves preparation and updating of what has been learned and assumed. It cannot remain in a trunk filled with memories, but it is necessary to relive the call of the Lord who captivated us and made us leave everything for him. It is necessary to study and also to confront other priests to face the moments that we are living and the realities that question us.
You experience this through the initiative of your Priestly Coordinator and with other meetings; ongoing formation is a reality that has to be deepened so that it can take shape in the priesthood. I always admire the bishops who are present, who are accessible to their priests and who listen to them, because they are their immediate collaborators, and together with them, you serve the other members of the Church, because the boat of the Church is not yours, it does not belong to a few, but to all the baptized; and how much we all need the enthusiasm of young people and the wisdom of elders to go out to sea.
Finally, the priest is free as soon as he is united to Christ, and from him he obtains the strength to go out to meet others. Saint Vincent has a beautiful image of an outgoing church: If the sun were still in one place, it would not give the world heat: one part would burn, and the other would be cold; ... be careful, do not submit to the desire for comfort (Sermon on the Feast of Saint Bartholomew, 10). We are called to go out to give testimony and to bring the tenderness of God to all people, including in the office and in the tasks of the curia, yes; but with attitude of exiting, of going out toward the encounter of a brother or a sister.
At this moment, I want to thank you for everything you do in that Archdiocese in favour of the most needy; in particular for the generosity and greatness of heart in welcoming immigrants; all of them find in you a helping hand and a place where they can experience closeness and love. Thank you for this example and testimony that they give, often with a shortage of means and aid, but always with the highest price, which is not the recognition of the powerful or public opinion, but the smile of gratitude on the face of so many people to whom hope has been restored.
Keep bringing the presence of God to the many people who need it; this is one of the priest's challenges today. Remain free from all worldliness; This is entangling us in this world and it keeps us away from God and from our brothers, making us slaves; and that's where a lot of the reverse testimony comes from. We can ask ourselves: What are our true riches? Where do we have the heart? How do we seek to fill our inner emptiness? Respond in your hearts and put there the means to always recognize the poor of Christ, those in need of his mercy, in order to bear witness to the world of Jesus, who for us became poor and enriched us with his poverty.
May the Virgin Mary, Mother of the Forsaken, care for them and sustain them always, so that they never stop pouring into others the gift they have received and witnessing it with joy and generosity.
(Original text in Spanish)
Greetings of His Holiness, Pope Francis
offered to priests from the Archdiocese of Valencia (Spain)
Dear brothers,
With joy I stand among you, welcoming the request of Cardinal Antonio Cañizares Llovera, Archbishop of Valencia, to receive his leadership team in an audience and to present to me the initiative of the Coordinator of newly ordained priests. I greet the priests who are present here with affection and in a special way.
Valencia, a land of saints, is celebrating this year's jubilee for one of them, Saint Vincent Ferrer, who worked and committed himself with all his strength to unity in the ecclesial community. This saint proposes to priests three fundamental means to preserve friendship and union with Jesus Christ: the first is prayer, as food for every priest; the second, obedience to the vocation of the preaching of the Gospel to every creature (cf Sermon on the commemoration of Saint Paul, Apostle, 7-10), the third, freedom in Christ, so that he can drink the cup of the Lord in any circumstance (Mt 20:22) (Sermon on the Feast of Saint Bartholomew, 10). In a way, the Church in Valencia, by keeping the relic of the holy chalice in its cathedral, becomes a witness and a bearer of the truth of salvation.
The priest is a man of prayer, he is the one who entreats God on behalf of others, begging at his feet for his life and also for that of his people. A priest without a life of prayer does not go very far; he is already defeated and his ministry suffers, going adrift. The faithful people have a good sense of smell and perceive whether their pastor prays and has dealings with the Lord. Praying is the first task of the bishop and the priest. From this relationship of friendship with God is received the strength and light necessary to face any apostolate and mission, because the one who has been called is increasingly identified with the Lord's feelings and thus his words and deeds exude that pure taste of the love of God (Treatise on the Spiritual Life, 13).
Saint Vincent Ferrer offers a simple prayer: Lord, forgive me. I have such a defect or sin, help me (Sermon on the Feast of Saint Bartholomew, 5). A sincere and real request, which is done in silence, and which has a community sense. The interior life of the priest reverberates throughout the church, beginning with the faithful. We need the grace to continue on the path and to travel with those who have been entrusted to us. The priest, like the bishop, goes before his people, but also among them and behind them, where you are needed, and always with prayer. We need to have present in our lives those who taught us to pray: our grandparents, our parents, that priest or religious, the catechist ... They preceded us and passed on their love for the Lord; Now we have to do the same.
The second aspect is obedience to preaching the gospel to every creature. The Lord calls us to the priesthood to be his witnesses before the world, to transmit the joy of the Gospel to all men; this is the reason for our existence. We are not proprietors of the Good News, nor entrepreneurs of the divine, but custodians and dispensers of what God entrusts to us through his Church. This supposes a great responsibility, since it involves preparation and updating of what has been learned and assumed. It cannot remain in a trunk filled with memories, but it is necessary to relive the call of the Lord who captivated us and made us leave everything for him. It is necessary to study and also to confront other priests to face the moments that we are living and the realities that question us.
You experience this through the initiative of your Priestly Coordinator and with other meetings; ongoing formation is a reality that has to be deepened so that it can take shape in the priesthood. I always admire the bishops who are present, who are accessible to their priests and who listen to them, because they are their immediate collaborators, and together with them, you serve the other members of the Church, because the boat of the Church is not yours, it does not belong to a few, but to all the baptized; and how much we all need the enthusiasm of young people and the wisdom of elders to go out to sea.
Finally, the priest is free as soon as he is united to Christ, and from him he obtains the strength to go out to meet others. Saint Vincent has a beautiful image of an outgoing church: If the sun were still in one place, it would not give the world heat: one part would burn, and the other would be cold; ... be careful, do not submit to the desire for comfort (Sermon on the Feast of Saint Bartholomew, 10). We are called to go out to give testimony and to bring the tenderness of God to all people, including in the office and in the tasks of the curia, yes; but with attitude of exiting, of going out toward the encounter of a brother or a sister.
At this moment, I want to thank you for everything you do in that Archdiocese in favour of the most needy; in particular for the generosity and greatness of heart in welcoming immigrants; all of them find in you a helping hand and a place where they can experience closeness and love. Thank you for this example and testimony that they give, often with a shortage of means and aid, but always with the highest price, which is not the recognition of the powerful or public opinion, but the smile of gratitude on the face of so many people to whom hope has been restored.
Keep bringing the presence of God to the many people who need it; this is one of the priest's challenges today. Remain free from all worldliness; This is entangling us in this world and it keeps us away from God and from our brothers, making us slaves; and that's where a lot of the reverse testimony comes from. We can ask ourselves: What are our true riches? Where do we have the heart? How do we seek to fill our inner emptiness? Respond in your hearts and put there the means to always recognize the poor of Christ, those in need of his mercy, in order to bear witness to the world of Jesus, who for us became poor and enriched us with his poverty.
May the Virgin Mary, Mother of the Forsaken, care for them and sustain them always, so that they never stop pouring into others the gift they have received and witnessing it with joy and generosity.
(Original text in Spanish)
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