At 11:30am this morning (5:30am EST), in the Consistory Hall at the Apostolic Palace, the Holy Father, Pope Francis received in audience the Seminarians from the Diocese of Agrigento (Italy).
After having presented those who were in attendance with his prepared text, the Pope offered unscripted remarks to those who were present.
Dear brothers,
I welcome you and I thank you for this visit. I especially thank your Rector for his words of introduction.
In the brief time that we have together, I wish to give you a few points for your personal reflection and that of your community, and I take them from the recent Synod of Youth.
First of all, the biblical icon: the Gospel of the disciples of Emmaus. I wish to present you with this icon, because it guided all of the work during this most recent Synod and it can continue to inspire your journey. And the journey is the first key word: the Risen Jesus meets us on the journey, which at the same time is the path, that is, the reality in which each of us is called to live, and it is the interior path, the path of faith and hope, which knows moments of light and moments of darkness. Here, in the journey, the Lord meets us, listens to us and speaks to us.
Second of all, he listens to us. This is the second key word: listen. Our God is Word, and at the same time He is silence that listens. Jesus is the Word that has listened to us, the acceptance of our human condition. When he appears next to the two disciples, he walks with them listening to them, and even stimulating them to take out what they have inside, their hope and their disappointment. This, in your life as a seminary, which means that in the first place there is the dialogue with the Lord made up of mutual listening: He listens to me and I listen to Him. There is no fiction, no mask.
This listening to the heart in prayer teaches us to be people able to listen to others, to become - God willing - priests who offer the service of listening - and as we need it! -; and it teaches us to be more and more a Church that listens, a community that knows how to listen. You now experience this especially in your contact with the young, meeting them, listening to them, inviting them to express themselves ... But this applies to all pastoral life: like Jesus, the Church is sent into the world to listen to the cry of humanity, which is often a silent cry, sometimes repressed, even suffocated.
Journey; listening; the third word is discernment. This seminar is a place and time for discernment. And this requires accompaniment, as Jesus does with the two disciples and with all his disciples, especially the Twelve. He accompanies them patiently and with wisdom, teaches them to follow him in the truth, exposing the false expectations that they carry in their hearts. With respect and decision, like a good friend and also a good doctor, who sometimes has to use the scalpel. Many problems that occur in the life of a priest are due to a lack of discernment during the years of the seminary. Not all and not always, but many. It's normal, the same goes for marriage: certain things not addressed before can become problems later. Jesus does not pretend with the two disciples of Emmaus, he is not evasive, he does not circumvent the problem: he calls them foolish and slow-hearted (Lk 24:25) because they do not believe in the prophets. And he opens their minds to the Scriptures, and then, at the table, he opens their eyes to his new Presence, in the sign of broken bread.
The mystery of vocation and discernment is a masterpiece of the Holy Spirit, which requires the collaboration of the young man who is called and of the adult who accompanies him.
We know that the fourth word is mission; and the Synod of Youth greatly valued the synodal dimension of the mission: going out together to meet others. The two disciples of Emmaus return together to Jerusalem and above all they join the apostolic community which, by the power of the Spirit, becomes entirely missionary. This underlining is important, because the temptation to be good individual missionaries is always lurking. Already as seminarians one can fall into this temptation: feeling good because one is brilliant in preaching, or organizing events, or in beautiful ceremonies, and so on. Too often our approach has been individual, rather than collegial or fraternal. And so the presbyteral and the diocesan pastoral work may present splendid individuality but little testimony of communion, of collegiality. Thank God we are growing in this, even that we are being forced to do so by the scarcity of clergy, but communion is not created by compulsion, we must believe in it and we must be docile to the Spirit.
Dear brothers, these are the points that I leave with you, entirely contained in the gospel icon of the disciples of Emmaus; journey, listen, discern, go out together. I ask the Lord and the Virgin Mary to accompany you, to bless you and I am praying for you. And you too, please, remember to pray for me.
(Original text in Italian)
After having presented those who were in attendance with his prepared text, the Pope offered unscripted remarks to those who were present.
Prepared speech of the Holy Father, Pope Francis
for the meeting with seminarians from
the Diocese of Agrigento
Dear brothers,
I welcome you and I thank you for this visit. I especially thank your Rector for his words of introduction.
In the brief time that we have together, I wish to give you a few points for your personal reflection and that of your community, and I take them from the recent Synod of Youth.
First of all, the biblical icon: the Gospel of the disciples of Emmaus. I wish to present you with this icon, because it guided all of the work during this most recent Synod and it can continue to inspire your journey. And the journey is the first key word: the Risen Jesus meets us on the journey, which at the same time is the path, that is, the reality in which each of us is called to live, and it is the interior path, the path of faith and hope, which knows moments of light and moments of darkness. Here, in the journey, the Lord meets us, listens to us and speaks to us.
Second of all, he listens to us. This is the second key word: listen. Our God is Word, and at the same time He is silence that listens. Jesus is the Word that has listened to us, the acceptance of our human condition. When he appears next to the two disciples, he walks with them listening to them, and even stimulating them to take out what they have inside, their hope and their disappointment. This, in your life as a seminary, which means that in the first place there is the dialogue with the Lord made up of mutual listening: He listens to me and I listen to Him. There is no fiction, no mask.
This listening to the heart in prayer teaches us to be people able to listen to others, to become - God willing - priests who offer the service of listening - and as we need it! -; and it teaches us to be more and more a Church that listens, a community that knows how to listen. You now experience this especially in your contact with the young, meeting them, listening to them, inviting them to express themselves ... But this applies to all pastoral life: like Jesus, the Church is sent into the world to listen to the cry of humanity, which is often a silent cry, sometimes repressed, even suffocated.
Journey; listening; the third word is discernment. This seminar is a place and time for discernment. And this requires accompaniment, as Jesus does with the two disciples and with all his disciples, especially the Twelve. He accompanies them patiently and with wisdom, teaches them to follow him in the truth, exposing the false expectations that they carry in their hearts. With respect and decision, like a good friend and also a good doctor, who sometimes has to use the scalpel. Many problems that occur in the life of a priest are due to a lack of discernment during the years of the seminary. Not all and not always, but many. It's normal, the same goes for marriage: certain things not addressed before can become problems later. Jesus does not pretend with the two disciples of Emmaus, he is not evasive, he does not circumvent the problem: he calls them foolish and slow-hearted (Lk 24:25) because they do not believe in the prophets. And he opens their minds to the Scriptures, and then, at the table, he opens their eyes to his new Presence, in the sign of broken bread.
The mystery of vocation and discernment is a masterpiece of the Holy Spirit, which requires the collaboration of the young man who is called and of the adult who accompanies him.
We know that the fourth word is mission; and the Synod of Youth greatly valued the synodal dimension of the mission: going out together to meet others. The two disciples of Emmaus return together to Jerusalem and above all they join the apostolic community which, by the power of the Spirit, becomes entirely missionary. This underlining is important, because the temptation to be good individual missionaries is always lurking. Already as seminarians one can fall into this temptation: feeling good because one is brilliant in preaching, or organizing events, or in beautiful ceremonies, and so on. Too often our approach has been individual, rather than collegial or fraternal. And so the presbyteral and the diocesan pastoral work may present splendid individuality but little testimony of communion, of collegiality. Thank God we are growing in this, even that we are being forced to do so by the scarcity of clergy, but communion is not created by compulsion, we must believe in it and we must be docile to the Spirit.
Dear brothers, these are the points that I leave with you, entirely contained in the gospel icon of the disciples of Emmaus; journey, listen, discern, go out together. I ask the Lord and the Virgin Mary to accompany you, to bless you and I am praying for you. And you too, please, remember to pray for me.
(Original text in Italian)
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