A YEAR FOR PRIESTS

JUNE 19, 2009

Pope Benedict XVI has proclaimed a Year for Priests, to begin on Friday, June 19, the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Word Day of Prayer for the Sanctification of Priests. The occasion is a Jubilee Year of the 150th anniversary of the death of the patron saint of priests, St. John Mary Vianney.

What is the purpose of the year?

In proclaiming this special Year for Priests, Pope Benedict explained that his motivation was to express his love for priests everywhere by giving them special recognition for their dedicated service. The Holy Father also indicated that he wanted to do whatever possible to support them in living their vocation with zeal and joy. He added that the year is intended “to encourage priests in this striving for spiritual perfection on which, above all, the effectiveness of their ministry depends”.

Cardinal Claudio Hummes, Prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy, in a letter written to all priests, elaborating on the purposes of this year, stated, “It must be a year that is both positive and forward looking in which the Church says to her priests above all,  but also to all the faithful and to wider society by means of the mass media, that she is proud of her priests, loves them, honors them, admires them and that she recognizes with gratitude their pastoral work and the witness of their life. Truthfully priests are important not only for whatever they do but also for who they are.”

I welcome this Year for Priests! I see in it an opportunity for growth and renewal of the priests and of the whole Church in the Diocese of Brownsville. I want first to thank all the priests, living and deceased, who have served or are serving the Church here, for their selfless ministry. It is humbling and gratifying to be the bishop of such priests!

Second, I ask all the faithful to participate actively in the year. This will be a time for you to prayyou’re your parish priest, and for all our priests. I exhort you to offer them support and assistance. Meditate on the priesthood, so as to deepen your appreciation of it as a gift of Christ to his beloved Church.  It is  intimately related to his gift of himself, in his body and blood, soul and divinity, in the most holy Sacrament of the Eucharist. Surely, the year should also be for us all a time to pray more intensively for vocations to the priesthood, and to more actively foster them.

To be clear, this is primarily to be a year of, by and for priests, a time for us to renew ourselves in our priesthood, to renew with fresh vigor our commitment to shepherd God’s people, and to open ourselves more widely to the Holy Spirit, that he may sanctify us. It will also be for us a time to reflect on the evangelical nature of our ministry, and its urgency in light of today’s circumstances.

When we survey today’s secularized world, we see that some have lost sight of God, and of Christ and his Church as the essential means of salvation. With these losses is lost also recognition of the importance of the sacred priesthood. In the past, society and culture had a pronounced religious character and outlook. In such times, priests enjoyed an immediate respect in proportion to the dignity of their person and priestly office. Not so today. There is widespread indifference to religion, and even a growing hostility toward it. The voice of the Church’s teaching authority in public affairs, once welcomed, is today often heard as interference rather than as assistance. Another indication of the loss of recognition of the need for priests is the way secular culture encourages people to rely solely on their own human resources to attend their needs: elected officials to ensure a civil and prosperous society, judges and lawyers to resolve disputes, doctors to ensure health and well-being, social scientists to explain the meaning of our existence, and therapists to heal our psyches.

It is not wrong to seek help from those professionals and experts who are competent to give it, but we should always first turn to God, our origin and destiny, for aid in times of need, and for guidance in times of confusion and trouble. We should see that no one in the whole world can completely meet our deepest need, which is for love. Only God can.

This is where the priest comes in. He is essential to Christ’s plan for his Church. He willed that his people always have shepherds to guide and care for them. Priests act in the person of Christ himself among his people. Priests are not experts in medicine, law, government, or the social sciences, but they understand that at the deepest level, all our sorrow and all our woe stem from our alienation from God. They know that the only final hope for our happiness and fulfillment is in turning to the Lord. Priests know the souls of people, and are able, with the aid of the Holy Spirit, to offer a shepherd’s care for them in all their needs. In their own weakness, they are able to understand and be patient with the weakness of others. They are able to reconcile sinners with God, bring the truth of God’s word that dispels darkness and error, and give the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ for the life of the world.

As we begin the Year for Priests, please join me in making the year a time of prayer for our priests, and of prayer that our Valley Church be enriched by one new priestly vocation to the priesthood from every parish.

+Bishop Raymundo J. Peña

last updated 09-Jun-2010 10:44 sitemap