LETTER
OF HIS HOLINESS POPE BENEDICT XVI
PROCLAIMING
A YEAR FOR PRIESTS
ON
THE 150TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE DIES NATALIS
OF
THE CURÉ OF ARS
Dear Brother Priests,
On
the forthcoming Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, Friday 19 June
2009 – a day traditionally devoted to prayer for the sanctification of the
clergy –, I have decided to inaugurate a “Year for Priests” in celebration of
the 150th anniversary of the “dies natalis” of John Mary
Vianney, the patron saint of parish priests worldwide.[1]
This Year, meant to deepen the commitment of all priests to interior
renewal for the sake of a more forceful and incisive witness to the Gospel in
today’s world, will conclude on the same Solemnity in 2010. The priesthood is the love of the heart
of Jesus”, the saintly Curé of Ars would often say.[2]
This touching expression makes us reflect, first of all, with heartfelt
gratitude on the immense gift which priests represent, not only for the Church,
but also for humanity itself. I think
of all those priests who quietly present Christ’s words and actions each day to
the faithful and to the whole world, striving to be one with the Lord in their
thoughts and their will, their sentiments and their style of life. How can I not pay tribute to their apostolic
labours, their tireless and hidden service, their universal charity? And how can I not praise the courageous
fidelity of so many priests who, even amid difficulties and incomprehension,
remain faithful to their vocation as “friends of Christ”, whom he has called by
name, chosen and sent?
I
still treasure the memory of the first parish priest at whose side I exercised
my ministry as a young priest: he left me an example of unreserved devotion to
his pastoral duties, even to meeting death in the act of bringing viaticum to a
gravely ill person. I also recall the
countless confreres whom I have met and continue to meet, not least in my
pastoral visits to different countries: men generously dedicated to the daily
exercise of their priestly ministry.
Yet the expression of Saint John Mary also makes us think of Christ’s
pierced Heart and the crown of thorns which surrounds it. I am also led to think, therefore, of the
countless situations of suffering endured by many priests, either because they
themselves share in the manifold human experience of pain or because they
encounter misunderstanding from the very persons to whom they minister. How can we not also think of all those
priests who are offended in their dignity, obstructed in their mission and
persecuted, even at times to offering the supreme testimony of their own blood?
There
are also, sad to say, situations which can never be sufficiently deplored where
the Church herself suffers as a consequence of infidelity on the part of some
of her ministers. Then it is the world
which finds grounds for scandal and rejection.
What is most helpful to the Church in such cases is not only a frank and
complete acknowledgment of the weaknesses of her ministers, but also a joyful
and renewed realization of the greatness of God’s gift, embodied in the
splendid example of generous pastors, religious afire with love for God and for
souls, and insightful, patient spiritual guides. Here the teaching and example of Saint John Mary Vianney can
serve as a significant point of reference for us all. The Curé of Ars was quite humble, yet as a priest he was
conscious of being an immense gift to his people: “A good shepherd, a pastor
after God’s heart, is the greatest treasure which the good Lord can grant to a
parish, and one of the most precious gifts of divine mercy”.[3]
He spoke of the priesthood as if incapable of fathoming the grandeur of
the gift and task entrusted to a human creature: “O, how great is
the priest! … If he realized what he
is, he would die… God obeys him: he utters a few words and the Lord descends
from heaven at his voice, to be contained within a small host…”.[4]
Explaining to his parishioners the importance of the sacraments, he
would say: “Without the Sacrament of Holy Orders, we would not have the
Lord. Who put him there in that
tabernacle? The priest. Who welcomed your soul at the beginning of
your life? The priest. Who feeds your soul and gives it strength
for its journey? The priest. Who will prepare it to appear before God,
bathing it one last time in the blood of Jesus Christ? The priest, always the priest. And if this soul should happen to die [as a
result of sin], who will raise it up, who will restore its calm and peace? Again, the priest… After God, the priest is everything! … Only in heaven will he fully realize what he is”.[5]
These words, welling up from the priestly heart of the holy pastor,
might sound excessive. Yet they reveal
the high esteem in which he held the sacrament of the priesthood. He seemed overwhelmed by a boundless sense
of responsibility: “Were we to fully realize what a priest is on earth, we
would die: not of fright, but of love… Without the priest, the passion and
death of our Lord would be of no avail.
It is the priest who continues the work of redemption on earth… What use
would be a house filled with gold, were there no one to open its door? The priest holds the key to the treasures of
heaven: it is he who opens the door: he is the steward of the good Lord; the
administrator of his goods … Leave a parish for twenty years without a priest,
and they will end by worshiping the beasts there … The priest is not a priest
for himself, he is a priest for you”.[6]
He
arrived in Ars, a village of 230 souls, warned by his Bishop beforehand that
there he would find religious practice in a sorry state: “There is little love
of God in that parish; you will be the one to put it there”. As a result, he was deeply aware that he
needed to go there to embody Christ’s presence and to bear witness to his
saving mercy: “[Lord,] grant me the conversion of my parish; I am willing to
suffer whatever you wish, for my entire life!”: with this prayer he entered
upon his mission.[7]
The Curé devoted himself completely to his parish’s conversion, setting
before all else the Christian education of the people in his care. Dear brother priests, let us ask the Lord
Jesus for the grace to learn for ourselves something of the pastoral plan of
Saint John Mary Vianney! The first
thing we need to learn is the complete identification of the man with his ministry. In Jesus, person and mission tend to
coincide: all Christ’s saving activity was, and is, an expression of his
“filial consciousness” which from all eternity stands before the Father in an
attitude of loving submission to his will.
In a humble yet genuine way, every priest must aim for a similar
identification. Certainly this is not
to forget that the efficacy of the ministry is independent of the holiness of
the minister; but neither can we overlook the extraordinary fruitfulness of the
encounter between the ministry’s objective holiness and the subjective holiness
of the minister. The Curé of Ars
immediately set about this patient and humble task of harmonizing his life as a
minister with the holiness of the ministry he had received, by deciding to
“live”, physically, in his parish church: As his first biographer tells us:
“Upon his arrival, he chose the church as his home. He entered the church before dawn and did not leave it until
after the evening Angelus. There he was
to be sought whenever needed”.[8]
The
pious excess of his devout biographer should not blind us to the fact that the
Curé also knew how to “live” actively within the entire territory of his
parish: he regularly visited the sick and families, organized popular missions
and patronal feasts, collected and managed funds for his charitable and
missionary works, embellished and furnished his parish church, cared for the
orphans and teachers of the “Providence” (an institute he founded);
provided for the education of children; founded confraternities and enlisted
lay persons to work at his side.
His
example naturally leads me to point out that there are sectors of cooperation
which need to be opened ever more fully to the lay faithful. Priests and laity together make up the one
priestly people[9] and in virtue of their ministry
priests live in the midst of the lay faithful, “that they may lead everyone to
the unity of charity, ‘loving one another with mutual affection; and outdoing
one another in sharing honour’” (Rom 12:10).[10]
Here we ought to recall the Second Vatican Council’s hearty
encouragement to priests “to be sincere in their appreciation and promotion of
the dignity of the laity and of the special role they have to play in the
Church’s mission. … They should be willing to listen to lay people, give
brotherly consideration to their wishes, and acknowledge their experience and
competence in the different fields of human activity. In this way they will be able together with them to discern the
signs of the times”.[11]
Saint
John Mary Vianney taught his parishioners primarily by the witness of his
life. It was from his example that they
learned to pray, halting frequently before the tabernacle for a visit to Jesus
in the Blessed Sacrament.[12]
“One need not say much to pray well” – the Curé explained to them – “We
know that Jesus is there in the tabernacle: let us open our hearts to him, let
us rejoice in his sacred presence. That
is the best prayer”.[13]
And he would urge them: “Come to communion, my brothers and sisters,
come to Jesus. Come to live from him in
order to live with him…[14]
“Of course you are not worthy of him, but you need him!”.[15]
This way of educating the faithful to the Eucharistic presence and to
communion proved most effective when they saw him celebrate the Holy Sacrifice
of the Mass. Those present said that
“it was not possible to find a finer example of worship… He gazed upon the Host
with immense love”.[16]
“All good works, taken together, do not equal the sacrifice of the Mass”
– he would say – “since they are human works, while the Holy Mass is the work
of God”.[17]
He was convinced that the fervour of a priest’s life depended entirely
upon the Mass: “The reason why a priest is lax is that he does not pay
attention to the Mass! My God, how we
ought to pity a priest who celebrates as if he were engaged in something
routine!”.[18]
He was accustomed, when celebrating, also to offer his own life in
sacrifice: “What a good thing it is for a priest each morning to offer himself
to God in sacrifice!”.[19]
This
deep personal identification with the Sacrifice of the Cross led him – by a
sole inward movement – from the altar to the confessional. Priests ought never to be resigned to empty
confessionals or the apparent indifference of the faithful to this
sacrament. In France, at the time of
the Curé of Ars, confession was no more easy or frequent than in our own day,
since the upheaval caused by the revolution had long inhibited the practice of
religion. Yet he sought in every way,
by his preaching and his powers of persuasion, to help his parishioners to
rediscover the meaning and beauty of the sacrament of Penance, presenting it as
an inherent demand of the Eucharistic presence. He thus created a “virtuous” circle. By spending long hours in church before the
tabernacle, he inspired the faithful to imitate him by coming to visit Jesus
with the knowledge that their parish priest would be there, ready to listen and
offer forgiveness. Later, the growing
numbers of penitents from all over France would keep him in the confessional
for up to sixteen hours a day. It was
said that Ars had become “a great hospital of souls”.[20]
His first biographer relates that “the grace he obtained [for the
conversion of sinners] was so powerful that it would pursue them, not leaving
them a moment of peace!”.[21]
The saintly Curé reflected something of the same idea when he said: “It
is not the sinner who returns to God to beg his forgiveness, but God himself
who runs after the sinner and makes him return to him”.[22]
“This good Saviour is so filled with love that he seeks us everywhere”.[23]
We
priests should feel that the following words, which he put on the lips of
Christ, are meant for each of us personally: “I will charge my ministers to
proclaim to sinners that I am ever ready to welcome them, that my mercy is
infinite”.[24]
From Saint John Mary Vianney we can learn to put our unfailing trust in
the sacrament of Penance, to set it once more at the centre of our pastoral
concerns, and to take up the “dialogue of salvation” which it entails. The Curé of Ars dealt with different
penitents in different ways. Those who
came to his confessional drawn by a deep and humble longing for God’s
forgiveness found in him the encouragement to plunge into the “flood of divine
mercy” which sweeps everything away by its vehemence. If someone was troubled by the thought of his own frailty and
inconstancy, and fearful of sinning again, the Curé would unveil the mystery of
God’s love in these beautiful and touching words: “The good Lord knows
everything. Even before you confess, he
already knows that you will sin again, yet he still forgives you. How great is the love of our God: he even
forces himself to forget the future, so that he can grant us his
forgiveness!”.[25]
But to those who made a lukewarm and rather indifferent confession of
sin, he clearly demonstrated by his own tears of pain how “abominable” this
attitude was: “I weep because you don’t weep”,[26] he would say. “If only the Lord were not so good! But he is so good! One would have to be a brute to treat so good
a Father this way!”.[27]
He awakened repentance in the hearts of the lukewarm by forcing them to
see God’s own pain at their sins reflected in the face of the priest who was
their confessor. To those who, on the
other hand, came to him already desirous of and suited to a deeper spiritual
life, he flung open the abyss of God’s love, explaining the untold beauty of
living in union with him and dwelling in his presence: “Everything in God’s
sight, everything with God, everything to please God… How beautiful it is!”.[28]
And he taught them to pray: “My God, grant me the grace to love you as
much as I possibly can”.[29]
In
his time the Curé of Ars was able to transform the hearts and the lives of so
many people because he enabled them to experience the Lord’s merciful
love. Our own time urgently needs a
similar proclamation and witness to the truth of Love: Deus caritas est (1
Jn: 4:8). Thanks to the word and
the sacraments of Jesus, John Mary Vianney built up his flock, although he
often trembled from a conviction of his personal inadequacy, and desired more
than once to withdraw from the responsibilities of the parish ministry out of a
sense of his unworthiness. Nonetheless,
with exemplary obedience he never abandoned his post, consumed as he was by
apostolic zeal for the salvation of souls.
He sought to remain completely faithful to his own vocation and mission
through the practice of an austere asceticism: “The great misfortune for us
parish priests – he lamented – is that our souls grow tepid”; meaning by this
that a pastor can grow dangerously inured to the state of sin or of
indifference in which so many of his flock are living.[30]
He himself kept a tight rein on his body, with vigils and fasts, lest it
rebel against his priestly soul. Nor
did he avoid self-mortification for the good of the souls in his care and as a
help to expiating the many sins he heard in confession. To a priestly confrere he explained: “I will
tell you my recipe: I give sinners a small penance and the rest I do in their
place”.[31]
Aside from the actual penances which the Curé of Ars practiced, the core
of his teaching remains valid for each of us: souls have been won at the price
of Jesus’ own blood, and a priest cannot devote himself to their salvation if
he refuses to share personally in the “precious cost” of redemption.
In
today’s world, as in the troubled times of the Curé of Ars, the lives and
activity of priests need to be distinguished by a forceful witness to the
Gospel. As Pope Paul VI rightly
noted, “modern man listens more willingly to witnesses than to teachers, and if
he does listen to teachers, it is because they are witnesses”.[32]
Lest we experience existential emptiness and the effectiveness of our
ministry be compromised, we need to ask ourselves ever anew: “Are we truly
pervaded by the word of God? Is that
word truly the nourishment we live by, even more than bread and the things of
this world? Do we really know that
word? Do we love it? Are we deeply engaged with this word to the
point that it really leaves a mark on our lives and shapes our thinking?”.[33]
Just as Jesus called the Twelve to be with him (cf. Mk 3:14), and
only later sent them forth to preach, so too in our days priests are called to
assimilate that “new style of life” which was inaugurated by the Lord Jesus and
taken up by the Apostles.[34]
It
was complete commitment to this “new style of life” which marked the priestly
ministry of the Curé of Ars. Pope John
XXIII, in his Encyclical Letter Sacerdotii nostri primordia, published
in 1959 on the first centenary of the death of Saint John Mary Vianney,
presented his asceticism with special reference to the “three evangelical
counsels” which the Pope considered necessary also for priests: “even though
priests are not bound to embrace these evangelical counsels by virtue of the
clerical state, these counsels nonetheless offer them, as they do all the
faithful, the surest road to the desired goal of Christian perfection”.[35]
The Curé of Ars lived the “evangelical counsels” in a way suited to his
priestly state. His poverty was
not the poverty of a religious or a monk, but that proper to a priest: while
managing much money (since well-to-do pilgrims naturally took an interest in
his charitable works), he realized that everything had been donated to his
church, his poor, his orphans, the girls of his “Providence”,[36] his families of modest means. Consequently, he “was rich in giving to
others and very poor for himself”.[37]
As he would explain: “My secret is simple: give everything away; hold
nothing back”.[38]
When he lacked money, he would say aimiably to the poor who knocked at
his door: “Today I’m poor just like you, I’m one of you”.[39]
At the end of his life, he could say with absolute tranquillity: “I no
longer have anything. The good Lord can
call me whenever he wants!”.[40]
His chastity, too, was that demanded of a priest for his
ministry. It could be said that it was
a chastity suited to one who must daily touch the Eucharist, who contemplates
it blissfully and with that same bliss offers it to his flock. It was said of him that “he radiated
chastity”; the faithful would see this when he turned and gazed at the
tabernacle with loving eyes”.[41]
Finally, Saint John Mary Vianney’s obedience found full
embodiment in his conscientious fidelity to the daily demands of his
ministry. We know how he was tormented
by the thought of his inadequacy for parish ministry and by a desire to flee
“in order to bewail his poor life, in solitude”.[42]
Only obedience and a thirst for souls convinced him to remain at his
post. As he explained to himself and
his flock: “There are no two good ways of serving God. There is only one: serve him as he desires
to be served”.[43]
He considered this the golden rule for a life of obedience: “Do only
what can be offered to the good Lord”.[44]
In
this context of a spirituality nourished by the practice of the evangelical
counsels, I would like to invite all priests, during this Year dedicated to
them, to welcome the new springtime which the Spirit is now bringing about in
the Church, not least through the ecclesial movements and the new
communities. “In his gifts the Spirit
is multifaceted… He breathes where he
wills. He does so unexpectedly, in
unexpected places, and in ways previously unheard of… but he also shows us that
he works with a view to the one body and in the unity of the one body”.[45]
In this regard, the statement of the Decree Presbyterorum Ordinis
continues to be timely: “While testing the spirits to discover if they be of
God, priests must discover with faith, recognize with joy and foster diligently
the many and varied charismatic gifts of the laity, whether these be of a
humble or more exalted kind”.[46]
These gifts, which awaken in many people the desire for a deeper
spiritual life, can benefit not only the lay faithful but the clergy as
well. The communion between ordained
and charismatic ministries can provide “a helpful impulse to a renewed
commitment by the Church in proclaiming and bearing witness to the Gospel of
hope and charity in every corner of the world”.[47]
I would also like to add, echoing the Apostolic Exhortation Pastores
Dabo Vobis of Pope John Paul II, that the ordained ministry has a radical “communitarian
form” and can be exercised only in the communion of priests with their
Bishop.[48]
This communion between priests and their Bishop, grounded in the
sacrament of Holy Orders and made manifest in Eucharistic concelebration, needs
to be translated into various concrete expressions of an effective and
affective priestly fraternity.[49]
Only thus will priests be able to live fully the gift of celibacy and
build thriving Christian communities in which the miracles which accompanied
the first preaching of the Gospel can be repeated.
The
Pauline Year now coming to its close invites us also to look to the Apostle of
the Gentiles, who represents a splendid example of a priest entirely devoted to
his ministry. “The love of Christ urges
us on” – he wrote – “because we are convinced that one has died for all;
therefore all have died” (2 Cor 5:14).
And he adds: “He died for all, so that those who live might live no
longer for themselves, but for him who died and was raised for them” (2 Cor 5:15). Could a finer programme could be proposed to
any priest resolved to advance along the path of Christian perfection?
Dear
brother priests, the celebration of the 150th anniversary of the
death of Saint John Mary Vianney (1859) follows upon the celebration of the 150th
anniversary of the apparitions of Lourdes (1858). In 1959 Blessed Pope John XXIII noted that “shortly before the
Curé of Ars completed his long and admirable life, the Immaculate Virgin
appeared in another part of France to an innocent and humble girl, and
entrusted to her a message of prayer and penance which continues, even a
century later, to yield immense spiritual fruits. The life of this holy priest whose centenary we are commemorating
in a real way anticipated the great supernatural truths taught to the seer of
Massabielle. He was greatly devoted to
the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin; in 1836 he had dedicated his
parish church to Our Lady Conceived without Sin and he greeted the dogmatic
definition of this truth in 1854 with deep faith and great joy.”[50] The Curé would always remind his
faithful that “after giving us all he could, Jesus Christ wishes in addition to
bequeath us his most precious possession, his Blessed Mother”.[51]
To
the Most Holy Virgin I entrust this Year for Priests. I ask her to awaken in the heart of every priest a generous and
renewed commitment to the ideal of complete self-oblation to Christ and the
Church which inspired the thoughts and actions of the saintly Curé of Ars. It was his fervent prayer life and his
impassioned love of Christ Crucified that enabled John Mary Vianney to grow
daily in his total self-oblation to God and the Church. May his example lead all priests to offer
that witness of unity with their Bishop, with one another and with the lay
faithful, which today, as ever, is so necessary. Despite all the evil present in our world, the words which Christ
spoke to his Apostles in the Upper Room continue to inspire us: “In the world
you have tribulation; but take courage, I have overcome the world” (Jn
16:33). Our faith in the Divine Master
gives us the strength to look to the future with confidence. Dear priests, Christ is counting on
you. In the footsteps of the Curé of
Ars, let yourselves be enthralled by him.
In this way you too will be, for the world in our time, heralds of hope,
reconciliation and peace!
With
my blessing.
From the Vatican, 16 June 2009.
/FINE
[1] He was proclaimed as such by Pope Pius XI in 1929.
[2] “Le Sacerdoce, c’est l’amour du cœur de Jésus” (in Le curé d’Ars. Sa pensée – Son cœur. Présentés par l’Abbé Bernard Nodet, éd. Xavier Mappus, Foi Vivante, 1966, p. 98). Hereafter: NODET. The expression is also quoted in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, No. 1589).
[3] NODET, p. 101.
[4] Ibid., p. 97.
[5] Ibid., pp. 98-99.
[6] Ibid.,
pp. 98-100.
[7] Ibid., p.
183.
[8] MONNIN,
A., Il Curato d’Ars. Vita di Gian.Battista-Maria Vianney, vol. I, ed.
Marietti, Turin, 1870, p. 122.
[9] Cf. Lumen
Gentium, 10.
[10] Presbyterorum
Ordinis, 9.
[11] Ibid.
[12] “Contemplation is a gaze of faith, fixed on Jesus. ‘I look at him and he looks at me’: this is what a certain peasant of Ars used to say to his holy Curé about his prayer before the tabernacle” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, No. 2715).
[13] NODET, p. 85.
[14] Ibid., p. 114.
[15] Ibid., p. 119.
[16] MONNIN, A., op. cit., II, pp. 430ff.
[17] NODET, p. 105.
[18] Ibid.
[19] Ibid., p. 104.
[20] MONNIN, A., op. cit., II, p. 293.
[21] Ibid., II, p. 10.
[22] NODET, p. 128.
[23] Ibid., p. 50.
[24] Ibid., p. 131.
[25] Ibid., p. 130.
[26] Ibid., p. 27.
[27] Ibid., p. 139.
[28] Ibid., p. 28.
[29] Ibid., p. 77.
[30] Ibid., p. 102.
[31] Ibid., p. 189.
[32] Evangelii nuntiandi, 41.
[33] BENEDICT XVI, Homily at
the Chrism Mass, 9 April 2009.
[34] Cf. BENEDICT XVI, Address to the Plenary Assembly of the Congregation for the Clergy, 16 March 2009.
[35] P. I.
[36] The name given to the house where more than sixty abandoned girls were taken in and educated. To maintain this house he would do anything: “J’ai fait tous les commerces imaginables”, he would say with a smile (NODET, p. 214).
[37] NODET, p. 216.
[38] Ibid., p. 215.
[39] Ibid., p. 216.
[40] Ibid., p. 214.
[41] Cf. ibid., p. 112.
[42] Cf. ibid., pp. 82-84; 102-103.
[43] Ibid., p. 75.
[44] Ibid., p. 76.
[45] BENEDICT XVI, Homily for the Vigil of Pentecost, 3 June 2006.
[46] No. 9.
[47] BENEDICT XVI, Address to Bishop-Friends of the Focolare Movement and the Sant’Egidio Community, 8 February 2007
[48] Cf. No. 17.
[49] Cf. JOHN PAUL II, Apostolic Exhortation Pastores Dabo Vobis, 74.
[50]
Encyclical Letter Sacerdotii nostri primordia, P. III.
[51] NODET, p. 244.