Pope: A priest’s "joy", "anoints", is "incorruptible", "missionary" and guarded by poverty, obedience and loyalty
Vatican City ( AsiaNews ) - Priestly "anoints" but it does not "grease", making us unctuous, sumptuous and presumptuous, it is a joy which is "imperishable" and "missionary" and "it is also guarded by three sisters that surround it, protect it , defend it: sister poverty, sister obedience and sister fidelity". They are the "features" of the joy of the priesthood, evoked by Pope Francis at the Chrism Mass, which commemorates the institution of the priesthood, celebrated this morning in St. Peter's Basilica.
A joy that, in the words of the Pope, "only flows when the pastor is in the midst of his flock". And "moments when everything looks dark and a feeling of isolation takes hold of us, in those moments of listlessness and boredom which at times overcome us in our priestly life (and which I too have experienced), even in those moments God's people are able to "guard" that joy; they are able to protect you, to embrace you and to help you open your heart to find renewed joy".
The Chrism Mass is the ritual that precedes the Holy Triduum - which begins in the afternoon with the Mass "in Coena Domini" - during which the holy oils are consecrated: chrism, used for baptism, confirmation and ordination priestly, the oil of catechumens, those preparing for baptism , and the oil of the sick and sees the priests concelebrate with their bishop and renew their priestly promises.
This was also the case for the bishop of Rome, gathered with more than a thousand "his" priests, to whom he essentially described his vision of the ordained ministry. "The Lord anointed us in Christ with the oil of gladness, and this anointing invites us to accept and appreciate this great gift: the gladness, the joy of being a priest. Priestly joy is a priceless treasure, not only for the priest himself but for the entire faithful people of God: that faithful people from which he is called to be anointed and which he, in turn, is sent to anoint."
" Anointed with the oil of gladness - he continued so as to anoint others with the oil of gladness. Priestly joy has its source in the Father's love, and the Lord wishes the joy of this Love to be "ours" and to be "complete" (Jn 15:11). I like to reflect on joy by contemplating Our Lady, for Mary, the "Mother of the living Gospel, is a wellspring of joy for God's little ones" (Evangelii Gaudium, 288). I do not think it is an exaggeration to say that priest is very little indeed: the incomparable grandeur of the gift granted us for the ministry sets us among the least of men. The priest is the poorest of men unless Jesus enriches him by his poverty, the most useless of servants unless Jesus calls him his friend, the most ignorant of men unless Jesus patiently teaches him as he did Peter, the frailest of Christians unless the Good Shepherd strengthens him in the midst of the flock. No one is more "little" than a priest left to his own devices; and so our prayer of protection against every snare of the Evil One is the prayer of our Mother: I am a priest because he has regarded my littleness (cf. Lk 1:48). And in that littleness we find our joy".
A joy with "
three significant features of our priestly joy. It is a joy which anoints us
(not one which "greases" us, making us unctuous, sumptuous and presumptuous),
it is a joy which is imperishable and it is a missionary joy which spreads and
attracts, starting backwards - with those farthest away from us".
"A joy which anoints us. In a word: it has penetrated deep within our hearts,
it has shaped them and strengthened them sacramentally. The signs of the
ordination liturgy speak to us of the Church's maternal desire to pass on and
share with others all that the Lord has given us: the laying on of hands, the
anointing with sacred chrism, the clothing with sacred vestments, the first
consecration which immediately follows... Grace fills us to the brim and
overflows, fully, abundantly and entirely in each priest. We are anointed down
to our very bones... and our joy, which wells up from deep within, is the echo of
this anointing".
"An
imperishable joy. The fullness of the Gift, which no one can take away or
increase, is an unfailing source of joy: an imperishable joy which the Lord has
promised no one can take from us (Jn 16:22). It can lie dormant, or be clogged
by sin or by life's troubles, yet deep down it remains intact, like the embers
of a burnt log beneath the ashes, and it can always be renewed. Paul's
exhortation to Timothy remains ever timely: I remind you to fan into flame the
gift of God that is within you through the laying on of my hands (cf. 2 Tim
1:6).
A missionary joy. I would like especially to share with you and to stress this
third feature: priestly joy is deeply bound up with God's holy and faithful
people, for it is an eminently missionary joy. Our anointing is meant for
anointing God's holy and faithful people: for baptizing and confirming them,
healing and sanctifying them, blessing, comforting and evangelizing them.
And since this joy is one which only springs up when the shepherd is in the
midst of his flock (for even in the silence of his prayer, the shepherd who
worships the Father is with his sheep), it is a "guarded joy", watched over by
the flock itself. Even in those gloomy moments when everything looks dark and a
feeling of isolation takes hold of us, in those moments of listlessness and
boredom which at times overcome us in our priestly life (and which I too have
experienced), even in those moments God's people are able to "guard" that joy;
they are able to protect you, to embrace you and to help you open your heart to
find renewed joy.
A "guarded joy": one guarded by the flock but also guarded by three sisters who
surround it, tend it and defend it: sister poverty, sister fidelity and sister
obedience.
Priestly joy is a joy which is sister to poverty. The priest is poor in terms
of purely human joy. He has given up so much! And because he is poor, he, who
gives so much to others, has to seek his joy from the Lord and from God's
faithful people. He doesn't need to try to create it for himself. We know that
our people are very generous in thanking priests for their slightest blessing
and especially for the sacraments. Many people, in speaking of the crisis of
priestly identity, fail to realize that identity presupposes belonging. There
is no identity - and consequently joy of life - without an active and
unwavering sense of belonging to God's faithful people (cf. Evangelii Gaudium,
268). The priest who tries to find his priestly identity by soul-searching and
introspection may well encounter nothing more than "exit" signs, signs that
say: exit from yourself, exit to seek God in adoration, go out and give your
people what was entrusted to you, for your people will make you feel and taste
who you are, what your name is, what your identity is, and they will make you
rejoice in that hundredfold which the Lord has promised to those who serve him.
Unless you "exit" from yourself, the oil grows rancid and the anointing cannot
be fruitful. Going out from ourselves presupposes self-denial; it means
poverty.
Priestly joy is a joy which is sister to fidelity. Not primarily in the sense
that we are all "immaculate" (would that by God's grace we were!), for we are
sinners, but in the sense of an ever renewed fidelity to the one Bride, to the
Church. Here fruitfulness is key. The spiritual children which the Lord gives
each priest, the children he has baptized, the families he has blessed and
helped on their way, the sick he has comforted, the young people he catechizes
and helps to grow, the poor he assists... all these are the "Bride" whom he
rejoices to treat as his supreme and only love and to whom he is constantly
faithful. It is the living Church, with a first name and a last name, which the
priest shepherds in his parish or in the mission entrusted to him. That mission
brings him joy whenever he is faithful to it, whenever he does all that he has
to do and lets go of everything that he has to let go of, as long as he stands
firm amid the flock which the Lord has entrusted to him: Feed my sheep (cf. Jn
21:16,17).
Priestly joy is a joy which is sister to obedience. An obedience to the Church
in the hierarchy which gives us, as it were, not simply the external framework
for our obedience: the parish to which I am sent, my ministerial assignments,
my particular work ... but also union with God the Father, the source of all
fatherhood. It is likewise an obedience to the Church in service: in
availability and readiness to serve everyone, always and as best I can,
following the example of "Our Lady of Promptness" (cf. Lk 1:39, meta spoudes),
who hastens to serve Elizabeth her kinswoman and is concerned for the kitchen
of Cana when the wine runs out. The availability of her priests makes the
Church a house with open doors, a refuge for sinners, a home for people living
on the streets, a place of loving care for the sick, a camp for the young, a
classroom for catechizing children about to make their First Communion...
Wherever God's people have desires or needs, there is the priest, who knows how
to listen (ob-audire) and feels a loving mandate from Christ who sends him to
relieve that need with mercy or to encourage those good desires with
resourceful charity.
All who are called should know that genuine and complete joy does exist in this
world: it is the joy of being taken from the people we love and then being sent
back to them as dispensers of the gifts and counsels of Jesus, the one Good
Shepherd who, with deep compassion for all the little ones and the outcasts of
this earth, wearied and oppressed like sheep without a shepherd, wants to
associate many others to his ministry, so as himself to remain with us and to
work, in the person of his priests, for the good of his people.
On this priestly Thursday I ask the Lord Jesus to enable many young people to
discover that burning zeal which joy kindles in our hearts as soon as we have
the stroke of boldness needed to respond willingly to his call.
On this priestly Thursday I ask the Lord Jesus to preserve the joy sparkling in
the eyes of the recently ordained who go forth to devour the world, to spend
themselves fully in the midst of God's faithful people, rejoicing as they
prepare their first homily, their first Mass, their first Baptism, their first
confession... It is the joy of being able to share with wonder, and for the first
time as God's anointed, the treasure of the Gospel and to feel the faithful
people anointing you again and in yet another way: by their requests, by bowing
their heads for your blessing, by taking your hands, by bringing you their
children, by pleading for their sick... Preserve, Lord, in your young priests the
joy of going forth, of doing everything as if for the first time, the joy of
spending their lives fully for you.
On this priestly Thursday I ask the Lord Jesus to confirm the priestly joy of
those who have already ministered for some years. The joy which, without
leaving their eyes, is also found on the shoulders of those who bear the burden
of the ministry, those priests who, having experienced the labours of the
apostolate, gather their strength and rearm themselves: "get a second wind", as
the athletes say. Lord, preserve the depth, wisdom and maturity of the joy felt
by these older priests. May they be able to pray with Nehemiah: "the joy of the
Lord is my strength" (cf. Neh 8:10).
Finally, on this priestly Thursday I ask the Lord Jesus to make better known
the joy of elderly priests, whether healthy or infirm. It is the joy of the
Cross, which springs from the knowledge that we possess an imperishable
treasure in perishable earthen vessels. May these priests find happiness
wherever they are; may they experience already, in the passage of the years, a
taste of eternity (Guardini). May they know the joy of handing on the torch,
the joy of seeing new generations of their spiritual children, and of hailing
the promises from afar, smiling and at peace, in that hope which does not
disappoint".
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