Pope: Priests must be men of prayer to take Jesus to the world
In the Chrism Mass, Benedict XVI recalled Fr Andrea Santoro: "I am here to live among these people, and to allow Jesus to do so by giving him my flesh."
Vatican City (AsiaNews) The priest must be first and foremost a "man of prayer"; from this springs "friendship" with Christ, which allows man to act in God's name and "bears fruit" in priestly deeds, "giving him my flesh", as Fr Andrea Santoro used to say. The first homily of Benedict XVI for the Easter Triduum, of the Chrism Mass, was dedicated to the priesthood. As per tradition, priestly vows are renewed in this Mass, celebrated annually by the pope with all the cardinals, bishops and priests present in St Peter's Basilica.
Benedict XVI focused his reflection on the concept that "being a priest means becoming a friend of Jesus Christ, and this even more for all our existence". This because "the world needs God, not just any god, but the God of Jesus Christ, the God who became flesh and blood, who loved us to the point of dying for us, who resurrected and created in himself a space for man. This God must live in us and us in Him. And this is our priestly call: only thus can our actions as priests bear fruit."
The Chrism Mass is named after the sacred oils for catechumens and sick people, and for baptism, confirmation and priestly ordination the rite is called chrism after them. The oils, kept in great silver vases, are brought before the pope, who blesses them. Today, four candidates to the priesthood, four candidates for confirmation and six sick people, carried the vases in a basilica packed with worshippers and around 1,000 priests.
Benedict XVI said the "mystery of the priesthood of the Church lies in the fact that we, miserable human beings, by virtue of the Sacrament, can speak with his I: in persona Christi. He wants to exercise his priesthood through us". And "so daily cares will not mar what is great and mysterious, we need a similar specific reminder, we need to return to that hour in which He laid his hands on us and made us part of this mystery". The pope emphasized "this ancient gesture of the laying of hands, with which He took possession of me, telling me: 'You belong to me'". He added: "By this he also said: 'You are under the protection of my hands. You are under the protection of my heart. You are guarded in the hollow of my hands and thus you are in the vast expanse of my love. Stay within my hands and give me yours."
The hands of the priest, continued Benedict XVI, are greased with the chrism at the moment of ordination. "If man's hands symbolically represent his faculties and overall, the means of capacity to use in the world, then the greased hands become a sign of his capacity to give, of the creativity to shape the world with love and for this, without doubt, we need the Holy Spirit".
But the gesture of Jesus of laying his hands on the Twelve has a further meaning, that the Gospel reminds us of with these words: "I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father." (Jn 15:15). I no longer call you servants, but friends: in these words, said the pope, "we can actually see the institution of the priesthood. The Lord makes us his friends, he entrusts everything to us; he entrusts us with himself, so we can talk with his I in persona Christi capitis. What trust! He has really delivered himself into our hands". It is precisely this friendship with Jesus, according to the pope, that brings the necessity of prayer. "Only thus can we undertake our priestly service, only thus can we bring Christ and his Gospel to men. Simple activism could be even heroic. But external behaviour, at the end of the day, remains fruitless and loses effectiveness if it does not arise out of profound, intimate communion with Christ. The time we take for this is truly time of pastoral activity, of an authentically pastoral activity. The priest must be above all a man of prayer. The world, in its frenetic activism, often loses orientation. Its behaviour and capacities become destructive if the forces of prayer are lacking, from which living waters able to fecundate the arid earth spring forth." A quotation from Fr Santoro came up in this context: "I am here to live among these people and to allow Jesus to do so by giving him my flesh One becomes capable of salvation only by offering one's own flesh. The evil of the world must be born and the suffering shared, absorbing it in one's flesh as Jesus did."
.png)
