Pope: priests must know how to live the grace of spiritual fatherhood
Vatican City (AsiaNews) - The priests need to full experience a special grace of "fatherhood", spiritual, pastoral fatherhood for the people entrusted to them. This was Pope Francis call this morning at Mass, celebrated in Casa Santa Marta, commenting on the passage in Genesis in which God promises an elderly Abram the joy of a child, along with a as many descendent as the stars of heaven ..
To seal
this covenant, the Pope, reports Vatican Radio, said that Abram
follows God's directions and prepares a sacrifice of animals which he then
defends from attack by birds of prey. "It moves me - said the Pope - to
picture this ninety year old man with a stick in his hand", defending his
sacrifice. "It makes me think of a father defending his family, his
children":
"A father who knows what it means to protect his children. And this is a
grace that we priests must ask for ourselves: to be a father, to be a father.
The grace of fatherhood, of pastoral paternity, of spiritual paternity. We may
have many sins, but this is commune sanctorum: We all have sins. But not
having children, never becoming a father, it like an incomplete life: a life
that stops half way. And therefore we have to be fathers. But it is a grace
that the Lord gives. People say to us: 'Father, Father, Father ...'. They want
us to be this, fathers, by the grace of pastoral fatherhood. "
Pope Francis then turned to Cardinal De Giorgi, who is marking the 60 the
anniversary of his priestly ordination. "I do not know what our dear
Savlvatore did," but "I'm sure that he was a father." "And
this is a sign," he says pointing to the many priests who accompanied the
cardinal. "Now it's up to you" he said, adding: every tree "bears its own
fruit, and if it is good, the fruit must be good, right?". So, the Pope
concluded lightheartedly , "do not let him look bad ..."
"We thank God for this grace of fatherhood in the Church, which is passed
from father to son, and so on ... And I think, finally, these two icons and one
more: the icon of Abram who asks for a child, the icon of Abraham with a stick
in his hand, defending his family, and the icon of the elderly Simeon in the
Temple, when he receives the new life : this is a spontaneous liturgy, the
liturgy of joy , in Him. And to you, the Lord today gifts great joy. "
25/09/2014