MISSIONARY PRAYER INTENTION - The Pope’s missionary intention for April, “That future priests in young Churches may be ever more seriously formed culturally and spiritually in order to evangelize their respective countries and the whole world.” Commentary.

Thursday, 27 March 2008

Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) - It is an immense joy to see the vitality of the young Churches. Their fruitfulness fills us with hope, especially as we face the vocations shortage in the Churches of ancient tradition. At the heart of the priesthood is the universal vocation of each priest. As the decree Presbyterorum Ordinis says, “The spiritual gift which priests receive at their ordination prepared them not for a sort of limited and narrow mission but for the widest possible and universal mission of salvation "even to the ends of the earth" (Acts 1:8), for every priestly ministry shares in the universality of the mission entrusted by Christ to his apostles. The priesthood of Christ, in which all priests really share, is necessarily intended for all peoples and all times, and it knows no limits of blood, nationality or time, since it is already mysteriously prefigured in the person of Melchisedech” (PO, 10).
The Holy Father Benedict XVI, in his message for the World Day of Prayer for Vocations that is celebrated on the 13th of this month, wrote that, “The Church is missionary in herself and in each one of her members. Through the sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation, every Christian is called to bear witness and to announce the Gospel, but this missionary dimension is associated in a special and intimate way with the priestly vocation.”
The priest’s heart should be a heart conformed to Christ’s, with a universal love that knows no boundaries. It should be a love that does not attach itself to people of a certain nation or race, but rather that exercises that same tenderness that Jesus showed for each and every person.
The formation of priests should include an ready and willing openness to be sent to those parts of the world where they are most needed. These dispositions are not something spontaneous. The reality that the priest is a priest for the Universal Church must be fostered in candidates for the priesthood. For every one of the Lord’s ministers, “the care of all churches must be their intimate concern” (PO, 10).
The task of formation is essential. Towards this end, one should seek the best that human resources can offer and should place the greatest effort possible in offering the Church holy priests, with ample human, intellectual, and pastoral formation. Priests should be capable of recognizing that the entire success of their ministry depends on their vital union with Christ: “Remain in me, as I remain in you. Just as a branch cannot bear fruit on its own unless it remains on the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in me” (Jn. 15:4). Benedict XVI, in the above mentioned document, also says that, “Having become one with their Master, the disciples are no longer alone as they announce the Kingdom of heaven; Jesus himself is acting in them... Precisely because they have been sent by the Lord, the Twelve are called “Apostles”, destined to walk the roads of the world announcing the Gospel as witnesses to the death and resurrection of Christ.” (PO, 10)
Since the early days of the Church, the missionary fervor of the Apostles was what lead to its extension around the entire world. This universal spirit, this command from the Lord: “Go into the whole world and proclaim the gospel to every creature” (Mk 16:15), should be heard and followed by every generation, every baptized person, especially every priest.
Given the great number of vocations with which God is blessing the young Churches, let us pray that, in turn, those priests who come from these Churches may be willing to be sent by the Lord to evangelize the entire world. Let us join in praying that “through His priest, Jesus may continue being present among the men of today, in all the ends of the earth,” and we pray that just as is the Church’s early days, “gathered around the Virgin Mary, Queen of the Apostles, the ecclesial community may learn from her how to implore the Lord for a flowering of new apostles, alive with the faith and love that are necessary for the mission” (cf. Benedict XVI, Message for the World Day of Prayer for Vocations). (Agenzia Fides 27/3/2008; righe 52, parole 702)


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