Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Quito (Agenzia Fides) – Bishop Nestor Herrera Heredia of Machala, President of the Commission for Ministers and Consecrated Life for the Ecuadorian Bishops' Conference, sent a letter to all the priests in the country for the June 19 (Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and World Day of Prayer for Priests) opening of the Year for Priests, with the theme: “Fidelity of Christ, fidelity of the priest.” In the Letter, he says that the year “will be a time for intense reflection on the identity of the priest, the theology of Catholic priesthood and the extraordinary sense of the vocation and the mission of the priests in the Church and society.”
He also recalls that it should be “a year of prayer for priests, with priests, and for priests; a year of renewal for the priestly spirituality, beginning in their own identity, the fraternity of the priesthood, and the sacramental relationship with the Bishop, with the Eucharist at the center.” He also considered that “the memory of the Holy Cure of Ars, a priest like us, a parish priest like most of us, a man of great prayer and sacrifice and a tireless evangelizer, who will encourage us this year to be truly priests according to the Heart of Christ.”
Bishop Herrera concluded by showing his fervent desire for this Year of Priests to be celebrated with enthusiasm, joy, and fervor,” exhorting all priests to rekindle this spiritual gift that God has deposited in each one of them by the imposition of hands and encourages “the prayerful reading and preaching of the Word of God; the joyful and devout celebration of the Mass; the faithful, patient, and generous service of the faithful, especially the poor and sick.”
“ May we conform ourselves more each day to the image of Jesus, the Good Shepherd,” the Bishop of Machala concluded.
All the ecclesiastical jurisdictions of Ecuador are preparing to live the Year for Priests in communion with the Holy Father, who will inaugurate the Year today in Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome. In the various dioceses throughout the country, there are various solemn Masses prepared for the beginning of the Year of the Priest and various encounters have been organized. (RG) (Agenzia Fides 19/6/2009)
