VATICAN - Benedict XVI opens the Year of the Priesthood: “To be ministers at the service of the Gospel, study is certainly useful, but even more necessary is the ‘science of love’ which can only be learned ‘heart to heart' with Christ”

Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) – On the solemnity of the Most Scared Heart of Jesus, Friday 19 June, in St Peter's Basilica the Holy Father, Benedict XVI presided the Celebration of second Vespers of the Solemnity on the occasion of the opening of the Year of the Priesthood to mark the 150th anniversary of the death of Saint Jean Marie Vianney. The celebration was preceded by an address given by Archbishop Mauro Piacenza, secretary of the Congregation for the Clergy, followed by a procession with the relics of Saint Jan Marie Vianney from the Chapel of the Pietà to the alter of the Confession and to the Choir Chapel. On arriving in the Basilica, the Pope stopped at the Choir Chapel to venerate the relics of the holy Curé d'Ars.
“The Old Testament speaks 26 times of the heart of God, considered the organ of his will: compared with the heart of God man is judged – the Holy Father said in his homily during Vespers -. Because of the sorrow which his heart feels for the sins of man, God decides to send the deluge, but then moved by human frailty, he forgives… the heart of God trembles with compassion! On this solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, the Church offers for our contemplation this mystery, the mystery of the heart of a God who is moved and pours out his love upon humanity. A mysterious love which in the texts of the New Testament, is revealed to us as God's incommensurable passion for man. He does not surrender in the face of ingratitude nor even in the face of the rejection of the people he chose to be his own; indeed, with infinite mercy, he sends into the world his Only Son to take upon himself the destiny of love destroyed; so that, escaping the power of evil and death, he is able to restore the dignity of children of God, to human beings rendered enslaved by sin ”.
After thanking the numerous people present for the Vespers to open the Year of the Priesthood, the Holy Father urged the faithful to contemplate the pierced heart of the Crucified Christ. “In the Heart of Jesus– the Pope said - is expressed the essential nucleus of Christianity; revealed and given to us in Christ, the revolutionary news of the Gospel: Love which saves us and allows us to live here and now in the eternity of God … His divine Heart calls to our own heart; inviting us to go out of ourselves, to put aside our human certainties and put our trust in Him, to follow his example, offering ourselves as a gift of unreserved love”.
Benedict XVI then recalled that of Jesus' call to "remain in his love" (cfr Jn 15,9) is addressed to every baptised Christian, all the more “does it resound even more powerfully for we who are priests, and especially this evening ”. Citing the Catechism of the Catholic Church (n. 1589) the Pontiff underlined that priests are consecrated “in order to serve, humbly and authoritatively, the priesthood of the lay faithful ” and that their “mission is indispensable for the Church and for the world, which requires total faithfulness to Christ and unbroken unity with Him; that is, it demands that, like Saint Jean Marie Vianney, we strive continually for holiness”. The Pope then mentioned the Letter he has addressed to priests for this Jubilee Year, in which he highlights certain distinguishing aspects of the priestly ministry, referring to the example of the holy Cure d'Ars, and he said he hoped his Letter “will be of help and encouragement to make this year an opportunity to grow in intimacy with Jesus, who relies on us, his ministers, to spread and consolidate his Kingdom”.
“Allow oneself to be totally captured by Christ! This was the goal of the whole life of Saint Paul, to whom we have turned our attention during this Year of St Paul which is now coming to a close– the Pontiff continued -; this was the goal of the whole ministry of the saintly Cure d'Ars, who we will invoke during this Year of the Priesthood; may this also be the principal objective of each of us. To be ministers at the service of the Gospel, study is certainly useful, but even more necessary is the ‘science of love’ which can only be learned ‘heart to heart' with Christ ”.
The heart of Jesus pierced on the cross “is the source of Love” from which priests must never stray. “Even our frailty, our limits and failings can lead us back to the Heart of Jesus – the Pope continued -. If by contemplating Jesus, sinners learn the necessary ‘sorrow for sins' which leads them back to the Father, this is even more true for sacred ministers… we too dear priests, are called to conversion and to have recourse to Divine Mercy, we too should turn with sincere humility and incessant request to the Heart of Jesus to preserve us from the terrible risk of harming those whom it is our duty to save ”.
Concluding his homily, the Pope once again urged those present to follow the example of the saintly Cure d'Ars, “a heart enflamed with divine love, which is moved at the thought of the dignity of the priest and spoke to the faithful with words touching and sublime”, recalling that “the Church needs holy priests; ministers who help the faithful to experience God's loving mercy and to bear convincing witness to it ”. The Pope concluded: “May we be accompanied by the Blessed Virgin, our Mother, in the Year of the Priesthood which we open today, that we may be secure and enlightening guides for the faithful whom the Lord entrusts to our pastoral care”. The Celebration of Vespers, concluded with Eucharistic Adoration. (S.L.) (Agenzia Fides 20/6/2009; righe 62, parole 908)