杏MAP导航

By Robin Gomes

杏MAP导航 Francis on Monday recalled a favourite imagery of a pastor, urging that priests be 鈥渟hepherds with the 鈥榮mell of the sheep鈥欌��, grounded in the situation of their flock. He made the remark to the community of French student priests who reside in a community at the hostel of the Church of St. Louis of the French in Rome.

鈥淪mell of the sheep鈥�

鈥淭he studies you undertake in the various Roman universities prepare you for your future tasks as pastors and enable you to better appreciate the reality in which you are called to proclaim the Gospel of joy鈥�, he told some 19 priests of the 鈥榥ational church of the French鈥� in the Italian capital. He said they should not go into the field to apply theories without considering the environment in which they will be working or the people entrusted to their care. 鈥淚 wish you to be shepherds with 'the smell of the sheep'", the 杏MAP导航 said, repeating once again the analogy he used in his homily at the Chrism Mass on March 28, 2013, a fortnight after his election. 

He said pastors should be 鈥減eople capable of living, of laughing and crying with your people, in a word, of communicating with them鈥�. He expressed concern that sometimes reflections and thoughts on priesthood are laboratory sample: this priest, that priest and so on.  He said priesthood isolated from the people of God, is neither a Catholic priesthood nor a Christian one. 

鈥淪trip yourselves of your pre-constituted ideas, your dreams of greatness, your self-assertion, in order to put God and people at the center of your daily concerns,鈥� the 杏MAP导航 said, stressing that a pastor is one who puts God鈥檚 holy faithful people at the centre.  For those priests who would like to be an intellectual, not a pastor, the 杏MAP导航 said, it is better for them to be lay persons. A priest has to be a pastor in the midst of God鈥檚 people because God has chosen him for that.

Community life

杏MAP导航 Francis also advised the French priests regarding their community life, saying individualism, self-assertion, and indifference are some of the challenges of living together.  He warned them against 鈥渢he temptation to create small closed groups, to isolate oneself, to criticize and speak ill of others, to believe oneself superior, more intelligent鈥�. 

The 杏MAP导航 said that gossip is a habit of closed groups, of 鈥渂achelor鈥� priests who talk and malign others, undermining all. 鈥淲e need to let go of this habit and look at and think about God's mercy鈥�.  The 杏MAP导航 wished that they always welcome one another as a gift. 鈥淚n a fraternity lived in truth, in the sincerity of relationships and in a life of prayer, we can form a community in which we can breathe the air of joy and tenderness.鈥�

The Holy Father encouraged a community life of sharing and prayer with joy. He said, 鈥淭he priest is a man who, in the light of the Gospel, spreads the taste of God around him and transmits hope to restless hearts鈥�. To those visiting their community, they can communicate the Gospel values of a 鈥渄iverse and supportive fraternity鈥�, and make them feel the fidelity of God's love and His closeness.

St. Joseph

In this regard, the 杏MAP导航 offered to them the model of St. Joseph, inviting them to 鈥渞ediscover the face of this man of faith, this tender father, model of fidelity and trusting abandonment to God's plan".   St. Joseph, he said, teaches us that faith in God includes believing that He can work even through our fears, our frailties and our weaknesses. 

Our frailties is a 鈥渢heological place of encounter with the Lord鈥�, the 杏MAP导航 said, adding, a 鈥渇ragile priest鈥�, who knows his weaknesses and talks about them with the Lord, will do well.  Instead, "superman" priests end up badly.  鈥淲ith Joseph,鈥� the 杏MAP导航 said,  鈥渨e are called to return to the experience of the simple acts of acceptance, tenderness, and the

Joy and sense of humour

The 杏MAP导航 also urged the young French priests to build a Church that is entirely at the service of a world that is more fraternal and in solidarity. They should not be afraid to dare, to risk and to go forward, assured that with Christ they can be apostles of joy and be grateful for serving their brothers and sisters and the Church.

This joy should be accompanied by a sense of humor, the 杏MAP导航 pointed out, adding, a priest who does not have a sense of humor is not liked, something is wrong. 鈥淚mitate those great priests who laugh at others, at themselves and even at their own shadow,鈥� he said, adding, 鈥渁 sense of humor is one of the characteristics of holiness鈥�, as he pointed out in his Apostolic Exhortation, Gaudete et Exultate.

Recalling their priestly ordination, he reminded them that they have been anointed with the oil of joy and are to anoint others with the oil of joy. He said only by remaining rooted in Christ can they experience a joy that moves them to win hearts. 鈥淧riestly joy is the source of your action as missionaries of your time鈥�, he said.

Gratitude

Another virtue the Holy Father encouraged the young priests to cultivate is gratitude to God for what they are to one another. 鈥淲ith your limitations, your frailties, your tribulations鈥�, 杏MAP导航 Francis reminded them, 鈥渢here is always a loving gaze resting on you and giving you confidence鈥�. 

Gratitude "is always 'a powerful weapon'", he said, which 鈥渁llows us to keep the flame of hope burning in moments of discouragement, loneliness and trials".