LETTER
OF HIS HOLINESS POPE
BENEDICT XVI
PROCLAIMING A YEAR FOR PRIESTS
ON THE 150th ANNIVERSARY OF THE "DIES NATALIS"
OF THE CURÉ OF ARS
Dear Brother Priests,
On the forthcoming Solemnity of the Most
Sacred Heart of Jesus, Friday 19 June 2009 – a day traditionally devoted to
prayer for the sanctification of the clergy –, I have decided to inaugurate a
“Year for Priests” in celebration of the 150th anniversary of the “dies
natalis” of John Mary Vianney, the patron saint of parish priests
worldwide.[1] This Year, meant to deepen the commitment
of all priests to interior renewal for the sake of a more forceful and incisive
witness to the Gospel in today’s world, will conclude on the same Solemnity in
2010. "The priesthood is the love of the heart of Jesus”, the
saintly Curé of Ars would often say.[2]
This touching expression makes us reflect, first of all, with heartfelt
gratitude on the immense gift which priests represent, not only for the Church,
but also for humanity itself. I think of all those priests who quietly present
Christ’s words and actions each day to the faithful and to the whole world,
striving to be one with the Lord in their thoughts and their will, their
sentiments and their style of life. How can I not pay tribute to their
apostolic labours, their tireless and hidden service, their universal charity?
And how can I not praise the courageous fidelity of so many priests who, even
amid difficulties and incomprehension, remain faithful to their vocation as
“friends of Christ”, whom he has called by name, chosen and sent?
I still treasure the memory of the first
parish priest at whose side I exercised my ministry as a young priest: he left
me an example of unreserved devotion to his pastoral duties, even to meeting
death in the act of bringing viaticum to a gravely ill person. I also recall
the countless confreres whom I have met and continue to meet, not least in my
pastoral visits to different countries: men generously dedicated to the daily
exercise of their priestly ministry. Yet the expression of Saint John Mary also
makes us think of Christ’s pierced Heart and the crown of thorns which
surrounds it. I am also led to think, therefore, of the countless situations of
suffering endured by many priests, either because they themselves share in the
manifold human experience of pain or because they encounter misunderstanding
from the very persons to whom they minister. How can we not also think of all
those priests who are offended in their dignity, obstructed in their mission
and persecuted, even at times to offering the supreme testimony of their own
blood?
There are also, sad to say, situations
which can never be sufficiently deplored where the Church herself suffers as a
consequence of infidelity on the part of some of her ministers. Then it is the
world which finds grounds for scandal and rejection. What is most helpful to
the Church in such cases is not only a frank and complete acknowledgment of the
weaknesses of her ministers, but also a joyful and renewed realization of the
greatness of God’s gift, embodied in the splendid example of generous pastors,
religious afire with love for God and for souls, and insightful, patient
spiritual guides. Here the teaching and example of Saint John Mary Vianney can
serve as a significant point of reference for us all. The Curé of Ars was quite
humble, yet as a priest he was conscious of being an immense gift to his
people: “A good shepherd, a pastor after God’s heart, is the greatest treasure
which the good Lord can grant to a parish, and one of the most precious gifts
of divine mercy”.[3]
He spoke of the priesthood as if incapable of fathoming the grandeur of the gift
and task entrusted to a human creature: “O, how great is the priest!
… If he realized what he is, he would die… God obeys him: he utters a few words
and the Lord descends from heaven at his voice, to be contained within a small
host…”.[4]
Explaining to his parishioners the importance of the sacraments, he would say:
“Without the Sacrament of Holy Orders, we would not have the Lord. Who put him
there in that tabernacle? The priest. Who welcomed your soul at the beginning
of your life? The priest. Who feeds your soul and gives it strength for its
journey? The priest. Who will prepare it to appear before God, bathing it one
last time in the blood of Jesus Christ? The priest, always the priest. And if
this soul should happen to die [as a result of sin], who will raise it up, who
will restore its calm and peace? Again, the priest… After God, the priest is
everything! … Only in heaven will he fully realize what he is”.[5]
These words, welling up from the priestly heart of the holy pastor, might sound
excessive. Yet they reveal the high esteem in which he held the sacrament of
the priesthood. He seemed overwhelmed by a boundless sense of responsibility:
“Were we to fully realize what a priest is on earth, we would die: not of
fright, but of love… Without the priest, the passion and death of our Lord
would be of no avail. It is the priest who continues the work of redemption on
earth… What use would be a house filled with gold, were there no one to open
its door? The priest holds the key to the treasures of heaven: it is he who
opens the door: he is the steward of the good Lord; the administrator of his
goods … Leave a parish for twenty years without a priest, and they will end by
worshiping the beasts there … The priest is not a priest for himself, he is a
priest for you”.[6]
He arrived in Ars, a village of 230 souls,
warned by his Bishop beforehand that there he would find religious practice in
a sorry state: “There is little love of God in that parish; you will be the one
to put it there”. As a result, he was deeply aware that he needed to go there
to embody Christ’s presence and to bear witness to his saving mercy: “[Lord,]
grant me the conversion of my parish; I am willing to suffer whatever you wish,
for my entire life!”: with this prayer he entered upon his mission.[7]
The Curé devoted himself completely to his parish’s conversion, setting before
all else the Christian education of the people in his care. Dear brother
priests, let us ask the Lord Jesus for the grace to learn for ourselves
something of the pastoral plan of Saint John Mary Vianney! The first thing we
need to learn is the complete identification of the man with his ministry. In
Jesus, person and mission tend to coincide: all Christ’s saving activity was,
and is, an expression of his “filial consciousness” which from all eternity
stands before the Father in an attitude of loving submission to his will. In a
humble yet genuine way, every priest must aim for a similar identification.
Certainly this is not to forget that the efficacy of the ministry is
independent of the holiness of the minister; but neither can we overlook the
extraordinary fruitfulness of the encounter between the ministry’s objective
holiness and the subjective holiness of the minister. The Curé of Ars
immediately set about this patient and humble task of harmonizing his life as a
minister with the holiness of the ministry he had received, by deciding to
“live”, physically, in his parish church: As his first biographer tells us:
“Upon his arrival, he chose the church as his home. He entered the church
before dawn and did not leave it until after the evening Angelus. There he was
to be sought whenever needed”.[8]
The pious excess of his devout biographer
should not blind us to the fact that the Curé also knew how to “live” actively
within the entire territory of his parish: he regularly visited the sick and
families, organized popular missions and patronal feasts, collected and managed
funds for his charitable and missionary works, embellished and furnished his
parish church, cared for the orphans and teachers of the “Providence”
(an institute he founded); provided for the education of children; founded
confraternities and enlisted lay persons to work at his side.
His example naturally leads me to point out
that there are sectors of cooperation which need to be opened ever more fully
to the lay faithful. Priests and laity together make up the one priestly people[9]
and in virtue of their ministry priests live in the midst of the lay faithful,
“that they may lead everyone to the unity of charity, ‘loving one another with
mutual affection; and outdoing one another in sharing honour’” (Rom 12:10).[10]
Here we ought to recall the Second Vatican Council’s hearty encouragement to
priests “to be sincere in their appreciation and promotion of the dignity of
the laity and of the special role they have to play in the Church’s mission. …
They should be willing to listen to lay people, give brotherly consideration to
their wishes, and acknowledge their experience and competence in the different
fields of human activity. In this way they will be able together with them to
discern the signs of the times”.[11]
Saint John Mary Vianney taught his
parishioners primarily by the witness of his life. It was from his example that
they learned to pray, halting frequently before the tabernacle for a visit to
Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.[12]
“One need not say much to pray well” – the Curé explained to them – “We know
that Jesus is there in the tabernacle: let us open our hearts to him, let us
rejoice in his sacred presence. That is the best prayer”.[13]
And he would urge them: “Come to communion, my brothers and sisters, come to
Jesus. Come to live from him in order to live with him…[14]
“Of course you are not worthy of him, but you need him!”.[15]
This way of educating the faithful to the Eucharistic presence and to
communion proved most effective when they saw him celebrate the Holy
Sacrifice of the Mass. Those present said that “it was not possible to find a
finer example of worship… He gazed upon the Host with immense love”.[16]
“All good works, taken together, do not equal the sacrifice of the Mass” – he
would say – “since they are human works, while the Holy Mass is the work of
God”.[17]
He was convinced that the fervour of a priest’s life depended entirely upon the
Mass: “The reason why a priest is lax is that he does not pay attention to the
Mass! My God, how we ought to pity a priest who celebrates as if he were
engaged in something routine!”.[18]
He was accustomed, when celebrating, also to offer his own life in sacrifice:
“What a good thing it is for a priest each morning to offer himself to God in
sacrifice!”.[19]
This deep personal identification with the
Sacrifice of the Cross led him – by a sole inward movement – from the altar to
the confessional. Priests ought never to be resigned to empty confessionals or
the apparent indifference of the faithful to this sacrament. In France, at the
time of the Curé of Ars, confession was no more easy or frequent than in our
own day, since the upheaval caused by the revolution had long inhibited the
practice of religion. Yet he sought in every way, by his preaching and his
powers of persuasion, to help his parishioners to rediscover the meaning and
beauty of the sacrament of Penance, presenting it as an inherent demand of the
Eucharistic presence. He thus created a “virtuous” circle. By spending
long hours in church before the tabernacle, he inspired the faithful to imitate
him by coming to visit Jesus with the knowledge that their parish priest would
be there, ready to listen and offer forgiveness. Later, the growing numbers of
penitents from all over France would keep him in the confessional for up to
sixteen hours a day. It was said that Ars had become “a great hospital of
souls”.[20]
His first biographer relates that “the grace he obtained [for the conversion of
sinners] was so powerful that it would pursue them, not leaving them a moment
of peace!”.[21]
The saintly Curé reflected something of the same idea when he said: “It is not
the sinner who returns to God to beg his forgiveness, but God himself who runs
after the sinner and makes him return to him”.[22]
“This good Saviour is so filled with love that he seeks us everywhere”.[23]
We priests should feel that the following
words, which he put on the lips of Christ, are meant for each of us personally:
“I will charge my ministers to proclaim to sinners that I am ever ready to
welcome them, that my mercy is infinite”.[24]
From Saint John Mary Vianney we can learn to put our unfailing trust in the
sacrament of Penance, to set it once more at the centre of our pastoral
concerns, and to take up the “dialogue of salvation” which it entails. The Curé
of Ars dealt with different penitents in different ways. Those who came to his
confessional drawn by a deep and humble longing for God’s forgiveness found in
him the encouragement to plunge into the “flood of divine mercy” which sweeps
everything away by its vehemence. If someone was troubled by the thought of his
own frailty and inconstancy, and fearful of sinning again, the Curé would
unveil the mystery of God’s love in these beautiful and touching words: “The
good Lord knows everything. Even before you confess, he already knows that you
will sin again, yet he still forgives you. How great is the love of our God: he
even forces himself to forget the future, so that he can grant us his
forgiveness!”.[25]
But to those who made a lukewarm and rather indifferent confession of sin, he
clearly demonstrated by his own tears of pain how “abominable” this attitude
was: “I weep because you don’t weep”,[26]
he would say. “If only the Lord were not so good! But he is so good! One
would have to be a brute to treat so good a Father this way!”.[27]
He awakened repentance in the hearts of the lukewarm by forcing them to see
God’s own pain at their sins reflected in the face of the priest who was their
confessor. To those who, on the other hand, came to him already desirous of and
suited to a deeper spiritual life, he flung open the abyss of God’s love,
explaining the untold beauty of living in union with him and dwelling in his
presence: “Everything in God’s sight, everything with God, everything to please
God… How beautiful it is!”.[28]
And he taught them to pray: “My God, grant me the grace to love you as much as
I possibly can”.[29]
In his time the Curé of Ars was able to
transform the hearts and the lives of so many people because he enabled them to
experience the Lord’s merciful love. Our own time urgently needs a similar
proclamation and witness to the truth of Love: Deus caritas est (1 Jn:
4:8). Thanks to the word and the sacraments of Jesus, John Mary Vianney built
up his flock, although he often trembled from a conviction of his personal
inadequacy, and desired more than once to withdraw from the responsibilities of
the parish ministry out of a sense of his unworthiness. Nonetheless, with
exemplary obedience he never abandoned his post, consumed as he was by
apostolic zeal for the salvation of souls. He sought to remain completely
faithful to his own vocation and mission through the practice of an austere
asceticism: “The great misfortune for us parish priests – he lamented – is that
our souls grow tepid”; meaning by this that a pastor can grow dangerously
inured to the state of sin or of indifference in which so many of his flock are
living.[30]
He himself kept a tight rein on his body, with vigils and fasts, lest it rebel
against his priestly soul. Nor did he avoid self-mortification for the good of
the souls in his care and as a help to expiating the many sins he heard in
confession. To a priestly confrere he explained: “I will tell you my recipe: I
give sinners a small penance and the rest I do in their place”.[31]
Aside from the actual penances which the Curé of Ars practiced, the core of his
teaching remains valid for each of us: souls have been won at the price of
Jesus’ own blood, and a priest cannot devote himself to their salvation if he
refuses to share personally in the “precious cost” of redemption.
In today’s world, as in the troubled times
of the Curé of Ars, the lives and activity of priests need to be distinguished
by a forceful witness to the Gospel. As Pope Paul VI rightly noted,
“modern man listens more willingly to witnesses than to teachers, and if he
does listen to teachers, it is because they are witnesses”.[32]
Lest we experience existential emptiness and the effectiveness of our ministry
be compromised, we need to ask ourselves ever anew: “Are we truly pervaded by
the word of God? Is that word truly the nourishment we live by, even more than
bread and the things of this world? Do we really know that word? Do we love it?
Are we deeply engaged with this word to the point that it really leaves a mark
on our lives and shapes our thinking?”.[33]
Just as Jesus called the Twelve to be with him (cf. Mk 3:14), and only later
sent them forth to preach, so too in our days priests are called to assimilate
that “new style of life” which was inaugurated by the Lord Jesus and taken up
by the Apostles.[34]
It was complete commitment to this “new
style of life” which marked the priestly ministry of the Curé of Ars. Pope John
XXIII, in his Encyclical Letter Sacerdotii nostri primordia, published
in 1959 on the first centenary of the death of Saint John Mary Vianney,
presented his asceticism with special reference to the “three evangelical
counsels” which the Pope considered necessary also for priests: “even though
priests are not bound to embrace these evangelical counsels by virtue of the
clerical state, these counsels nonetheless offer them, as they do all the faithful,
the surest road to the desired goal of Christian perfection”.[35]
The Curé of Ars lived the “evangelical counsels” in a way suited to his
priestly state. His poverty was not the poverty of a religious or a
monk, but that proper to a priest: while managing much money (since well-to-do
pilgrims naturally took an interest in his charitable works), he realized that
everything had been donated to his church, his poor, his orphans, the girls of
his “Providence”,[36]
his families of modest means. Consequently, he “was rich in giving to others
and very poor for himself”.[37]
As he would explain: “My secret is simple: give everything away; hold nothing
back”.[38]
When he lacked money, he would say amiably to the poor who knocked at his door:
“Today I’m poor just like you, I’m one of you”.[39]
At the end of his life, he could say with absolute tranquillity: “I no longer
have anything. The good Lord can call me whenever he wants!”.[40]
His chastity, too, was that demanded of a priest for his ministry. It
could be said that it was a chastity suited to one who must daily touch the
Eucharist, who contemplates it blissfully and with that same bliss offers it to
his flock. It was said of him that “he radiated chastity”; the faithful would
see this when he turned and gazed at the tabernacle with loving eyes”.[41]
Finally, Saint John Mary Vianney’s obedience found full embodiment in
his conscientious fidelity to the daily demands of his ministry. We know how he
was tormented by the thought of his inadequacy for parish ministry and by a
desire to flee “in order to bewail his poor life, in solitude”.[42]
Only obedience and a thirst for souls convinced him to remain at his post. As
he explained to himself and his flock: “There are no two good ways of serving
God. There is only one: serve him as he desires to be served”.[43]
He considered this the golden rule for a life of obedience: “Do only what can
be offered to the good Lord”.[44]
In this context of a spirituality nourished
by the practice of the evangelical counsels, I would like to invite all
priests, during this Year dedicated to them, to welcome the new springtime
which the Spirit is now bringing about in the Church, not least through the
ecclesial movements and the new communities. “In his gifts the Spirit is
multifaceted… He breathes where he wills. He does so unexpectedly, in
unexpected places, and in ways previously unheard of… but he also shows us that
he works with a view to the one body and in the unity of the one body”.[45]
In this regard, the statement of the Decree Presbyterorum Ordinis
continues to be timely: “While testing the spirits to discover if they be of
God, priests must discover with faith, recognize with joy and foster diligently
the many and varied charismatic gifts of the laity, whether these be of a
humble or more exalted kind”.[46]
These gifts, which awaken in many people the desire for a deeper spiritual
life, can benefit not only the lay faithful but the clergy as well. The
communion between ordained and charismatic ministries can provide “a helpful
impulse to a renewed commitment by the Church in proclaiming and bearing
witness to the Gospel of hope and charity in every corner of the world”.[47]
I would also like to add, echoing the Apostolic Exhortation Pastores Dabo
Vobis of Pope John Paul II, that the
ordained ministry has a radical “communitarian form” and can be
exercised only in the communion of priests with their Bishop.[48]
This communion between priests and their Bishop, grounded in the sacrament of
Holy Orders and made manifest in Eucharistic concelebration, needs to be
translated into various concrete expressions of an effective and affective
priestly fraternity.[49]
Only thus will priests be able to live fully the gift of celibacy and build
thriving Christian communities in which the miracles which accompanied the
first preaching of the Gospel can be repeated.
The Pauline Year now coming to its close
invites us also to look to the Apostle of the Gentiles, who represents a
splendid example of a priest entirely devoted to his ministry. “The love of
Christ urges us on” – he wrote – “because we are convinced that one has died
for all; therefore all have died” (2 Cor 5:14). And he adds: “He died for all,
so that those who live might live no longer for themselves, but for him who
died and was raised for them” (2 Cor 5:15). Could a finer programme be proposed
to any priest resolved to advance along the path of Christian perfection?
Dear brother priests, the celebration of
the 150th anniversary of the death of Saint John Mary Vianney (1859)
follows upon the celebration of the 150th anniversary of the
apparitions of Lourdes (1858). In 1959 Blessed Pope John XXIII noted that
“shortly before the Curé of Ars completed his long and admirable life, the
Immaculate Virgin appeared in another part of France to an innocent and humble
girl, and entrusted to her a message of prayer and penance which continues,
even a century later, to yield immense spiritual fruits. The life of this holy
priest whose centenary we are commemorating in a real way anticipated the great
supernatural truths taught to the seer of Massabielle. He was greatly devoted
to the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin; in 1836 he had dedicated
his parish church to Our Lady Conceived without Sin and he greeted the dogmatic
definition of this truth in 1854 with deep faith and great joy.”[50]
The Curé would always remind his faithful that “after giving us all he could,
Jesus Christ wishes in addition to bequeath us his most precious possession,
his Blessed Mother”.[51]
To the Most Holy Virgin I entrust this Year
for Priests. I ask her to awaken in the heart of every priest a generous and
renewed commitment to the ideal of complete self-oblation to Christ and the
Church which inspired the thoughts and actions of the saintly Curé of Ars. It
was his fervent prayer life and his impassioned love of Christ Crucified that
enabled John Mary Vianney to grow daily in his total self-oblation to God and
the Church. May his example lead all priests to offer that witness of unity
with their Bishop, with one another and with the lay faithful, which today, as
ever, is so necessary. Despite all the evil present in our world, the words
which Christ spoke to his Apostles in the Upper Room continue to inspire us:
“In the world you have tribulation; but take courage, I have overcome the
world” (Jn 16:33). Our faith in the Divine Master gives us the strength to look
to the future with confidence. Dear priests, Christ is counting on you. In the
footsteps of the Curé of Ars, let yourselves be enthralled by him. In this way
you too will be, for the world in our time, heralds of hope, reconciliation and
peace!
With my blessing.
From the Vatican, 16 June 2009.
BENEDICT XVI
[1] He was proclaimed as such by Pope Pius XI in 1929.
[2] “Le Sacerdoce, c’est l’amour du cœur de Jésus” (in Le curé d’Ars. Sa pensée – Son cœur. Présentés par l’Abbé Bernard Nodet, éd. Xavier Mappus, Foi Vivante, 1966, p. 98). Hereafter: NODET. The expression is also quoted in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, No. 1589).
[3] NODET, p. 101.
[4] Ibid., p. 97.
[5] Ibid., pp. 98-99.
[6] Ibid., pp. 98-100.
[7] Ibid., p. 183.
[8] MONNIN, A., Il Curato d’Ars. Vita di Gian.Battista-Maria Vianney, vol. I, ed. Marietti, Turin, 1870, p. 122.
[9] Cf. Lumen Gentium, 10.
[10] Presbyterorum Ordinis, 9.
[11] Ibid.
[12] “Contemplation is a gaze of faith, fixed on Jesus. ‘I look at him and he looks at me’: this is what a certain peasant of Ars used to say to his holy Curé about his prayer before the tabernacle” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, No. 2715).
[13] NODET, p. 85.
[14] Ibid., p. 114.
[15] Ibid., p. 119
[16] MONNIN, A., op. cit., II, pp. 430ff.
[17] NODET, p. 105.
[18] Ibid.
[19] Ibid., p. 104.
[20] MONNIN, A., op. cit., II, p. 293.
[21] Ibid., II, p. 10
[22] NODET, p. 128.
[23] Ibid., p. 50.
[24] Ibid., p. 131
[25] Ibid., p. 130.
[26] Ibid., p. 27.
[27] Ibid., p. 139.
[28] Ibid., p. 28.
[29] Ibid., p. 77.
[30] Ibid., p. 102.
[31] Ibid., p. 189.
[32] Evangelii nuntiandi, 41.
[33] BENEDICT XVI, Homily at the Chrism Mass, 9 April 2009
[34] Cf. BENEDICT XVI, Address to the Plenary Assembly of the Congregation for the Clergy, 16 March 2009.
[35] P. I.
[36] The name given to the house where more than sixty abandoned girls were taken in and educated. To maintain this house he would do anything: “J’ai fait tous les commerces imaginables”, he would say with a smile (NODET, p. 214).
[37] NODET, p. 216.
[38] Ibid., p. 215.
[39] Ibid., p. 216.
[40] Ibid., p. 214.
[41] Cf. ibid., p. 112.
[42] Cf. ibid., pp. 82-84; 102-103.
[43] Ibid., p. 75.
[44] Ibid., p. 76.
[45] BENEDICT XVI, Homily for the Vigil of Pentecost, 3 June 2006.
[46] No. 9.
[47] BENEDICT XVI, Address to Bishop-Friends of the Focolare Movement and the Sant’Egidio Community, 8 February 2007
[48] Cf. No. 17.
[49] Cf. JOHN PAUL II, Apostolic Exhortation Pastores Dabo Vobis, 74
[50] Encyclical Letter Sacerdotii nostri primordia, P. III.
[51] NODET, p. 244