The Pope writes to the priests: "Thank you for your service"

Vatican City

Pope Francis writes a letter to the priests to recall the 160th anniversary of the death of Saint Cure d'Ars, patron of all the pastors of the world. A letter that encourages and brings together "Presbyterian brothers who, without making any noise," leave everything "to engage in the daily life of their community, for those who work in the" trench ", to whom they face & # Daily, and without giving so much importance, so that the People of God may be cared for and accompanied ". "I address to each of you – the pope writes – that so many times, unnoticed and sacrificed, in fatigue or fatigue, sickness or despair, they badume the mission to the service of God and his people and, even with all the difficulties of the way, write the most beautiful pages of the priestly life ".

Pain

The papal letter opens on the scandal of abuses: "In recent times, we have been able to hear more clearly the cry so often silent and silent of our brothers, victims of abuse of power, conscience and badual ministers ordered. "Francisco explains that" without denying and repudiating the damage done by some of our brothers, it would be unfair not to recognize so many priests who, systematically and honestly, give up all that they are and what they have for the good of others. "" There are innumerable – according to the Pope – priests who make their lives a work of mercy in regions or situations so often inhospitable, so isolated or so abandoned even at risk of their lives. "The Pontiff thanks" the brave and constant example "remembering that" the times of ecclesial purification that we are living will make us more cheerful and simpler and will, in the not too distant future, be very fertile . Do not be discouraged! ", Said the Pontiff, for the Lord purifies his wife and converts us all to Yes, He allows us to experience the test so that we understand that without him, we are dust."

Gratitude

The second keyword is "gratitude". The Holy Father recalls that "the vocation, more than our choice, is a response to a free call from the Lord". Back to teaching a teacher of priestly life in his country of origin, the Pope urges "to return to those bright moments when we experience the life". the call of the Lord to consecrate our whole life to his service ", to this" yes "grown up in the world within a Christian community." "In moments of tribulation, of fragility, as well as in those of weakness and manifestation of our limits, when the worst temptation is to continue to defuse desolation by fragmenting the eyes, the judgment and the heart, "he explains, not only so as not to lose the grateful memory of the Lord's pbadage for our life who invited us to play for him and his people. "" Gratitude is always a "powerful weapon". Only if we can concretely contemplate and thank all the gestures of love, generosity, solidarity and trust, as well as forgiveness, patience, endurance and compbadion with which we have been treated will we leave the Spirit to give us that new air capable of renewing (and not patching) our life and our mission ".

The Pope thanks the brother priests for "fidelity to the commitments made. It's a sign that in a society and culture that has turned "gas" into value, there are people who are betting and looking to make commitments that require a living. "Thank you for the joy with which they managed to give their lives" – continues the Pope – "to seek to strengthen the bonds of brotherhood and friendship at the presbytery and with your bishop." "Thank you for the testimony of perseverance and" endurance "(hypomone) in the pastoral service that so many times, proposed by the Prissologie The pastor brings us to fight with the Lord in prayer, like Moses in this courageous and even risky intercession for the people. "" Thank you for having celebrated the daily Eucharist and for having merciful in the sacrament of reconciliation, without rigor or laxity, taking care of people and accompanying them on the path of conversion "

The Pope also thanks for anointing and announcing to everyone "with ardor". "Thank you for the moments when, overwhelming, you welcomed fallen soldiers and healed their wounds …" "Nothing is as urgent as that: proximity, closeness, bring us closer to the flesh of the suffering brother.

The heart of the pastor – says the Holy Father – is he who "has learned the spiritual pleasure of doing only one with his people; that he does not forget that he left her … with "an austere and simple lifestyle, without accepting privileges that have no evangelical flavor". The pope also invites us to give thanks "for the holiness of the faithful people of God" expressed in the "fathers who care so much about their children, these men and women who work to bring bread home, for the sick, in the old nuns who keep smiling.

Mood

The third word is "encouragement". The second desire expressed by the Pope is "to accompany them to renew our priestly spirit, the result above all of the action of the Holy Spirit in our lives". "The mission to which we have been called does not involve being immune to suffering, pain and even misunderstanding; on the contrary, he asks us to look them straight ahead and let them let the Lord transform them and make us more fit for him. According to Francisco, a good test is to find out how the pastor's heart is presented. We must ask ourselves how we deal with pain. Many times you can act as the Levite or the parable priest who makes a detour and ignores the deceased, at other times "they approach evil, they intellectualize it by taking refuge in common places:" life is like that "," nothing can be done ", which generates fatalism and unease; or they approach with a look of selective preferences that the only thing that generates is isolation and exclusion.

The Pope emphasizes another "subtle and dangerous attitude", which Bernanos defined as "the most precious of the elixirs of the devil", namely "a sweet sadness that the parents of the East have called acedia. "" The sadness that paralyzes the spirit of pursuit of work, of prayer ", which" makes any attempt at transformation and sterile conversion, spreading resentment and animosity "." Let's ask and ask the Spirit of "coming to wake us up – says the pope – to hit us in our sleepiness, to free us from inertia." Let's challenge the customs, open our eyes, our ears and above all our hearts, let's to be moved by what is happening around us and by the cry of the living and effective Word of the Risen One. "

Praise

The last word proposed in the letter is "praise". It is impossible to speak of gratitude and encouragement without contemplating Mary who "teaches us praise capable of opening our eyes to the future and restoring hope to the present". Because looking at Mary "is still believing in the revolutionary of tenderness and affection". Therefore, concludes the Pope, "if we are always tempted to isolate ourselves and to confine ourselves and protect our projects against the ever-dusty paths of history, or if the lamentations, complaints, criticisms or irony take over. of our actions without wanting to fight, wait and love … let's look at Mary to clean our eyes of all "stuff" that could prevent us from being attentive and awake to contemplate and celebrate Christ who lives among his people "

Brothers – concludes the pope – "this is a gratitude that provokes praise and encourages us once more in the mission of anointing our brothers with hope. To be men who bear witness to their lives the compbadion and mercy that only Jesus can give us. "