Guide to Ongoing Formation for Priests (Ascension)

GOFP 34

Guide to Ongoing Formation for Priests

34 The capacity for spiritual fatherhood is a useful lens through which to gauge other dimensions of our priestly identity. For instance, a father is committed to the growth of his children and wishes to see them thrive, even to surpass him in excellence. A fatherly priest, too, will desire the best for those entrusted to his care and will earnestly promote their spiritual growth—rejoicing when they surpass him even in holiness. A priest living pastoral charity has a zeal for the salvation of souls and generously gives himself to all, particularly those most in need of his care: the poor, the sick, the elderly, the lonely, the abandoned, and the outcast. 23 35 As a good husband is faithful to his wife, the priest fosters in his heart a deep, spousal love for the Church and fidelity to its teachings. The “priest’s life ought to radiate this spousal character,” as Pope St. John Paul II wrote in Pastores Dabo Vobis , “which demands that he be a witness to Christ’s spousal love and thus be capable of loving people with a heart which is new, generous and pure.” 24 He will be eager to administer the sacraments: washing souls in the regenerating waters of Baptism, healing them in Penance and Reconciliation and in the Anointing of the Sick, and uniting Christian couples in the sacrament of Holy Matrimony. He will rejoice particularly in providing his spiritual sons and daughters with the spiritual nourishment found in the Eucharist, the “source and summit” of our faith and indeed of his priesthood. 25 23 “The Lord will say this clearly: his anointing is meant for the poor, prisoners and the sick, for those who are sorrowing and alone. My dear brothers, the ointment is not intended just to make us fra grant, much less to be kept in a jar, for then it would become rancid . . . and the heart bitter.” Francis, Homily, 2013 Chrism Mass. 24 PDV, no. 22. 25 See Second Vatican Council, Lumen Gentium (Dogmatic Constitution on the Church), no. 11, in T he Documents of Vatican II , ed. Walter M. Abbott (New York: Corpus Books, 1966). Subsequently cited as LG. “In fact, there is an intimate connection among the centrality of the Eucharist, pastoral charity and the unity of the life of the priest, who therein finds decisive indications for the way to holiness to which he has been specifically called.” DMLP, no. 66.

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