Guide to Ongoing Formation for Priests (Ascension)

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Chapter 4: Spiritual Formation

of love. His sacrificial offering and his priesthood are inseparable. 118 Those who are conformed to Christ the Head of the Church—that is to Christ the Priest—are thereby also conformed to Christ the Victim. 119 Priests who embrace their own struggles and sacrifices as opportunities to share, however slightly, in the Lord’s Passion are tapping into a deep reservoir in their priestly vocation. Like the priest St. Paul says, a priest is “filling up what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ on behalf of his body, which is the church, of which I am a minister in accordance with God’s stewardship given to me” (Col 1:24-25). Union with the Passion of Christ is thus the foundation of an authentic Christian asceticism, which is an important marker of spiritual depth in a Christian disciple and priest. 120 Pursuit of Holiness 153 In the rite of presbyteral ordination, the presiding bishop exhorts the ordinands: “Understand, therefore, what you do, and imitate what you celebrate; as celebrants of the mystery of the Lord’s Death and Resurrection, may you strive to put to death whatever is sinful within you and to walk in newness of life.” 121 An important marker of spiritual formation is therefore the committed resolution to grow in 118 “Through the ministry of priests, the spiritual sacrifice of the faithful is made perfect in union with the sacrifice of Christ, the sole Mediator. Through the hands of priests and in the name of the whole Church, the Lord’s sacrifice is offered in the Eucharist in an unbloody and sacramental manner until He Himself returns. The ministry of priests is directed toward this work and is perfected in it. For their ministry, which takes its start from the gospel message, derives its power and force from the sacrifice of Christ.” PO, no. 2. 119 “By virtue of this consecration brought about by the outpouring of the Spirit in the sacrament of holy orders, the spiritual life of the priest is marked, molded and characterized by the way of thinking and acting proper to Jesus Christ, head and shepherd of the Church, and which are summed up in his pastoral charity.” PDV, no. 21. 120 “Ongoing formation will help such priests to keep alive the conviction—which they themselves have inculcated in the faithful—that they continue to be active members for the building up of the Church, especially by virtue of their union with the suffering Christ and with so many other brothers and sisters in the Church who are sharing in the Lord’s passion, reliving Paul’s spiritual experience when he said, ‘I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I complete what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the Church’ (Col 1:24).” PDV, no. 77. 121 Roman Pontifical, Ordination of a Bishop, of Priests, and of Deacons , English trans. of second typical ed. (Washington, DC: USCCB, 2021), no. 123.

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