Guide to Ongoing Formation for Priests

CHAPTER 3: HUMAN FORMATION | 41

is a threat to it, vigilant over both body and spirit, and capable of esteem and respect in interpersonal relationships between men and women.” 80 In addition, “the priest is then able to encourage and nurture the ‘feminine genius’ which women offer to the Church and the world.” 81 This also bene fits the priest himself as he experiences this complementarity. Affective maturity in a celibate priest means that his capacity to love is directed to its authentic good in his life and ministry. It means that he can donate himself fully and joyfully for the people he serves. A priest who lives a unity of life is not fragmented or compartmen talized. He has integrated the various dimensions of formation into a life of virtue. 82 His interior life, for instance, does not make him aloof or eccen tric. His pastoral generosity does not make him neglect important friend ships. His human interests do not cause him to become worldly. The priest who lives a unified life does not posture for different audiences. He has one personality, refracted into different circumstances and relationships, but always emerging from the same source. 83 The common thread that ties together the various components of the personality of the priest is his relationship with Jesus, who calls him to participate in his pastoral charity. 84 He approaches all of his activities and interests in a spirit of Christ’s pastoral charity. 85 At the heart of his plan UNITY OF LIFE 111. 112. 82 “It is important for the priest, who is called to accompany others through the journey of life up to the threshold of death, to have the right balance of heart and mind, reason and feeling, body and soul, and to be humanly integrated.” Benedict XVI, Letter to Seminarians, October 18, 2010, no. 6, www.vatican.va/ content/benedict-xvi/en/letters/2010/documents/hf_ben-xvi_let_20101018_seminaristi.html. 83 “Of special importance is the capacity to relate to others. This is truly fundamental for a person who is called to be responsible for a community and to be a ‘man of communion.’” PDV, no. 43. 84 “Priests attain to the unity of their lives by uniting themselves with Christ in acknowledging the Father’s will and in the gift of themselves on behalf of the flock committed to them. Thus, by assuming the role of the Good Shepherd, they will find in the very exercise of pastoral love the bond of priestly perfection which will unify their lives and activities.” Second Vatican Council, Presbyterorum Ordinis (Decree on the Ministry and Life of Priests) , no. 14, in The Documents of Vatican II , ed. Walter M. Abbott (New York: Corpus Books, 1966). Subsequently cited as PO. 85 “This same pastoral charity is the dynamic inner principle capable of unifying the many different activities of the priest. In virtue of this pastoral charity the essential and permanent demand for unity between the priest’s interior life and all his external actions and the obligations of the ministry can be properly fulfilled, a demand particularly urgent in a socio - cultural and ecclesial context strongly marked by com plexity, fragmentation and dispersion. Only by directing every moment and every one of his acts toward the fundamental choice to “give his life for the flock” can the priest guarantee this unity which is vital and indispensable for his harmony and spiritual balance.” PDV, no. 23. 80 81 PDV, no. 44. Mulieris Dignitatem, no. 31.