Guide to Ongoing Formation for Priests

CHAPTER 4: SPIRITUAL FORMATION | 63

164. In addition to the Liturgy of the Hours, Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament is a choice fruit of the Mass that countless Catholics have found to be an indispensable element of their spiritual growth. 136 Although many priests continue to nourish their prayer through regular Eucharistic Adoration, others struggle to keep alive their eucharistic devotion, perhaps due to the dangers of overfamiliarity. In such cases, reigniting a love for the Eucharistic Lord is a path toward renewed spiritual growth. After the Mass and its principal fruits, another category of occa sions of grace includes all the personal practices of piety that enrich a priest’s spiritual life. Foremost is the habit of personal prayer, specifically mental prayer or meditation. 137 In the busy schedule of a priest, he must jealously procure and defend intentional time away and jealously defend intentional time of solitude with the Lord. 138 An abundance of responsibilities and a long task list do not excuse a single priest from daily personal prayer. St. Francis de Sales, talking to priests, insisted that they make a thirty-minute meditation every day, “except when we are busy—then we need an hour.” 139 Once he sets aside the amount of time, ideally an hour, of mental prayer each day, there is the question of making good use of the time. Many have found the practice of lectio divina to be of immense help. Reading the Scriptures slowly and reverently, listening for the guidance of the Spirit, responding in love, and resting in contemplation—the lectio divina is a 165. 166.

136 “The centrality of the Eucharist must appear not only in the worthy and deeply felt celebration of the Sacrifice, but also in frequent adoration of the Sacrament of the Altar so the priest may be seen as a model for the flock also in devout attention and assiduous meditation in the presence of the Lord in the tabernacle.” DMLP, no. 68. 137 See CIC, c. 276 §2, 5°. 138 “Therefore, the fundamental priority for each priest is his personal relationship with Christ through the abundance of moments of silence and prayer for cultivating and deepening his relationship with the living person of the Lord Jesus.” DMLP, no. 51. 139 St. Francis de Sales, quoted in USCCB, United States Catholic Catechism for Adults (Washington, DC: USCCB, 2006), 463.