Guide to Ongoing Formation for Priests

76 | GUIDE TO ONGOING FORMATION FOR PRIESTS

198. A privileged place in our topics for study should be given to the Holy Scriptures, which the Second Vatican Council calls the “soul of sacred theology.” 165 By attentive study of the Bible, 166 as well as the great commen taries and sermons of the Fathers and other faithful interpreters, we can come to a better understanding of the sacred texts and more fruitfully share them in our preaching and teaching. As the Council reminds us: “In the sacred books, the Father who is in heaven meets His children with great love and speaks with them; and the force and power in the word of God is so great that it remains the support and energy of the Church, the strength of faith for her sons, the food of the soul, the pure and perennial source of spiritual life.” 167 The primary theme of study for the priest will therefore be drawn from the content of the faith. Nevertheless, a priest also does well to include in his study regimen, at least periodically, material with a cultural, histor ical, artistic, or scientific focus. These sources might derive from a priest’s own intellectual interests or aim at broadening his knowledge of certain social themes. They can keep him grounded in the important trends of the age, assist him in his work with souls, and provide illustrations and matter for his preaching. 168 It may be very helpful regularly to provide an output for one’s study, such as guiding an adult formation program or a Bible study. Teaching the faith can result in the priest-teacher growing in his own faith. 199. 200.

165 Second Vatican Council, Dei Verbum (Constitution on Divine Revelation) , no. 24, in The Documents of Vatican II , ed. Walter M. Abbott (New York: Corpus Books, 1966). Subsequently cited as DV. 166 “I would like to speak first to the Church’s ordained ministers, in order to remind them of the Synod’s statement that ‘the word of God is indispensable in forming the heart of a good shepherd and minister of the word.’ Bishops, priests, and deacons can hardly think that they are living out their vocation and mission apart from a decisive and renewed commitment to sanctification, one of whose pillars is contact with God’s word.” Benedict XVI, Verbum Domini , no. 78. 167 DV, no. 21. 168 “In order to be a good guide of his People, the priest is also to be attentive to the signs of the times; from those that have to do with the universal Church and its journey in the history of man, to those closest to the concrete situation of a particular community. This discernment calls for constant and correct updat ing in the study of the sacred sciences with reference to diverse theological and pastoral problems, and the exercise of a wise reflection on the social, cultural and scientific data characteristic of our present day and age.” DMLP, no. 78.