Guide to Ongoing Formation for Priests

6

Pastoral Formation

206. Each area of ongoing priestly formation is important, but the pastoral dimension enjoys a certain primacy. After all, Jesus identifies himself as the Good Shepherd—the Good Pastor—and this image, more than any other, should inform the life of his priest: 171

I am the good shepherd. A good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. A hired man, who is not a shepherd and whose sheep are not his own, sees a wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away, and the wolf catches and scatters them. This is because he works for pay and has no concern for the sheep. I am the good shepherd, and I know mine and mine know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I will lay down my life for the sheep. (Jn 10:11-15)

207. Contrasting Jesus with a hireling is instructive. Unlike the hired hand, Jesus lays down his life for his sheep. Unlike the laborer, Jesus protects his sheep against the wolves. Unlike the worker, his motive is not material gain but rather charity, concern for the sheep. He cares for them and wants the best for them. Finally, unlike the hired hand, Jesus knows his sheep and they know him. These lessons can easily be applied to the priest. We are called to model our life after that of the Good Shepherd. When St. John Vianney identified the priesthood as “the love of the Heart of Jesus,” he was not simply being poetical. In a real sense, the priest must incarnate the love of the Good Shepherd in the midst of the People of God. We too must lay down our life for our sheep, protect them against wolves, care for them with 208.

171 “Through the sacramental ordination conferred by the imposition of hands and the consecratory prayer of the Bishop, there is established in the presbyterate ‘a specific ontological bond which unites the priest to Christ, High Priest and Good Shepherd’ (PDV, no. 11).” DMLP, no. 2.