Guide to Ongoing Formation for Priests

CHAPTER 6: PASTORAL FORMATION | 83

as I live.” 181 The heart of a priest is therefore marked by a generosity in his service to others, zeal in the apostolate, 182 and qualities of pastoral charity such as patience, compassion, mercy, and a desire to reconcile sinners to God. 183 He endeavors to follow the guidance provided in the First Letter of St. Peter, which encourages priests about the need to serve in humility and self-forgetfulness: “I exhort the presbyters among you, as a fellow presbyter and witness to the sufferings of Christ and one who has a share in the glory to be revealed. Tend the flock of God in your midst, [overseeing] not by constraint but willingly, as God would have it, not for shameful profit but eagerly. Do not lord it over those assigned to you, but be examples to the flock. And when the chief Shepherd is revealed, you will receive the unfading crown of glory” (5:1-4). Such a priest desires to understand the interior dispositions of those he serves and to accompany them on their road to holiness. “A priest who is close to his people,” Pope Francis said in his 2018 Chrism Mass homily, “walks among them with the closeness and tenderness of a good shepherd; in shepherding them, he goes at times before them, at times remains in their midst and at other times walks behind them. Not only do people greatly appreciate such a priest; even more, they feel that there is something special about him: something they only feel in the presence of Jesus.” 184 He is not satisfied with being a mere caretaker or maintainer of an institution but strives with holy ambition to plant the faith more deeply in the hearts of his people and to evangelize those who do not yet know Christ. In fact, his gaze extends beyond the confines of his imme diate apostolate to the needs of the whole Church, because “every priestly ministry shares in the universality of the mission entrusted by Christ to His apostles.” 185 216.

181 St. John Vianney, quoted in St. John Paul II, “The Cure of Ars” (Letter to All the Priests of the Church for Holy Thursday 1986), CatholicCulture.org, accessed July 11, 2023, www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/ view.cfm?recnum=5455 . 182 “In the image of the Apostles, apostolic zeal is the fruit of the overwhelming experience issuing forth from closeness with Jesus.” DMLP, no. 21. 183 “He will also know how to bend over with mercy upon the difficult and uncertain journey of the conver sion of sinners, to whom he will reserve the gift of truth and the patient, encouraging benevolence of the Good Shepherd, who does not reprove the lost sheep, but loads it onto his shoulders and celebrates its return to the fold (see Lk 15:4-7).” DMLP, no. 41. 184 Francis, Homily, 2018 Chrism Mass, March 29, 2018, www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/homilies/2018/ documents/papa-francesco_20180329_omelia-crisma.html. 185 PO, no. 10.