Guide to Ongoing Formation for Priests

CHAPTER 6: PASTORAL FORMATION | 85

219. In his preaching, the priest confidently hands on the life-giving Gospel in all its integrity, the “primary duty” of a priest according to the Second Vatican Council. 191 He strives to make his preaching clear, convincing, and attractive, conscious that he is communicating the beau tiful truth of God’s loving plan for humanity. 192 He also ensures that the content of his preaching and teaching adheres faithfully to the doctrine of the Church and that his mind is formed sentire cum ecclesia , “to think with the Church.” 193 In communicating God’s saving truth, the priest is sympa thetic to his people’s perspective and their cultural sensibilities so he can speak to them in a way they can readily embrace. 194 Especially in an age that seems ever more distant from the peace of Christ, faithfully preaching the whole Gospel will come at a cost. He will inevitably meet with resistance. However, for a priest who wishes to be a courageous shepherd, it is essen tial that he be willing to appropriately expose himself to risks to protect the flock. Here, too, the image of Jesus the Good Shepherd is the model. When Jesus calls himself the “gate” to the sheepfold (Jn 10:7-9), he is refer ring to the ancient practice in which a shepherd sleeps in the gap of the stone wall that protects the sheep. The shepherd literally guards the sheep with his own body in the dark of the night. It is an apt image of the priest to this day. As St. John Vianney observed, “If a pastor remains silent when he sees God insulted and souls going astray, woe to him! If he does not want to be damned, and if there is some disorder in his parish, he must trample upon human respect and the fear of being despised or hated.” 195 191 PO, no. 4. 192 “In this [contemporary] context the priest must above all revive his faith, his hope, and his sincere love for the Lord, in such a way as to be able to present Him to the contemplation of the faithful and all men as He truly is: a Person alive and fascinating, who loves us more than anyone else because He gave His life for us: ‘A man can have no greater love than to lay down his life for his friends’ (Jn 15:13).” DMLP, no. 46. 193 See St. Ignatius of Loyola, The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius Loyola, Spanish and English, with a Continuous Commentary , trans. Joseph Rickaby (New York, NY: Benziger Brothers, 1923). 194 Helpfully instructive documents on the vital importance of the liturgical context of preaching are the Congregation of Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments’s 2015 Homiletic Directory and the USCCB’s 2012 document Preaching the Mystery of Faith: The Sunday Homily . Both documents insist upon the vital importance not only of preaching on the scriptural readings but of “virtually always” linking these to the celebration of the Eucharist that follows. In a very practical way, priests’ assimilation of both documents would improve priests’ preaching and continually allow them to be formed by the liturgy. Furthermore, meditation on liturgical texts such as the second reading in the Office of Readings can lead to a powerful union of personal prayer and preaching. As St. Thomas Aquinas observed, “That form of active life in which a man, by preaching and teaching delivers to others the fruits of his contemplation is more perfect than the life that stops at contemplation.” Summa Theologicae , III, q. 40, art. 1 ad 2. 195 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).