Guide to Ongoing Formation for Priests

90 | GUIDE TO ONGOING FORMATION FOR PRIESTS

228. In addition to these extraordinary measures, a priest offers sacri fices for his people in ordinary ways every day. Self-denial, after all, is an essential component of discipleship. “Whoever wishes to come after me,” Jesus insisted, “must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me” (Mt 16:24). In the life of a priest, such mortifications also reinforce his pastoral ministry. Small self-denials at meals, patient submission to illnesses and other sufferings, kindness and patience with tiresome people, the cheerful omission of small comforts, and other little crosses—those that he volun tarily chooses and those that he encounters in the course of a day—can all be occasions to encounter the Lord, offer him our love, and intercede for God’s people. Perhaps the most important self-denial a priest can practice is simply keeping his hand on the plow and doing his work faithfully and without fanfare, day after day. 210 These ingredients of fidelity and perse verance in the priesthood make up the recipe of genuine joy in pastoral ministry. A final personal means of growth in the pastoral dimension is analogous to ongoing formation in other professions: namely, training in ministerial skills. 211 A priest can take advantage of many opportunities for professional development and tailor his studies to his own needs. By broad ening his knowledge of various ministries, for example, he can stretch his pastoral abilities and widen his experience. By developing better leader ship skills, he can improve his governance of the parish. By learning new management skills in areas such as finance, human resources, and orga nization, he can become a more able administrator and manager of the temporal goods of the Church. In addition, the priest can find a great deal of guidance and formation from the many people he is serving, including the parish staff, the various councils and commissions, the volunteers, and other organizations in the parish. The laity involved in these groups bring talent and expertise that a priest is wise to acknowledge and learn from. The priest may also wish to take advantage of the expertise of his bishop’s collaborators in the curia. 229.

210 “The priest should act under the impetus of a receptive and joyful spirit, the fruit of his union with God through prayer and sacrifice, which is an essential element of his evangelizing mission of becoming all for everyone (see 1 Cor 9:19-23) in order to win them over to Christ.” DMLP, no. 46. 211 See PPF, nos. 268, 288.